Hello,

I am reletively new to the site and wonder if anyone cann offer any thoughts on a small issue with my puppy. I have a 12 week old Rottweiler bitch who attends puppy school & is a very confident outgoing pup. I have been very careful with socialising and introducing her to new situations in a positive way & as a result i have a very confident pup who loves meeting people, other dog, travelling on trains etc, but recently we seem to have taken a few steps backward - she was usually pulling me out the street door when i took her out, but now she has suddenly started fighting to get back in the house & refusing to go outside.

As i said i really have been so very careful to keep exposure to new things to a sensible amount, in a poaitive manner & she has never had a negative experience yet - nothing to my knowledge has frightened her, so why is she suddenly displaying fear of going outside?

I have been carrying on as normal so i do not inadvertantly reward her fear & if i carry her out of sight of the house before putting her down, she is her normal self & enjoys her walks, but i can not carry a Rottweiler too much longer for obvious reasons!

Is this normal behaviour? How long can i expect these 'episodes' of displaying unexplained fear for no reason to last?

Any thoughts most welcome,

Mark.

I have a dog that's afraid to go through doors (I think that at some point in her life, she had a door closed on her while passing through)..anyway, it's not really the same as your dog but we spent some time going in and out of doors together, beginning by leading her through with treats and then throwing toys through doorways.

To apply this to you situation, have you tried having a treat or toy in your hand as you leave, to keep her attention on you and not on the fact that she's leaving the house? You could either just reward her for coming out willingly if you think she's working hard to ignore whatever's making her anxious, or if she comes out willingly, have her do a sit before giving her the treat. This approach would be my first step. Don't forget to make it fun for her, really hype up the walk and the fact that you have a treat or toy, some dogs forget entirely about their anxiety when they're really excited. She's young, so she'll probably come around pretty quickly.

I do take some little treats in my pocket for when we are out. The thing that seems to trouble her most is just going through the front door - once down the street she is fine & i can coax her to stop and start til she gets far enough, then back home, thing is she seems more excited about going back home than going out.

I don't want to just give in because i just think this would be a mistake & could unwittingly reward her fear, that's why i carry her a few yards out of sight of home before i put her down, then she is ok, it is strange because she goes loopy when i put her lead on, runs to the door all excited then as soon as i open the door she starts backing away.

I am just not sure how best to manage it as once we are out & about she really has fun & enjoys her walk.

Well, I'd just work on the front door then, if you think that's the main problem. It's good to have treats in your pocket, but I mean using them to lead her out, as in, having her make the steps out the door on the ground by holding the treat out in front of her and having her follow it out the door - as you said, you won't be able to carry her out much longer. If she isn't interested in following treats out, find a toy she's interested in. She needs to learn to get through on her own. If you aren't comfortable with rewarding her solely for coming through the door, have her do a sit before getting a treat.

I only wish it were that simple, but you see i already take her to puppy school every week so i have got to take her out, i can't spend days coaxing her to go nearer to the door everyday because we need to be there on time, so i have to pick her up to get to classes which means the slowly slowly approach would not work.

I guess the easier way would be to just continue carrying her til we are out of sight of home & just hope in a week or so she will forget her fear and just walk out as normal, but i just need to make sure i will not make her more fearful by the hands on approach. It's not as if she has never seen the door - she was jumping up at it begging me to open in only last week afterall.

 Quote: Mark Davies

I only wish it were that simple, but you see i already take her to puppy school every week so i have got to take her out, i can't spend days coaxing her to go nearer to the door everyday because we need to be there on time, so i have to pick her up to get to classes which means the slowly slowly approach would not work.

I guess the easier way would be to just continue carrying her til we are out of sight of home & just hope in a week or so she will forget her fear and just walk out as normal, but i just need to make sure i will not make her more fearful by the hands on approach. It's not as if she has never seen the door - she was jumping up at it begging me to open in only last week afterall.

I think I might just pick up the leash and walk purposefully and matter-of-factly out the door, not looking at her and not talking to her. I'd act like the door is no big deal, no anxiety, no talking, no coaxing........ Since you have to do it anyway, might as well demonstrate that you are in charge, that you make the decisions, that there is no door problem, and that you will not allow anything bad to happen.

Good point, Connie. That's definitely a quicker way to do it.

Thank you both very much for your input on this. I am still a little perplexed as i know it is not an environmental influence which is spooking her - once we are out of sight of home she will very happily walk in the market & busy street with much excitement, and is not the least bothered by traffic so it can't be that.

Today she was the same so i picked her up without making a fuss and carried her til we were away from the house & as usual she was just fine once we were far enough away from home. Many people tell me they all had the same problem with their dogs at some stage. Maybe it is just normal afterall.

Mark.

I'll agree with Connie. I'm not sure if you have Cesar Millan over there on television, but if you can rent or purchase his season one DVDs, he works with a Great Dane (so similar size restrictions apply) that -would not- enter a doorway to walk on shiny floors. It was a great episode. He basically did what Connie suggested.

With my extremely food motivated English Springer Spaniel who wouldn't go down my basement stairs, I took her around back so she was at the bottom of the dreaded stairs. I put a cookie on the third step or so, where she couldn't strain to reach it, she'd HAVE to put a paw or two on the bottom stair. When she did, I rewarded her for it. (This would be easier if you clicker/marker train; I didn't know about that at this time.) Then I put a cookie on the fourth step. Gradually she had to put her paws on the stairs to reach the food she so desired. Once she had her whole body on the stairs, I would lead her back down to the bottom and reward. I essentially "back-chained" it.

You may be able to adapt that to however your front door is (if you have stairs, an incline, whatever). If it's physically impossible/very hard to try what Connie suggested, this is probably a better option.

Well it's all downhill again.

Today is just as bad as ever & i still can't understand where it has come from - my pup has NEVER shown any fear of going outside and was fine before but now she refuses to leave the house again - even though she has been going out for weeks now, she is not scared of traffic, trains, people, dogs or anything so why has she suddenly changed in the last week & started pulling backwards and refusing to go out? How do i work on it if i don't even know what is causing it? I am afraid i will lose my patience after all the work i have put in to her & just end up dragging her down the street if this carries on. It really is stsrting to get tedious now.