I just got a 5 month old white shepherd, but she is extremely shy around everyone. I want to socialize her, but everytime she gets near other people or animals, she is terribly afraid. I walk her on a daily basis, but am hesitant to take her to a dog park. Do you have any suggestions?

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Absolutely continue with the walks...bring treats with you so that when someone wants to pet her, you can offer a juicy treat to entice her to go up to them. Every experience needs to be a good one. If you pet and "comfort" her when she is shying away, she will view this as an appropriate behavior. If you walk confidently up to someone and shake hands and assume (truly believe) your dog will be right there with you, then she will be fine. Most problems dogs have are because of physical and emotional cues they get from there pet parents.

keep up with the walks and interaction the more you do it the better the dog will become with strangers. praise her or him when it go up to people and pets