hates men

Our Stella does not like strangers, and tends to be scared of men. We had a man here visiting with his kids and had already been here for awhile, she tried to bite him with me standing there when he went to pet her. Stella was adopted and seemed to cower alot when we first brought her home. I believe she was abused maybe by a man and this is just staying with her. She took to me, my husband and two boys immediately though. I guess she knew she was getting rescued by someone who would love her. It will take time to just work with her and hope she will start to come around.

I rescued a 4-year-old corgi/sheltie who was so afraid of men that she'd bolt every time a man would say, "Hello" on hiking trails. She about took out my arm! It took six months of daily walks (there were no men in our house) to get her past this. I would suggest having your dog associate pleasant moments with your sons. When you take her for a walk, include at least one of your sons. Have your sons feed and water her. Make sure they reward her with treats and praise her whenever they can. They should use their "indoor voice" when talking to her. They should use her name frequently. When you go on these walks, DO NOT tense up when you meet a man--she will sense it. Instead act as if you're happy to see someone, that it's no big deal. Once she's accepted your sons, then move on to males who visit the home. Until then, let her go into another room so she's not so stressed out. It takes patience; it takes time.

I don't really have an answer for you, but when someone comes into my life who doesn't like my animals, let alone abuses them, I SHOW THEM THE DOOR immediately. It's like this: love my pets, then love me. My animals come first, always.

And a big thing besides what Beatriz says is time. It may take a little time and training. Look how long it takes abused humans to come around sometimes.

Another suggestion is not to have men approach your dog walking straight toward her. You want them to approach from the side and not look at her. I've done a lot of reading on shy, fearful dogs (I have one) and that's one of the techniques. There are a lot of good books on this topic. You may want to check out my reviews to see which ones I found helpful. Also know this takes time. Don't expect results overnight or in just a week or month.