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Let’s say your dog is scared of men. If you want to resolve this quickly, then whenever possible, your dog should only eat in the presence of men, first hand-fed by you and other family members and then by familiar men to teach your dog the "game" of classical conditioning, for use with unfamiliar men.

Now invite over a male friend that your dog has never met before. Start by hand-feeding your dog only while the man is present. Have the man leave the room for a couple of minutes, then re-enter and hang out for a couple of minutes, then exit again, over and over. 

Whenever he comes in, praise your dog as sweetly as possible and hand-feed pieces of food, one at a time. "Who's my good, brave doggy? Yes, it's you, you're so brave" Whenever the man walks out of the room, ignore your dog. After several repetitions, your friend can enter the room and take a couple of steps towards your dog. Increase your praise and the number of treats you give to reflect this increased presence. 

The man should keep exiting and entering the room, occasionally coming a little closer to your dog while keeping his body language non-threatening and refraining from making eye contact. Once your dog grows more comfortable and relaxed, the man can toss a piece of food to your dog. This is the perfect time to use an extra tasty treat. If your dog takes the piece of food that the man tosses, then you can try to work your way up to having the man hand-feed your dog. 

When dogs are apprehensive about approaching, they tentatively come to a precise distance and then stand still and maybe stretch out their neck to reach for the food. The man should not try to lure your dog closer than your dog is comfortable with, otherwise, if your dog does take the food, they are now faced with a person's hand that is too close for comfort, and the food, which was making the hand less threatening is now gone. Instead, instruct the man to hold several pieces of food in his hand but only give the food one piece at a time, and to withdraw his hand before it's empty. 

Another useful tip is for the man to toss a piece of kibble over your dog's head to lure your dog to retreat. Then he can toss three extra-tasty treats between himself and your dog to reward your dog for approaching. Ask your friend to repeat this over and over until your dog eagerly approaches and happily accepts a treat. 

Now, instruct the man to ask your dog to come and sit and then offer a number of treats. This is an extremely powerful and revealing temperament test and confidence building exercise. Approaching, sitting and taking a treat are all signs that your dog is relaxed around that particular person. 

Ask the man to hand-feed your dog the rest of their meal by repeatedly backing up and luring your dog to approach and sit and stay. 

In just one session, you will probably see a huge amount of improvement. Ask the man to visit again, to hand feed additional meals, until your dog is entirely at ease with this man.

Meanwhile, enlist another male friend to come over, and another, and another until your dog is comfortable taking food from several of your male friends, in the safety of your home. As your dog gets comfortable taking food from your male friends, you can ask them to gently start handling your dog while hand-feeding. You can also invite more than one man over at one time. 

Once your dog is comfortable being handled and trained by several of your male friends in your home, you're ready to go out and about. Ask those same friends if they can space out and walk around the block while you and your dog sit on a bench together. Each time a man walks by, praise your dog for being brave and offer your dog several pieces of kibble, one at a time. When there are no men present, ignore your dog. 

After a few walk-bys by all of your male friends, teach your dog Polite Greetings. Ask one as he's walking by, "Would you like to say hi to my dog?" When he says "Yes" you say "Say Hello" to your dog at which point your friend asks your dog to Come and Sit, and then offers some food treats. Praise your dog the whole time and keep the interactions very short, less than 30 seconds, at which point your friend should continue on their way.

Over time your dog will grow fond of this core group of male friends because they will associate them with food and praise. Keep looking for more men you can safely introduce your dog to. Friends of friends and friends of family and maybe some friendly neighbors. As your dog develops a positive association with more men, their confidence and comfort level around men, in general, will rise. But you need to remain vigilant. 

If an unfamiliar man gets too friendly and handles or approaches your dog too quickly it may be upsetting even after you've gently introduced your dog to a lot of men. Make sure any new man your dog is going to meet knows how to stand still and lure your dog to come and sit.

You can use this same basic method to teach your dog to enjoy all sorts of people – women, children, delivery people, people in uniforms, people wearing sunglasses, or hats, or carrying sticks, or umbrellas and people of different races, or people in wheelchairs, and on and on. If your dog develops a phobia around certain any specific sort of person, this is how you can resolve it.

It is essential that dogs are comfortable around all people, otherwise, each day, they'll be suffering from the unnecessary anxiety and stress of confronting their biggest fear: People!