Some pets are shier than others when it comes to human contact. They allow one or two people to come around them, but they aren’t too keen on the rest of the world. This may be the result of abuse in the past or a lack of exposure to humans. In some cases, a pet will just have a skittish personality. My cat runs and hides whenever someone new comes into the room, but he is the cuddliest little thing around my husband and me. I have found certain ways to get him to accept new people in the room, so now he is able to show his true colors when other people are around. Here are some tricks that I have learned over the years to get a skittish pet to accept human contact better.
The way I got my cat to start trusting me is by picking him up, holding him for a moment, putting him down, and petting him to show that everything was okay. You obviously can’t do this with a huge dog, but you can with a lot of small pets. This shows your pet that you aren’t necessarily picking him or her up to put him or her in a cage or something. You just want to show him or her a little love. If your pet gets used to this idea, he or she will be more likely to come to you in the future. This will help you guys warm up to one another in the end.
Play Games from a Distance
Another way that I got my cat used to human contact is by playing games with him that did not require direct contact. For cats, this is something like laser tag or playing with a string on a stick. For dogs, it may be more like playing fetch or spraying the dog with the sprinkler. If you can get the pet to play from afar, you may be able to get him or her to play up close. Then you will allow him or her to be more and more familiar with working with humans.
Introduce the Pet to Other People
If your pet is comfortable with you but not anyone else, you can use your powers to help him or her get used to other people. Whenever I know someone is coming over, I will pick up my cat and let that person pet him on the cheek. The cat fights this at first, but eventually he gives in and at least tolerates the petting. By showing my cat that I trust someone else, I give him the confidence to trust that person as well. I tested this with my mother one time, and he was sleeping on her lap before the day was up. With a little bit of effort, you can make a big difference in the way your pet reacts to people.
Some cats and dogs never get over whatever happened in their past to make them skittish. Others just need to see that humans are good people, and then they turn right around. If you adopt a pet from a rescue shelter, just expect him or her to be scared for the first few days. Hopefully you can eventually turn your pet into the social butterfly you want it to be. My cat has done well with the tricks above. Maybe yours can too. You won’t know that though until you actually give them a try.










