Small dog v's tall fiance

hairyfairy00

My parents have 2 dogs a jackrussell and a toy poodle, we have the jackrussell (Amber) for 10yrs and the poodle (Misty) for 6yrs.
We got Misty off a family who breed poodles, they (breeders) had originally given Misty to a family with small children, they ended up taking her back from that family because they mistreated her, i.e locking her in a shed, hitting and not feeding her. When we first got her (@ 1 yrs) she didn't know how to eat out of a bowl or even play but Amber soon showed her the ropes and she was soon jumping around like a spring lamb.
Now my problem, she has always been weary of kids and espically men, it took her a whole year before she would even jump up on my fatherd lap. I met my fiance 2 yrs ago, (at this time i was still living at home and he visited everyday) Amber has adored him ever since but Misty is still terrorfied of him, when he enters a room that she's in she'll run and hide under the table, on one horrible occasion my fiance was coming down stairs Misty (upstairs also) saw him and freaked out and ended up going head and tail down the stairs, i rushed her to the vet and she was ok but a bit sore.
We have tried letting my fiance give her treats and it seemed to work for a while but to no avail, he has never intentionally hurt her just incase anyones worried, he's a dog lover.
The only thing i can think of that might be freaking her out is the fact that my fiance is 6ft 4" and she is so small, when i hold her and he goes to give her a rub she tenses up, i think now she associates him to being hurt after the whole stairs episode but when he ignores her she's more interested in him, i just can't work this dog out, she is a bit ditzy but i love her even more for that. She's not as bad with other guys (but still scared) but they're not as tall as my man.
I know this has been a very long and dragged out post but has anyone else experienced the whole height issue with teeny weeny dogs and do ye have any advice?

EGAR

Hi there,

alot of the dogs I take in are afraid of men or men with particular traits such as height. Do not fuss about her when she is frightened of him just act normal around her when she hides. Don't try to coax her out from under the table as this would reinforce her *belief* that something is wrong. Let him feed both dogs (not just treats but the regular meals). If possible let him walk the dogs together. Again, no fussing, just normal walks as they are used to.

Sarah

hairyfairy00

Thanks i'll start doing that

Our man in Havana

My husband is a tad under 6'4 & I have a dog that is terrified of men & my hubby moves fast & does not like to sit still which makes Willie worse but after a time Willie is getting used to my hubby & has thankfully stopped peeing when he enters a room. It will just take time. Just do as Egar has suggested.

Sigma Force

My little dog isn't great with men either if you can get your fiance to spend more time with the dog, start feeding her and taking over from you a bit that way she will soon start to worship him and follow him round, that's what my hubby did and it worked great although she's still terrible with strangers at least she doesn't freak out with hubby ..but she was also narky and liked to nip him which isn't on but was still funny to see (although not funny if she did it to someone else of course) the two are great buddies now. Get him to talk her for a walk by himself now and then and play with her if he's willing to some men are stubborn.