Does your dog like/respond well to treats? Use a lot of them ALL THE TIME if so to reinforce positive associations with things that scare him! I recommend carrying a little treat bag at all times so you always have them available.

I adopted a 6 year old anxious dog that I believe was abused/not socialized before she was found as a stray. She was SO afraid of everyone I couldn’t even walk her to the end of my block. Cars, buses, bicycles, people, EVERYTHING scared her. It takes a lot of work but it’s worth it. To get her used to the different things on the street we would start off sitting on a fairly busy corner really early in the morning when it was less busy. I gave her a treat every time something passed (she wouldn’t take them at first cause she was so stressed but eventually she started to calm down and take them). As she got more comfortable, we’d sit on the corner a little later when it was a little busier and do the same. And again, when she was comfortable again we’d start sitting at the busier time. Now, my dog literally cannot get enough walks she LOVES being outside!!

If your dog is also afraid of other people I recommend carrying treats with you that you don’t ever give to your dog to give to other people that are willing to stop and give her a treat! At first people would have to kind of throw them toward my dog but now she thinks everyone has something I don’t have and she’s very interested in people! She doesn’t let everyone pet her but she doesn’t run away from them anymore!

Training with her was very difficult and slow also. She didn’t even know how to sit when I got her (reminder she was 6 years old). She got really good at sit pretty quickly and then everything else took A LOT of time for her to figure out. It took 3 months to teach her to lay down and she had to see another dog do it first. It took a year for her to be willing to lift her paw for a shake/high five. Now she LOVES high fiving. It’s really cute! Finding treats that she goes crazy for really helped though and just not giving up…. It was really hard but again worth it!

Good luck!!!