My Labrador frightened of walking on laminate floors

[bluepencilstoo]

My 2 half year old Labrador has suddenly become scared of walking on laminate floor - it started yesterday at the house of some friends with laminate flooring in their dining kitchen and he slipped and slid and from then he wouldn't go into the room and stood watching us at the doorway. He was the same st my daughters house today although we've not noticed him doing this before.

He's a young healthy energetic boy who loves swimming and chasing his ball any ideas on what we can do?

My best friend is a vet and sees a lot of dogs because they have slipped on laminate floors and have hurt their hips. Some pets really pull/tear the joint when they slip like that and pets who live in a home with them commonly pick up injuries from it (according to my vet friend). She says it a particular nightmare as they get older and have less strength, but a young dog can have a bad time as they may do it at greater speed especially if they aren't familiar with the lack of grip. So your problem is not unusual. Poor doggos.
Sounds like it hurt him and now he's wary.
What to do... Not sure if you mean to help him recover from the slip or overcome his fear. I'd probably talk to my vet about the former, not sure about the latter.

Ours goes through spells of this if she encounters a slippy floor somewhere. Just keep reassuring but let him figure it out in his own time and they tend to get over it after a few days.

There was an episode on tv about a lab with same problem. Can't remember what it was called though. The trainer put the dogs favourite mat next to the carpet so the dog didn't have to step on laminate to get to it. Then gradually moved the mat further away. Wish I could remember what it was called.

He’s in pain/scared of the pain. Put mats/runners down.

Would it be possible to make him tiny grip socks out of repurposed trampoline Park socks?

Yep, our lab was like this after he did his ACL on our then laminate floor in his excitement on the day we moved in. We had to have rugs put down and it was a nightmare going out and about to anywhere with hard floors (pubs etc). It lasted for about three years until one day he just seemed to "forget" and started behaving normally again.

You can actually buy dog grip socks although ours would have nothing to do with them.

Yes @Bogeyes it was an episode of Dogs Behaving Very Badly it’s on Netflix.

Laminate floor is a really bad surface for dogs. Put rugs or runners down.

Rugs. Have runners leading to his favourite places and usual routes.

He's just realised that he's standing on a ice rink in slippery shoes, but he can't hold onto the sides.

Thank you everyone I'll look for some mats and runners and talk to the vet next time we go there just in case he's hurt himself

Vet check to make sure he's not in pain - ideally sooner rather than later.

Then yes, mats or rugs - laminate floors and dogs are not a good (or particularly safe) combination.