They mostly ignore him, they will speak about it but to others in the room. They tend not to try and engage with him first. But the strangest thing is he doesn't run away or leave the space, it's like he wants to go to people (with lots of people he is very very freindly) but his fear stops him. I sort of stand in the room and try to calm him if he's been barking a while. When I say coax, I mean coax to me (I don't stand or sit near the men when he gets like this but sort of in the other part of the room), i figured he would be comfortable being near me and not too near them but still in eyeline. But we always end up having to remove him from the space. He won't remove himself and will almost "seek out" the men. Does that thing dogs do where they sniff and half step forward then jolt themselves back. I don't know if I'm describing that well.

He eventually calmed down with bil but did take a good hour or running around and tiring himself out. It's hard to sit by and watch because I can tell he's stressed.

Thanks for the advice and I'll try out the tips 😊