won't leave the street

[brady]

We have been walking Brady for months (he is 9 months old). Up until about 4 weeks ago he would walk with us, no problem. Now he will get to a certain part of the street and go no further. He gets scared and wants to go right back home. His whole expression changes. We live on dead end street and think the cars that go by at the bottom of the street may scare him. Should we force him to go further gradually? He can be such a scaredy cat.

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

There must be something there is bothering her. Is there anything different about that part of the street? It probably would not do much good to force her. One of my labs spooks easily, and once she gets frightened, the only thing I can do with her is to remove her from the situation. But keep trying, maybe something will change without you realizing and the situation will correct itself.

 

[Kodiak]

Could there possibly be a scent that Brady is picking up that might be spooking him, even though you can't detect it. Has anyone sprayed or put chemicals on their lawns? Have you tried walking on the other side of the street? I agree with Lynn that there is something there bothering him that he's uncomfortable with.

Brenda and Kodi

 

[Lucy & Wilsons mom]

Try going the same route with a freind who has a dog Brady gets on with, and when you get to the point Brady usually gets scared at make sure you havent acted differently, eg no extra fuss, just to make sure your not reinforcing that theres something to be scared of there. With another dog to concentrate on she may forget to be scared in the first place or she might just see that the other dog isnt scared and follow.

 

[brady]

There could be a scent, I didn't think of that. It is funny, he will go to the exact spot and turn. He looks up at the telephone wires and runs. There may have been a bird or something up there one day and it spooked him. We will just be patient with him, we just want him to go off the street because he is one handsome boy and want to show him off!!

 

[dbradley]

Great idea from Lucy and Wilson's mom! That's what I did when Olivia was scared of Moya...brought other kids over to show her it was OK.

I read somewhere that adolescent dogs go through flaky periods where they are suddenly scared of ordinary things.

[ 08-21-2002, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: NutzyCat ]

 

[misamala00]

Dogs get scared easilly and it's difficult for us to tell them it's O.K.
I wouldn't force Brady if he doesn't wanna go further. But I would try one trick - I would give his leash to someone he doesn't know (but that one needs to know how to handle dogs) and walk further down the street by myself. I would friendly call Brady to come along. (The guy behind his leash is just to make sure he doesn't go to the street, otherwise he should just folow Brady wherever he wanted to go)
Maybe if he's not too scared his need to be with you would take over his fear.

There's no guarantee this would work, but it's something I would try.

Good luck
Mirjam

 

[bearbearsmom]

Good idea about walking with a companion if you can. When I was first teaching Bear to walk on a leash I would take him out alone and he would literally flop down our driveway like a fish out of water and roll and sit and do all sorts of strange things ... then, being the brainy person that I am ... I decided to take my husband's dog along with us and WOW, he walked like a champ, forgot he was afraid of the leash and thought it was just the greatest thing ever !! Maybe it will just take a couple of times going by this particular spot and all will be forgotten. Good Luck - I know the feeling of wanting to show off. I happen to like to go to Pet Smart with Bear (all my neighbors have seen him already

) The cashiers probably think we have no life at all !!!

Nancy and Bear

 

[Annie Milliron]

Great idea about walking with a friend... the distraction of having a buddy along may help. If not, I wouldn't force it. Something must have happened to frighten Brady... something that you probably weren't even aware of. We have a flag haning by our porch. I used to change it for different seasons and holidays. Everytime I did, Cora got really spooked, and would cower as she ran buy it. Now I have a Newf flag, and never change it and it's not a problem.. she's used to it.

Last year, during the holidays, when Russell would be walking Kira... they would walk up a hill, and in the yard of the house at the top was a large lighted snowman. They kept it out all winter... and Kira would stop and stare it down every single time... she never realized that it was in the exact same place and position. To this day, when we walk by, she stops and stares!

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

Something caught my eye in one of your posts about Brady, Pat. You mentioned that when he gets to this certain point on the street, ..."he looks up at the telepone wires and runs". It reminded me of where I used to live. When I would walk my dogs, there was a particular spot where the telephone wires had a humming sound. Once I passed that spot, it was gone. I never knew what it was, but I definately could hear it. This pole, in your neighborhood may not be quite loud enough for you to detect, but maybe Brady is hearing it. Especially if he was not previously hearing it, then suddently it starts as you approach that area. Maybe next time you are there, try to listen closly. Now that you are aware of this, you may be able to pick it up. Or if you do go with a friend, maybe they can hear it. The pole may even be farther up the street and that is where he is just beginning to pick up the sound. You may have to walk farther up, by yourself to actually hear it.

 

[Annie Milliron]

WOW Lynn!!!! Good thinking!!! Very intuitive!!!!!

 

[brady]

I never gave that a thought!!!! You guys are so great.
We are going to have someone else walk with us, anything is worth a try. Our street is rather boring!!

 

[Jeannie]

Some dogs are afraid of sounds they don't understand. Take Sam for example. One day driving to Dayton as I was merging onto the interstate I ran over those ripples in the road. Scared Sam to death. I know because at that time we had a pickup with a top on it. It had the sliding window so she could stick her head into the cab of the truck. Anyway she jumped through that little window. That was 2 years ago. To this day when we are driving to Dayton and I am merging onto the interstate she gets aggitated until we get past that area. My question is How does she know were we are? That "spot" is about 20 miles into our journey. But she knows!!

 

[Annie Milliron]

I have no doubt that Sam would know!