Dog suddenly scared of walks

[Olive736]

So, we have the most delightful rescue Parson Terrier, who will be three in November. We have had him about 15 months. He has severe separation anxiety (we continue to work with a behaviourist on this) and is generally just quite anxious.

One thing he has always loved is his walks. We live in the country, so lots of places to walk. However, about a week ago, he stopped wanting to go out/actively pulled whoever was walking him around a short walk and back home.

The only things we can think are: shotgun shots spooked him, and he really dislikes motorbikes backfiring (and he did get a bit freaked by this around the time.)

Does anyone know how we can help him get his love of going for walks back? We could try driving somewhere different, and trying there (but he really hates the car.)

Have a look at Dogs Behaving (very) Badly. The man on it is marvellous with dogs. (GRAEME HALL) He's got a website with advice - The DogFather

Please don't do this.

Graeme has no qualifications and a lot of his advice is downright dangerous.

Any sudden and ongoing change in behaviour requires a vet visit to rule out pain - only then should you look at behaviour and what can be done to improve things.

Take it slowly and use same principle as young pup. Short walks, lots of (high value treats) and praise.

Also, walk away from gunshot noise area.

Graeme Hall is Channel 4 TV's "Dogs Behaving Badly' Dogfather He's acknowledged by the media as one of the UK's top dog trainers. He helps with dog training, puppy training & dog behaviour problems through 121 training and seminars.

Graeme's trained thousands of dogs of all breeds and is one of few dog trainers chosen by the Hollywood film industry. Graeme has regularly features in the media, including BBC radio and ITN News. You may have read his monthly column in Countryside magazine. Graeme's a Master Trainer with The Guild of Dog Trainers and he's worked as far afield as Australia and New Zealand too.

The media also said that none of the UNWRA staff were involved in the atrocities last October - and we now know they 100% were. So let's take what the media say, on ANYTHING, with a heavy pinch of salt.

I'd be more likely to take advice from the local drunk than I would any of these 'professionals' in the media. Lots of them are there because they have a good PR team rather than have any actual qualifications or understand dogs at all. They regularly threatened to sue people who call them out on their poor attitude towards dogs. https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/thedoghouse/5002250-graeme-hall-dogfather

Honestly, if OP already has a behaviourist in then and the dogs behaviour is improving then OP should 100% stick with that one and not go in search of other people. But, as PP said, she should go to a vet first to rule out anything serious - particularly if the behaviour change is sudden.

Terriers can be sensitive souls and if he has SA then it's likely something has spooked him.

I'd be inclined to pop his lead or harness on and just sit by the front door for a bit and let him make the moves. I'd also reward for any 'bravery' so don't lure but chuck a treat down if he chooses to move or engage. It needs to be at his pace.

A vet check would be advised as it may be pain related but likely to be something has scared him. For such tough dogs they can be very sensitive.

Is he a ball-o-holic like my PRT? If so, perhaps an extremely short ball-centred walk might help him to take the first steps back towards relative confidence. And by extremely short I mean just out the gate and back to begin with.

Both of my PRTs have been very wary creatures. The first unfortunately didn't come to me until four months and had already lost a crucial window for building confidence. He remained reactive to other dogs all his life and I had to take great care.

The second (also now three) has luckily had a rather blessed life and has managed to build up a reasonably confident persona. But ANYTHING bad that happens, he carves onto his soul and never forgets.

Their capacity for joy-through-prey-play is PRT's saving feature. Focus on that as hard as you can. And remember to be very quietly calmly gently firm: don't reward fear by speaking kindly. Try not to react to fear in any way that the dog can perceive; just reward forward movement with lovely play.

All irrelevant. He's not recognised by any accredited body and has no actual qualifications to his name.

My Parson's was also a sensitive soul (when he wasn't being and absolute little bugger). Distant shotguns, bird scarers etc used to put him into full quiver mode then he'd drag me bag home. Fortunately it didn't happen to often but we never managed to completely eradicate it.