So tonight DH and I had friends over.... we met them outside, since Sammy seems to have more distrust of people who just "invade" his home, and he had met these guys before, and wasn't all too thrilled with them. So outside he woofs lightly once or twice but that was all (he hasn't barked since xmas so this is a big thing for him) and we went in. He was distrustful of them but quiet thru dinner, and by the end was letting the friends pet him lightly.
Then, we played Cranium. There is a part where you have to do something like Charades. If DH or I did the acting Sammy was fine, but if anyone else did, he flipped and woofed/barked somewhat defensively and tucked his tail, etc. Obviously they made him nervous.
Sammy was fine over xmas when we went visiting tons of new people, but it was at their house. We jut moved to pittsburgh over the summer and don't have many close friends, but when I had 7 adults and 3 children over (coworkers and family) he was again a bit nervous but warmed up fairly quickly to most of the guests (just the children took quite a while, but we know he's not fond of loud short people like kids)
If he meets people other than our place he may not approach them or like them approaching him, but he basically just walks by them or stops to watch them but doesn't seek out attention. And like I said going to other houses was okay before, he just needed a safe place to go to when he wanted to get away.
Do you think it was just the weird gestures that caused his discomfort? we stopped having people stand up to act things out because I didn't want to make Sammy any more nervous. When we were playing other categories he was laying down on his bed I brought out of the bedroom. He seems okay with most people within an hour or two of coming into our place, this is the first time he's woofed in such a way, but DH and I could do whatever we wanted and he was fine.
Obviously he wasn't socialized properly as a pup, but I didn't have control over that. Other than inviting folks over constantly to try to condition him to liking it, is there anything else I should try?