Socialization not really working? (Ratsicles)

do his vision and hearing seem normal? Does he have any abnormalities with gait or responses to stimuli? Elimination is normal?

 

do his vision and hearing seem normal? Does he have any abnormalities with gait or responses to stimuli? Elimination is normal?

 He responds to visual stuff, can hear just fine, and his elimination is totally regular and normal.  As for gait, he's a bit bow-legged, but has been since we got him and it's nothing abnormal. He doesn't limp or favor one leg over another and his joint are strong and fine.

He hasn't had any kind of bloodwork done, but he seems perfectly healthy, physically. He's getting his puppy shots right now so he'll be going to the vet every 3 weeks for a while. If you guys think he needs any bloodwork done or anything, I can get it done next time he goes in for vaccines.

Not so much anything that'd show up on bloodwork...I am thinking more just a mental issue of some type...using retardation in the medical terminology...a failure to advance or process info at a normal for age level.

Shyness can be for sure an inherited defect, esp the more extreme version.

Abuse is a consideration defintiely, but a total fear up to drooling etc not tied to any sex, color, or body type of a human is odd to me. It is like he lacks the facility to generalize the feelings about you as a human to other humans....hmm

Maybe your pushing to much exposure on him quickly.  I think a beginners training class would be ideal for a dog like him, to socialize without being the center of attention.

You description suggests he gets social attention for not coming.  If what you are doing is maintaining the behavior, then you are reinforcing that behavior.  Call once, if he comes, lottery time.  If he doesnt, nearest dog gets all the attention and goodies.

We had a abused foster who wouldnt come, she would slink down and look confused until I started actually turning and walking in the direction I wanted her to come. I know you said you turn your body away but try actually moving....like showing the intent with your body more and let him catch up to you and having a treat in your hadn by your side for him to run up and grab. Its not suchaa direct contact for him and you could proceed slowly after he gets that....make it like a game.

As for the strangers I suggest getting some friendly volunteers who know the situation to come over, ignore him completely, sit down and slowly toss treats his way. No eye contact, no happy voices because that can trigger anxeity. Don't expect him to warm up over night......I know its hard and you feel secure in your home and situation its just gonna take him a bit longer

I almost wonder if coming when called is somehow aversive to him. Perhaps being called in the past resulted in something bad. Especially if it happened to him as a puppy, it might be long-lasting. Do you use a traditional "Come" or "Here" for that? If so, I wonder what would happen if you started fresh, with a new cue, and taught a recall that way? Worth a shot. I'd also pay close attention to your body language, which you say you are, that's a great thing. Have you tried running away from him and calling his name? Or running away with a toy?

 As for the terror of new people, it could be a lot of things - bad experiences, simple lack of good experiences (undersocialization), genetics, but most likely a combination of the three. If you're working within a genetically fearful animal, there is only so much you can work with there within the confines of biology. I've worked with genetically fearful animals, and sometimes you just do have to accept them for who they are, and accept that they'll never trust strangers. That doesn't mean that you can't work with him so that he can learn to be in public around strangers without interacting with them, but it's possible he'll never come to "like" strangers.

But I think if you were to combat the problem, I would stem for classical conditioning, not operant conditioning. Set yourself up a desensitization counter-conditioning program, so that he learns that people = good things (treats are easiest, but it can be play or other things as well).

Lastly, this just might be a dog that is a good candidate for medical intervention while you try to combat the problem. I don't like to use drugs as a first resort, and don't, but sometimes the problem goes beyond what a human can capably do on their own, and sometimes medicine may be needed to help with a biological problem. If there is an imbalance in something, all the training in the world won't change that. So this is a type of dog I would likely consider medication for. Maybe not right now, but in the future if the behaviour doesn't improve at all, it might be something to keep in mind.

To be honest though, I would not get him into public teaching classes. I think that's the last place he needs to be at this time, if he's that fearful of other people. Public classes are definitely not for all dogs, and I wouldn't be bringing him there if it was my dog, at least not at this point.

This is just a small ramble of a number of very complex topics. Fear in dogs is something that takes a long time to discuss in all its complexity. I live with two fearful dogs, so I know how it can be draining, and frustrating, and difficult. But the first step to any progress is acceptance of the pup you have, no matter how things turn out. Once you look at it as "what can I possibly do to help what I have now" rather than "how can I fix what's wrong", things appear a lot brighter at the end of the tunnel. So the first step is acceptance, and not feeling badly about what you have, but for appreciating what you have and seeing from there how you might be able to make it even better. I'll keep an eye on the post and will share where I can.......I have intimiate experience in this type of situation, so I do feel for you.

Not so much anything that'd show up on bloodwork...I am thinking more just a mental issue of some type...using retardation in the medical terminology...a failure to advance or process info at a normal for age level.

Shyness can be for sure an inherited defect, esp the more extreme version.

Abuse is a consideration defintiely, but a total fear up to drooling etc not tied to any sex, color, or body type of a human is odd to me. It is like he lacks the facility to generalize the feelings about you as a human to other humans....hmm

This is honestly what I was thinking too. This just seems like something that's innate with him. Weird.

You description suggests he gets social attention for not coming.  If what you are doing is maintaining the behavior, then you are reinforcing that behavior.  Call once, if he comes, lottery time.  If he doesnt, nearest dog gets all the attention and goodies.

Not sure what I said that implied that we reward him for not coming, but we definitely don't. I always only give commands once, also. We do exactly what you suggested and it's not really working.

The coming when called issue really isn't that big of a deal though. We'll figure that one out. I'm more concerned with his fear of strangers.

Maybe your pushing to much exposure on him quickly.  I think a beginners training class would be ideal for a dog like him, to socialize without being the center of attention.

Meh, I don't really like the idea of a beginner's training class. I've looked into them before and the only one's offered within an hour of us are at the nearby Petsmart. I've sat and watched them before, and they're horrid- a bunch of people sitting in a circle, randomly clicking, yelling commands, and tossing treats to their dogs in no particular order. The instructor is a teenage girl and her explanation of clicker training to the class was absolutely terrible and incorrect. From what I saw, her method of "clicker training" was

1. Force dog's butt to the floor while jerking upward on the dog's choke collar.
2. Yell SIT SIT SIT at the dog.
3. Click 4 or 5 times at dog.
4. Toss a treat to the dog.

Plus, all of the dogs in the class were with beginner owners who had ZERO control over them- dogs were running up to each other, dragging their owners, and none of them had ANY leash manners. None of them were approching each other's dogs correctly, most everyone was looming voer each other's dogs and just randomly picking them up and womping them on the head and cooing at them.

Honestly, it's not an environment I want Punch exposed to. He already knows basic obedience and listens very well (except for 'come';) and living with 5 other dogs, he already has all of the socialization he needs with other dogs. The people in the class were clueless about how to approach a dog and were not the type of people I want him exposed to.

The whole thing just looked chaotic and I'm pretty sure it would do way more harm than good.

As for pushing too much exposure on him too quickly? You may be right, I didn't think of that. Maybe I need to give him a break and slow things down a bit.

I know you said you turn your body away but try actually moving....like showing the intent with your body more and let him catch up to you and having a treat in your hadn by your side for him to run up and grab. Its not suchaa direct contact for him and you could proceed slowly after he gets that....make it like a game.

That's a good suggestion, I didn't think of that. I'll try moving in the direction I want him to go in and see if that helps.

As for the strangers I suggest getting some friendly volunteers who know the situation to come over, ignore him completely, sit down and slowly toss treats his way. No eye contact, no happy voices because that can trigger anxeity. Don't expect him to warm up over night......I know its hard and you feel secure in your home and situation its just gonna take him a bit longer

That's pretty much what we have people do when they come over. And after he sees the same person 5 or 6 times and they treat him exactly that way, he does warm up to them. But, I want to get him to the point where he will accept complete strangers coming up to him and petting him (with my permission and with them approaching him correctly, of course) so I dunno how much a difference that will make.

But yeah, that's pretty much exactly what we do already when people come over. 

I almost wonder if coming when called is somehow aversive to him. Perhaps being called in the past resulted in something bad. Especially if it happened to him as a puppy, it might be long-lasting. Do you use a traditional "Come" or "Here" for that? If so, I wonder what would happen if you started fresh, with a new cue, and taught a recall that way? Worth a shot. I'd also pay close attention to your body language, which you say you are, that's a great thing. Have you tried running away from him and calling his name? Or running away with a toy?

Yeah, I always teach my dogs "[name], Come!" I only use it in positive situations, if they ever do anything wrong I don't call them at all, I just go get them, so they don't associate "come" with something negative. But you're right, I have no clue what his experiences were before I found him, so it could be somehow aversive to him. I'll think of a different command and try teaching him with that.

And yeah, I'll start moving away from him when  I call him, and maybe try running away with a toy too.

As for the terror of new people, it could be a lot of things - bad experiences, simple lack of good experiences (undersocialization), genetics, but most likely a combination of the three. If you're working within a genetically fearful animal, there is only so much you can work with there within the confines of biology. I've worked with genetically fearful animals, and sometimes you just do have to accept them for who they are, and accept that they'll never trust strangers. That doesn't mean that you can't work with him so that he can learn to be in public around strangers without interacting with them, but it's possible he'll never come to "like" strangers.

Oh, I definitely understand that. Pepito, my 4 year old chihuahua, is a genetic mess. Among his myriad of emotional issues, there is absolutely insane fear aggression. He has trouble remembering people that he doesn't see every single day, and people that he doesn't know/remember he is absolutely vicious towards. If he were a larger dog, he would absolutely have to be euthanized for aggression. He has been on several medications that help somewhat, but he's never going to be a normal dog and he is never going to like strangers.

Ogre, the Akita I used to have, was also insanely fear aggressive when we got him. I think his was just due to a lack of socialization, because after a few months of working on it really intensively, he was perfectly fine with strangers. So, I've definitely dealt with my share of fearful dogs.

So, if Punchy just can't get past these issues, I'll be alright with that. I just want to make sure I do everything I can do to prevent him from having these issues long term- if there's any way he can get through this, I want him to. Luckily we live far out in the country and don't have any major neighbors, so I live in asituation where he won't have to see strangers often if he doesn't want to. I just really hope it doesn't come to that, I want him to be able to go out and enjoy fun stuff with the other dogs.
 

I like what everyone has said but I would eliminate the possibility of a vision or a visual perception problem.  One month is a very short time for a dog to get acclimated to a new home, new people, and new animal friends.  I usually give my fosters a month just to get acclimated to the new surroundings, only teaching the dog to be housebroken and the COME command.  For the COME command, the dog will come to you on its own and it is at that time I reinforce the behavior with affection.  I test it now and then and if the dog doesn't get it, I continue with the natural approach.  In that one month period I observe how the dog behaves and find out what the dog likes and dislikes.  When I identify the dog's likes, I use that to help bridge behavior issues.

I have never had a foster dog that behaves likes yours.  One foster family in the rescue program does have a dog that is similar and is looking for solutions.  So I am interested in the resolve of this problem.

OOh well its good to hear that he warms up after several meetings with strangers. Even though the progress isnt as fast as you'd hoped it IS something. It is just so hard when you don't know what they've been through but you've gotten him ths far, it shows he is gaining faith in you!

It almost sounds as if he has been beaten after coming to his master. So many ill tempered people do that and as a puppy he would eagerly run to his master not knowing he was in for trouble so thats why I thought maybe if you could turn it into a game he migtht take to it.

 

The beginner classes could be more helpful then you assume. I know the curriculum seems kinda boring and basic but if your not to keen on their methods you could always take advantage of the opportunity to socialize him and it does bond him to you a bit more by particiapting in basic obediance trials together. I have fostered a couple dogs in my time and took the basic classes even though they knew them already because they learned to work with me as a team! Good luck, I know its tough but  day by day is key!

DPU

One month is a very short time for a dog to get acclimated to a new home, new people, and new animal friends.

 

Agree, problems of fear and self esteem are the longest to recover from, you are expecting too much for being only with you for one month, he has to do this on his OWN time, you can not hurry this kind of problems at all, i would say that you should expect an improvement after AT LEAST 6 months, but not less than that 

Ratsicles, I'm going to do what I can to answer each point.  Keep in mind, I'm not fond of long posts, LOL.

 We found Punchy (APBT) on the side of the road on, I think, October 15th. Vet placed him at about 10 weeks, so he's going on 4 months now.

 My first thought was that it's possible the vet made an estimate that could be off by a week perhaps.  Thus, you could have picked him up at the tail end of the socialization window, so even though you did what you could, the window was closing fast.  With a dog that is genetically predisposed to shyness, or one that has had almost no contact with humans, you could face a daunting remedial socialization project.  Kim's suggestions make a lot of sense in that context. 

It has become very, very obvious that he got probably zero human contact before we found him. He is terrified of people.  He warmed up to DH and I very quickly, and he isn't afraid of us, except when we ask him to "Come." He knows the command, so that isn't the issue- he's just scared to do it. If I just show him a treat, or if I call one of the other dogs, he comes running.

You say he comes when he sees a treat...are you certain he knows the command, or just sees the treat and realizes that you will give it to him.  You may have fallen prey to accidentally bribing the little guy, rather than reinforcing.

If I call him specifically, he seems to WANT to come, but for some reason it's just too scary. He'll get all wiggly, put his ears back, make appeasement gestures with his paws, and even try some whiney barks- but he will NOT come.

Don't try to make him come from across the room.  Make it easier, so that he is successful every time.  Wait until he is fluent in one circumstance before upping the difficulty level.  Grab "Really Reliable Recall", Leslie Nelson's DVD and teach him that way, since he is obviously food motivated.  It's the same method, with a few minor changes, that I use on my own dogs, all of whom come when called - even my shy Sioux, who hid under the chairs at her first puppy class;-)  Yup, my ace therapy dog was once a weenie of sorts herself.

If I keep calling him, he'll eventually run and hide and cower.

Simple - don't do that.  If you have to call more than once, you are simply training your dog that the word "come" can be ignored.  As I said, get the DVD - I think it will help.

I don't know why, we NEVER call our dog's names in anger, or call them when they're in trouble, so he has no reason to fear us calling his name or asking him to "come." And he doesn't seem afraid of coming in general if there is food involved, or if one of the other dogs is coming...
so I'm really not sure if this is actual fear, or him just not wanting to come. From his body language, it certainly SEEMS like fear. 
I always make sure my body language is non-threatening when I call him- I crouch down, and I turn away from him- so that shouldn't be the issue.

I'm guessing that you may have messed up the mechanics of making him understand the request, or been too obvious with your food lure, or used it too long.  He probably feels safer following the lead of a more confident dog, too.  I don't think he fears you per se, but I do think he gets confused, and confusion leads to - you guessed it - fear.  

So far, we've just been clicking/treating whenever he comes up to us, whether we call him or not, and making a big huge fuss/clicking and treating when he does come when we call...but it's been about a month and he still hasn't gotten it. For the record, he housetrained in 3 days, and learned every other command I've tried to teach him in 10-15 minutes- so he definitely understands the process and is a really smart dog. He just honestly seems afraid when one of us calls his name.

That's really a minor thing though, the main reason for this post is this- he is TERRIFIED of new people. We've been socializing him like crazy, but I can almost guarantee that he literally had NO human contact before we found him- it's a long story, but we're pretty sure we know where he came from and it isn't good. I'm willing to bet that when I grabbed him off the side of the road, it was the first time a human ever touched him. Seriously.

He warmed up to Josh and I and except for the issue we're having with getting him to come when we call him, he acts totally normal around us. Not really fearful at all. He's smart, he's well behaved, he plays nicely with the other dogs, he even has the most amazing bite inhibition I've ever seen with a puppy his age- he almost NEVER mouths. He's very well socially adjusted...with dogs. With humans, he's terrible.

I would not force people on  him.  What I would do is to feed him liverwurst when a human that he doesn't know appears.  When the human leaves, the food disappears.  All you are trying to do is change his perception about humans, using classical conditioning.  Later, you can progress to having a dog savvy human toss a treat on the floor toward him, or allow him to come up and sniff (at his own pace, don't put the hand out toward him initially).  This can be a long, painstaking process for a dog that is really terrified, and the notion of using an anti-anxiolytic drug is not altogether a bad one in some cases, while behavior modification protocols are started.

We had him vetted almost immediately after we found him and started taking him everywhere. For the past month and a half, we've been taking him to Petco, Petsmart, the park, or friends houses literally every day. I think we've missed maybe 3 days since we've had him. He is getting socialization out the wazoo...and it doesn't seem to be making a difference.

When people come up to pet him, he cowers and hides. If I happen to be holding him, he tries to hide his face in my shirt. If he's walking, he wraps himself around my legs and tries to get behind me. Tail tucked, shaking, whites of his eyes showing, drooling, absolute terror. Once someone starts petting him he'll start to wag a little, so it seems like he WANTS to enjoy it...but he's too afraid.

We've made sure he's had no negative interactions with people. If people want to pet him, we explain that he has some fear issues, but that he doesn't bite, we tell them how to approach him and make SURE they do it correctly, and we always have them offer him treats. He's generally too scared to take the treats.

If he's too scared to take the treats, you are going too fast.  I know that you think he's had no negative interactions with people, but if you think about it, he's had to go to strange places, and have those scary beings touch him and make life even scarier.  Try feeding  him yourself when the people appear.  If he will take treats from you, keep feeding as long as there are people nearby, but don't worry yet if they are not feeding him.  Change the perception first.

If someone comes over to our house, he runs and hides the second he hears the car pull up, and doesn't come out until they're gone.  When he acts terrified, we DON'T try to console him or give him any attention for it...we ignore him. If people ignore him every time they come over, he will accept them and start interacting with them after a few visits.

 That's great!!!!  If he is accepting them, wonderful.  It's fine to ignore him rather than console him, but I'd rather have you feeding him for being in the room with the humans if he will take food from you.  (Don't use Cheerios - the appearance of strange humans should signal liverwurst, turkey, roast beef...something great that he never gets any other time.)

After about 3 weeks of seeing my parents twice a week, he now is fine with them...so he CAN get over having strangers in the house, but my main thing is wanting him to be okay with people coming up to him out in public.

He's NOT fear aggressive...but he's also very young. Right now he just tries to hide, but I really worry about this turning into fear aggression- and a fear aggressive pit bull is not a good thing to have.

My guess is that if he is not aggressive now, he will not suddenly get aggressive later, unless something really, really scary happens and he's cornered.  He sounds like the type that will retreat if he can, rather than get testy.

We tried clicking/treating whenever he is calm and accepts handling from people out in public, which is what worked wonders on Ogre's fear aggression when we first got him...but Punch is generally too scared to take treats, so it doesn't really work. 

Again, change the perception first.  If people predict liverwurst, they are a lot less scary when they come a bit closer.  But, if the appearance of a human always means that he will be touched against his will, I'm not sure how much progress you will make.  With a terrified dog, I like to let the dog make the first overture.  Have a friend sit on the floor with liverwurst bits all around him.  Have the human remain still, and let the dog go for the gold if he wants, but if he doesn't, don't force it.  The overture was there, and he learned that the human was not going to do anything scary.

I just worry about him growing up terrified of people, and I have NEVER seen a puppy as young as him that was this frightened of strangers. It concerns me that in a month and a half we've seen ZERO progress in how he accepts strangers...maybe I'm not being patient enough?

I think you are simply dealing with a very socially retarded puppy, and are overfacing him a bit.

Pit bulls just don't need any more bad press...I want him to grow up to be a friendly, social, well behaved bully ambassador...not a fear aggressive mess that will reaffirm people's negative ideas about the breed.

I'm guessing that he will not be a fear aggressive mess, just a fearful dog that hides when company comes.  He doesn't have to be an ambassador, he just has to keep his nose clean.

 

Do you guys think he's doomed to a life of being terrified of strangers? Could it just be something that he'll grow out of, or is there something different that I should be doing?

I would attempt to increase his general confidence level.  Agility training helps some dogs a lot, and I would also grab two books specifically designed to help owners deal with shy dogs.  "The Cautious Canine" (Patricia McConnell) and "Help for Your Shy Dog" (Deborah Wood).  Both have great suggestions for increasing your dog's ability to deal with real life.

He is such an awesome, sweet little guy. I would hate for him to miss out on alot of fun in life. because he can't get over his fear of strangers.

Me, too.  But, he already got lucky landing with someone who cares enough to help him.  So, he's headed in the right direction.

there are certain commands, that when abused ONE TIME it leaves a huge lasting impression on the dog.  When Billy first came to us he was absolutely TERRIFIED of the command "down".  (as in lie down)  He would literally turn into a bowl of quivering jelly and it was OVER as far as obedience went for that session.  He was marvelous about everything else.  What someone did to him I'll never know but d@mn their hides anyway -- what they did to him was criminal.

We literally stopped working the command completely.  And we went in 'the back door'.  When he would lie down just on his own (as in just flopping down in the living room while we were all just chilling and relaxed) ... I didn't say a thing to HIM.  But rather, I said to my husband in a loud stage whisper "Hey .. David .. look at Billy -- isn't that a **marvelous** down?  He's lying down ... I'm so pleased ... he IS such a good boy .. what a great 'down' that is!"

David would play along -- literally in a conversation between us, NOT directed at Billy.  But for a week or more we literally just 'talked about it' when he went into a natural 'down' we commented on it.  He hadn't been 'told' ... he just *did* it and was rewarded.

Then I began to be more direct.  When he flopped down next to us or in the same room I would say 'Billy -- GREAT down!!  Way to go.  GOOD 'down'!!"  He'd again look at himeself like "Huh?  Was I DOIN something??"  But he began to be really pleased ... and when I noticed him looking AT me for reinforcement when he lay down I knew we could go to the next step.

That was merely catching him at that magic moment when I knew he was literally 'laying down' naturally and getting it out of my mouth FAST as the body lowered as if he was doing it in response to my 'command'.  And now I began to treat.  tossing it to him -- never touching him ... just big verbal praise for doing what he ws actually GOING to do anyway.  But suddenly those words weren't 'bad words' any more.

Once the treat was involved (and this took about 3-6 weeks -- this was NOT fast) I could then proceed with a string of easy commands and incorporate 'down' into them.  As long as I kept the 'down' away from me (somehow his whole fear thing about the word 'down' must have come from someone FORCING him bodily into a 'down';) and then once he was responsive we began to incorporate it in regular obedience sessions ... that was more of a 'hurdle' than it sounds like but he did cross it.  This took about 3 months to perfect a simple command -- but he wasn't terrified.

Now for you dog -- I tend to think someone made a huge impression on him.  They called him TO them (probably WITH food -- so food becomes 'suspect' all around - if they bribe me they want to hurt me) -- but they called him and then did something heinous -- like really hurt him, threw him, or similar.  It was a joke - and it taught him to distrust immediately.

We've talked about this before and I think "training" for this has to be more on a mental level than just operant conditioning.  You will likely have to be sneaky because he's had 2 months to perfect NOT doing this.

I'd use a couple of mats and make it sort of a target behavior.  I would have one mat that was his home base ... I like mats because they're portable and with a dog who has been abused they can mean 'safety'.  but I'd use a 2d mat as the 'target'.  And I would teach him to go to "target".  you start the two side by side and click/treat when he moves to the other mat to sniff it.  you separate them gradually... and ultimately you wan the 'target' to be right next to YOU.  but that comes slowly slowly slowly -- first by you moving TO the target and second by moving the target to be closer to you.  Then phase out the physical target and replace it with other 'things'.  A treat, a toy, a piece of paper, and then to you 'pointing' to the 'target'. 

Eventually you simply get the behavior closer and closer to coming to you.  You may simply completely have to 'ditch' the word 'come' forever

I would also work with a long leash -- you really don't want him rewarding himself for not doing what you ask.  Just make very very sure that every time you 'ask' you have set it up completely so he CAN, without violating his personal space and fear codes do as you ask.

Does that make sense?  Not sure I said this well.  You can also pair objects with the word target.  Objects of things he 'knows' -- to indicate go to the target thing.  "Target - ball!"  "target chair" ... and ultimately "target foot" or "target mom" indicating the place next to you.

But I'll bet the high value treat has to be something like a toy or some unusual substitute for food.  Someone spoiled that I'm sure -- and they only have to be abused once to decide "Nope I'm never being THAT stupid again!"

When people come up to pet him, he cowers and hides. If I happen to be holding him, he tries to hide his face in my shirt. If he's walking, he wraps himself around my legs and tries to get behind me. Tail tucked, shaking, whites of his eyes showing, drooling, absolute terror. Once someone starts petting him he'll start to wag a little, so it seems like he WANTS to enjoy it...but he's too afraid.

so every time he's seen a stranger since you got him he's experienced total terror. Every experience FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE has been negative.  I think you're mis-interpreting the wagging: he is probably sending "please don't kill me" appeasing signals, not "happiness" about the stranger touching him. You need to engage in gradual desensitization, not flooding. Which means you never get close enough to a stranger to trigger terror. Stand outside the petstore, twenty, fifity feet, whatever it takes, away from strangers and reward him for being calm and relaxed. When he can handle fifty feet, move to twenty feet. I doubt he will be ready to let a stranger pet him for months, if ever.  Wouldn't suggest a group training class at the moment, this guy has too many issues.

I would also suggest completely stop the work on the recall for now. Just reward him for approaching you on his own for a few weeks to months.