Why is my dog suddenly refusing to go with dog walker?

[hm1610]

I have 2 littermates sharpei/retriever mix, mostly sharpei. They are 9 and have been with this walker for 4+ years.

Within the last month (twice last week) my male has refused to leave the house to go on walk, they usually go mon-fri on group walk for 1 hour in the morning. My female is fine however male on each occasion has pulled back into house.

I've noticed what I think is the start of cataract in 1 eye around 4/5 weeks ago however no other changes in him at all. We are booked to see the vet tomorrow, could he just be a bit old and tired?

Does he refuse to walk with you as well? If not, perhaps something happened with the dog walker or with one of the other dogs they walk, or on one of the walks? Has the dog walker noticed anything?

Has the dog walker got a new van? Or different van set up?

Given his age and breed, I'd put my money on joint pain.
Does he have to jump in a van, or be around rowdy dogs? Is he walked far?
I'd be scheduling a vet check.

There is a new van set up I believe, yes.

Dog walker hasn't noticed anything, said both are very lively on walks. They messaged tonight to check in as I asked last week on the last occasion it happened for him not to be walked at the moment until he has seen vet as I don't want to stress him.

We have a vet appt tomorrow.

Its a small van, not too high to jump and happily jumps on couch when I leave the room still even though he knows he's not allowed🙄

He is big for his breed, 35kg. If joint pain would he give any other indication of this, things I can look out for?

For joint pain - sighing when changing position e.g from lying to standing, less keen to play with boisterous dogs (although if he enjoys play his enjoyment may override the pain), behavioural changes such as being more grumpy in general, sleeping more (because the quality of his sleep isn't so good), plus the more obvious stuff like being stiff for few steps before getting going. Great that you're getting him checked.

But as there has been a van change I think this could be a big factor.

Thank you for taking the time to reply - I appreciate it. I will bare all this in mind and hopefully have some more answers from vet tomorrow.

Should I ask for blood tests or anything else specific at the vet?

Agree the van change could be it. My dog started running away from the dog walker when she came to collect her. We realised the new van had a sliding door, same as the dog grooming van that my dog hates! Took her in a few times with treats etc and all sorted. They’re funny little things sometimes!

@hm1610 I'd ask them to check specifically for pain, especially elbows, hips and back. Blood tests probably aren't necessary unless there's something else the vet or you are concerned about (although if they find pain and want to put him on meds they may want to do a blood test to check his liver and kidney function first). Best of luck!

One of my dogs did this but it was with us, not a dog walker.

It turned out she had cardiomyopathy. She couldnt walk far and sometimes couldn't walk at all, but had no other way to tell us, other than sitting down and refusing to walk.

I really hope that's not the answer for your dog, but just thought I'd mention it. We couldn't work out what had happened to make her so disinclined to walk, though. So thought it was worth mentioning.

Thank you for all your advice!

About the van change, wouldn't that be an issue every day rather than just on the odd occasion?

A friend's dog had kidney issues that manifested initially like this.

Are there any new dogs in the group that are in the van on certain days?

How did you get on at the vets today @hm1610 ?

Or he’s just being a bloody shar-pei 😊 (mine used to just plonk herself down and refuse to walk if she didn’t fancy it).

But seriously hope it went ok at the vets.

Hope the vet trip helped give some answers

we have a small dog, on occasion he has a bit of pain (got him checked at the vets). Likely from overdoing things/jumping up in his case,
. The sign for him is slowing down on walks to about a third of the usual speed. As soon as we spot it we cut the walks right back and let him walk at his own speed. It’s happened a couple of times but resolved with pain relief and rest.
anyway is is possible your boy had similar on a walk but had to keep up with the other dogs and it made him a bit anxious? So on days he isn’t feeling 100% he hangs back at the house?

Hi all! Thank you for checking in with us.

So it turns out I was wrong in suspecting the start of cataract and he in fact has an eye ulcer and infection, as well as his eye lashes turning in a causing further irritation (he previously had eyes tacked as a pup then entropian surgery a few years later and hasn't had any bother since).

He has been given antibiotic drops, a cornea repair drop as well as painkillers. We are back for check up a week today. The vet said it could take 2-3 weeks to clear and may potentially need surgery but we won't know that until he's tried the treatment first.

I don't know if this is the reason for the walk refusals however I have asked for him not to be walked in the meantime to avoid further damage until we can get this cleared up, I imagine it must be quite painful so it could explain it but I don't know how I'd know for sure!

Aah bless him hopefully the pain killers will help him quickly whilst the treatment takes effect

Aww poor boy - hope the meds work with no need for surgery

Ouch! Bless him.

I wonder if it was affecting his vision and making him feel anxious, poor thing.

Oh poor thing. Wishing him a quick recovery.

Update! After completing course of both medications vet confirmed ulcer had healed.

I then asked dog walker to try and resume his walks from the beginning of this week... he bounded out the first day but has then never gone again since. (His sister has still gone daily on walk days).

He had a follow up today with vet to have dry eye test done which confirmed he has this in 1 eye which is apparently uncommon. He is to have false tears administered daily as well as optimmune likely for the rest of his life.

I've still seen no behavioural or eating changes at home so have asked dog walker if other walker (there are 2 of them, their original one is no longer the one who collects them however this isn't a new thing) can try doing pick up one day as he is also a behaviourist so will update again once this has happened.

Apparently he leaves the house fine but just won't get in the van which leads me to believe it's an issue with the van set up as a few posters have mentioned previously.

I just feel so helpless for him not knowing what's wrong or how to help! I've been home over the holiday period and he doesn't appear to be in the slightest bit bothered about his sister going out and not him, maybe he is just tired and lazy. They do have a very large secure garden and he's always been one to just do his business and want back in where as she'd sit out for hours in all weather's.

If only they could talk!

Glad he's doing a bit better. If the ulcer was caused by a scratch or dirt it may have been in the van that he first felt it/it happened and so he associates the van with pain.

Ask your vet about a trial of NSAIDs.
I'd be surprised if a dog his age and breed doesn't have some degree of joint pain and it often flares when weather gets colder.