Lockdown has caused anxiety in our dog

[After8itsgrownuptime]

Our 10 month old cockapoo has developed a fear of traffic and main roads during lockdown. She was ok Pre lockdown and during lockdown when the roads were quiet, but now that they are busy again she is awful. She will pull and strain on the lead to get away from the road, sit down and refuse to move and if I go to cuddle and calm her, I can feel her physically shaking with fear. I don’t know what to do for the best. I have tried carrying on as normal and making her do the main roads but she is so unhappy. Any advice appreciated

Have you tried positive association?

So, go and sit on a bench near a quiet road and arm yourself with yummy treats. When traffic goes by and she remains calm, praise and treat her. Increase the level of traffic slowly and she should start associating traffic with treats.

It is hard - I walk a Rottweiler who has a fear of traffic. I can use treats but sometimes she's so worked up that hiding behind a car or wall is all that will work! Unfortunately she's not my dog so there's very little I can do with her in terms of training if her owners won't keep it up.

Thanks for the tip. I did wonder about doing that. Maybe find a bench somewhere and just build
Up the time we sit there. It’s worth a try

The bench is a good idea. In my case we moved from a country village to a city when dog was 6 months and he had some struggles. I basically took him on short walks down roads going from very quiet to very busy over a few weeks. He’ll happily walk anywhere now.

If your dog is showing any signs of distress you MUST move further away from the traffic (or you will make the situation worse).

You need to observe the traffic from a place of calm - it may be just listening to traffic to start with.