How do you encourage strangers who are afraid of your dog to act confident around your dog? Three commands: No Touch. No Talk. No Eye Contact. This helps to build confidence in the fearful person and the dog. If you feel at peace, you feel relaxed; if you’re relaxed you can work on your confidence.

I don’t encourage people to touch my dog, I encourage people to be around my dog. Now, if my dog misbehaves, I tell people, "Don’t worry about it, I’ve got him under control." You must do that too. People often have to see it to believe it. That’s the way you are going to convince a fearful person, “Ah your dog isn’t that bad.” Once he sees that your dog behaves perfectly fine with you, then that person will have confidence around your dog.