Dog that won’t walk

[Scaredypup]

Has anyone had a dog that is terrified outside and managed to successfully resolve it? I have a behaviourist coming but not for quite some time.

Pup is 6 months but this is much more than normal puppy skittishness. If I put her in the car and drive to a big open park she’s generally fine, but I can only really do this at weekends.

She is so so scared of everything in the world that she won’t go for a walk. Physically won’t move. Will shake, cower against walls, or cry and pull towards home. She’s scared of traffic, loud noises, builders, some people, deliveries, busy roads, quiet roads, aeroplanes, helicopters. For reference, we live in central London so there’s no escaping these things.

I just need some hope that I’ll one day be able to bring her out or on the school run.

How much socialising did you do when she was tiny?

I’d be getting in touch with a one on one behaviourist asap. This is the path to a very reactive dog, and at 6 months it’s something you can absolutely solve with the correct help.

What breed is she?

The key socialisation period is really up to sixteen weeks of age. That's not to say you can't socialise dogs who are older, but ideally you need to get all that positive association with cars, noise etc. in early.

What happened in those early weeks? How much work did you do to get her socialised and used to the outside world?

If she's a rescue, what's her background like?

There is a Channel 5 programme called Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly and this problem was dealt with recently. You will be able to find it on Catch Up but I can't find the exact episode.

I thought I done everything correctly with socialising. I’ve had her since 8 weeks. Took her out in a sling but she wasn’t allowed to walk until over 13 weeks due to vaccinations. The only thing I can think of is it may have been too overwhelming too early on, like I over socialised her and she developed a negative association.

As I said, behaviourist can’t come until May so quite a while.

The episode of dogs behaving badly, if it’s the one I’m thinking of with a spaniel, involved just taking him to a park in the car, which is what I do. But there was nothing on if they managed to ever walk him normally.

Yes I do worry she’ll become reactive although she shows no signs yet. She loves dogs, too much. Which is strange because they’re probably the thing I socialised her with least as we don’t know anyone with dogs.

There was a dog that wouldn't walk at all. It was the owners that he retrained not the dog, they were inadvertently making him anxious but I can't remember the details.

I do remember the Dogs Behaving Badly episode. The owners were making the dog nervous by being nervous themselves and rewarding him for being nervous, by making a fuss of him and picking him up when he got scared. Graeme taught the woman owner to walk like the queen of her town, very confident, and the dog realised that owner was in charge and not worried so dog didn’t have to worry.

I wouldn't follow any advice from Graeme Hall.

You want a proper qualified behaviourist from a reputable organisation as if you do something wrong with a nervous dog, you can very easily end up with an aggressive dog.

I also wouldn't follow anything on dogs behaving badly, unless you want to make your dog worse.

What kind of dog is she? Did you meet her mother? What was her temperament? Is there a chance you could have gotten her from a puppy farm?

I think you need to totally adjust your expectations. It sounds like she'll never be comfortable going on the school run.

I think carrying worried puppies makes them more anxious. Better to keep a very young pup in the house and garden meeting people and meeting friend’s vaccinated dogs.
Anyway, you are beyond that stage. My dog was afraid of some of the things you mention, she was very frightened of large vehicles, would cower and refuse to walk etc. She was terrified of helicopters. We live rurally but we do get helicopters occasionally and we get some large vehicles going through the village.
My dog wasn’t afraid of delivery people, or any people actually, or dogs. But very disturbed by loud noises. I would stand with her if she didn’t want to move , due to a passing vehicle . I put her in a secure harness as I was worried she might wriggle out and bolt, and I always made sure I was holding her lead properly as she would suddenly pull. With helicopters the same. With road workers drilling I would choose another way to walk. She just got better over time. I didn’t fuss over her, or force her to walk. She was and still is (middle aged now) a sensitive dog. Some things remain, she still does not like things like car transporters or large lorries and will cringe but cheerfully carry on once they have passed. She really hates fireworks, and loud noises overhead , she is very afraid of underpasses. I think she is particularly noise sensitive, has very acute hearing - we took her to a little sheltered harbour once years ago, there were people jumping in and it made a loud, echoing, booming noise that completely terrified her, we did have to simply turn back as she was so frightened , in a complete state of panic. I would not take her near an underpass after a similar experience. Some dogs, and some breeds, are more noise sensitive than others. In your place I would work on the fears around people, eg deliveries, and gradually work on quiet roads and then up towards more busy roads. My dog was probably the worst at around 6 -12 months. Short walks, staying calm, lots of positive reinforcement, a little treat when she is calmer etc. A treat when someone comes to the door.
I didn’t see a behaviourist as it wasn’t such a huge concern for me, I could understand why she was frightened, and I suppose I hoped she would get less worried over time, which is what happened. As your dog is facing multiple stressors on most walks then a bit of help and support from a gentle behaviourist would be good I think.
DH took ddog out a few days ago and someone started shooting (we weren’t at home, she isn’t used to gunshot and it happened very suddenly) and she was very frightened and had to come home. So to some degree that is just her temperament. But she is much more relaxed about things she hears regularly.

Can you try and find another behaviourist sooner. That is a long time off.

We had a behaviourist for our anxious dog. (We socialised - behaviourist said it was genetic and a sister is also anxious). We had to keep our dog in for a week to get the stress hormones out of her system then we very very gradually reintroduced the outside world.

I would recommend the Dog Training and Advice group on Facebook if you are on there. It's run by professional behaviourists and could help you find another trainer as well as offer advice

@DrNo007

I do remember the Dogs Behaving Badly episode. The owners were making the dog nervous by being nervous themselves and rewarding him for being nervous, by making a fuss of him and picking him up when he got scared. Graeme taught the woman owner to walk like the queen of her town, very confident, and the dog realised that owner was in charge and not worried so dog didn’t have to worry.

Thats is what he always says - it is the owners making the dog nervous- generally it is bollock advice as all the dogs were nervous before the owner started behaving like they do.

Tbh most of Graeme Hall advice is bollocks. Yep even the speaker in the gnome episode - wtf!

OP this will be nothing to do with you. An awful lot happens to pupies before owners get to socialise them. More likely this is a genetic reaction. I agree that over socialising can be more of an issue than undersocialising.

While waiting for the behavourist do take things easy do not push or encourage your puppy to do things. Keep everything low key and if possible fear free.

How does she react to the noises etc in the home?

Behaviourist is now coming in April thankfully.

I met Mum and Dad and siblings that I’m still in touch with seem ok.

I was out for an hour with her today and we got no further than 30 seconds away from home.

I am on the Facebook group and have been advised to not expose her to her fears. We can’t go anywhere really.

My rescue was terrified of absolutely everything.
I started by simply standing in the front doorway with her on a lead doing nothing. We watched people walk by, cars passing etc then over the next couple of weeks progressed to stepping a couple of feet outside and gradually increasing until we were on the pavement. She was happy in the back garden so that was her safe space.
It took weeks before she’d walk around the block, now she’s fine anywhere (it’s taken 6 months to get her happy in the car, strange places etc).

I didn’t go anywhere for the first 3 months really.

Is she ok with other dogs? Do you have any friends with a dog you could try walking her with.

No idea if it’s advised but one of our dogs is very nervous if walked alone. Not to the extent yours is, but she’ll hide behind our legs if anyone passes, will stop walking and shake of a car goes past. A lorry can mean the end of a walk as she’s just so frightened. But if we walk her with our other dog, she’s much more confident, her tail still goes down if there’s any cars but she’ll carry on and she’s back to wagging when it’s passed.

I hope you find a solution and hopefully the behaviourist will really help.

I wouldn't follow any advice from Graeme Hall.

I’ve seen similar comments on here but I’ve never seen an explanation of why? Please can someone explain why he has such a bad reputation? Be gentle, I’m a pretty new dog owner

@BunnyRuddington

I wouldn't follow any advice from Graeme Hall.

I’ve seen similar comments on here but I’ve never seen an explanation of why? Please can someone explain why he has such a bad reputation? Be gentle, I’m a pretty new dog owner

Because he's not a qualified trainer or behaviourist.

Yeah I agree about Grahame Hall, I like watching them but sometimes it just seems like common sense or fixing things temporarily without getting to the root cause.

We don’t have a garden so getting out is essential. We’ve got an enclosed space just across the road so I take her there and she’s generally ok in there. Definitely worse on her lead.

I don’t really have any friends with dogs but I’ve met a couple of nice people who have tried to walk with me but she just gets so excited by the other dog that she’s jumping all over them rather than walking. But it’s probably worth trying again.

@YanTanTetheraPetheraPimp glad to hear it improved for you. In 4 months I’ve had no improvement, this is why I need the behaviourist. We’re just stuck going outside to the grass across the road or in the car to a big park. Haven’t made any progress with roads.

Hi there - I haven't had this exact problem but I've had a very nervous sound phobic dog who I got as an adult. I don't know if anything of this would help with your situation but you say she loves other dogs. Have you thought of taking her out with someone with a calm dog? Sometimes they really look to each other and look to see how the other is reacting? Particularly if you take them together regularly and they can form some kind of bond?

In the early days I used to tag onto dogwalkers and ask if they minded me walking with them as my dog drew a lot of confidence from the group. This isn't practical on the street but another calm dog might be possible.

I would also say in my dogs case overwhelming him was very counterproductive. I'd try and do positive things with the things that scare her at quite a distance and gradually as she increases in confidence getting closer to the things. My dog was frightened of kites. I took him to a place to watch them from a great distance. Then over time ( I mean weeks) got him so he was comfortable nearer. And ended up being able to walk him right next to flying kites no bother. It does take a lot of patience and to really work backwards and to build up really slowly. I think maybe you need to have a very gradual slow plan. Think of it a bit like a phobia. Actually phobias are curable. But it takes very gradual build up and to build her confidence. This sounds like it could at least partially be fear of noises. I do think it's a bit unfair to have a dog you only take to the park at the weekends - how else were you planning to exercise her every day? Walking along the roads on the lead isn't really ideal as daily exercise. Most dogs need a certain amount of free running. I'd try and find somewhere you can get to daily where she can relax and enjoy being out.

Just in terms of giving you hope my dog was frightened of traffic and also kites and even someone moving stones in their garden. He definitely got hugely better and was fine with traffic and city noise out about about in our area in the end but it was hard at the beginning. He remained scared of startling noises though. We got a younger dog is his later years who is not scared of noise. This made a huge difference and greatly increased his confidence. I am not suggesting getting another dog - but definitely worth seeing if walking with another calm dog might help. I hope you can help her - it's sad when they are so scared. Best of luck OP.

@PollyRoulllson she’s ok with noises at home. Wasn’t even phased by fireworks strangely enough. It’s outside that’s the problem.

Unfortunately this evening I had to take her out. She’d already been on her own today for a while and I didn’t want to leave her again. If I was on my own she physically wouldn’t have come but the kids were there so she followed them but was clearly terrified so I’ll probably keep her In for a couple of days.

To clear one thing up you can not reinforce fear. So it is perfectly fine to pick up a scared dog. In fact I train any little dogs I have to put their paws on my feet if they want to be picked up, says them reacting and they know they will be safe.

OP It is impossible to give advice as we can not see the situation in real life but there are loads of confidence building games etc that you will be able to do underthreshold with your dog. These can make a huge improvement to nervous dogs.

I would get a vet check soon (you behavourist shuld ask for one anyway - if they dont change behavourist). If it werer my dog I would want full bloods done and a full check over. (hoping of course that this will not stress your dog out more)

You say you cant go anywhere at the moment but is she is ok just watching at things outside of the house and maybe in the garden being held that would be good BUT only if she is below threshold and not looking at all stressed.

You can make huge improvements with nervous dogs but do have to go at their pace and have patience.

Just seeing your last post is it mainly the traffic and traffic noise that is the issue?

That can be sorted if it is.

@Hadtocomment I have a nice park a 5 minute walk away with an enclosed dog park in it too tnat I thought we’d go to daily, but she won’t walk there. I can’t drive there as there’s no parking. So I’m limited to driving elsewhere on weekends and taking her to the tiny one over the road during the week. It’s hard where we live to have off lead walks though. Even the dog park is always full of large dogs. We don’t have fields or woods or anything.

I think what you have said is the way forward though. I’m just not sure where to begin.