Hi, I have a 1yr old female GSD. I had rasied since she was 6wks old. Excelect blood line, I have socialized with other dogs and with people while she was growing up and have no problems. I have taken her to obedience class and she is top dog in the class. I've move into the advance obedience with her when she was 3mos. old. She heels off leash and obeys all the commands very well. My probelm just began just recenlty with her. She is having problems walking on the my linoleum floors. I dont understand why? She seems to have no balance underneath herself as if she is walking on a sheet of ice. I have rasied her in the same house with same linoleum floors since she was pup and when she was growning up she had never express having probleming walking on the linoleum floors. She never had a problem walking on the linoleum floors until recently. In fact when I take her to obedience class we train on tile floors wwhich are more slicker then my linoleum floors and she has no problem there walking. I keep her nail trim and inspect her paws and nail on regularly

I open for any suggest. Thanks

Hi: We just purchased our firt GS in May of this year. He was fine on all surfaces, initially. Then, about 5 mos. he started walking (like he was on egg shells) on our tile and wood floors. Lately, this strange behavior has carried forward to other slick surfaces as well. We took our pup to WSU to see an animal behaviorist. They said he was fine, but was showing hesitancy with surface changes (no kidding). We were told that GS can show such behavior around 5-8 mos. No reason was given other than it is a common complaint. We were told to encourage him with food stuffs and act like there is no problem. Evidently, when you try to coax the dog and baby it about the behavior it can make it worse. So, we just ignore it. Things are improving and for that we are grateful!

Tyr has also shown hesitancy with young kids (under 5). We were told that since he has never been around any children this is normal. We now try to make sure he is with kids at least once a week. We never force things, but let him get comfortable at his own pace. We have been told by our behaviorist that these traits can indicate a timid and even fearful nature. But, thus far, we haven't seen any fear aggression--thank God. We had Tyr neutered due to his size and hope that once he grows up more he will be better about kids and surfaces.

If you fine out more about why these dogs avoid certain surfaces, let us know.

Linda Britton

A friend of mine had a dog that all of a sudden wouldn't go into her kitchen. Like your dogs, hers was also raised in the house on the linoleum floor. Well, come to find out, the dog was freeking out because she was seeing reflections on the floors surface. It really had nothing to do with the slickness of the floor at all. Anyway, my friend basicaly ignored it and she eventualy got over it. She also made sure the dogs nails were kept short to prevent slipping.

Regarding the avoidance of children, I used to take my puppies to the kids soccer or football games. You can get as close to or stay as far away from the action as you want. I would encourage the kids to pat my dog (if he wasn't scared of course) and they learned to at least be tolerant of children even though they weren't necessarily raised with them. I always had plenty of treats for them to give too.

Juan, Try trimming the fur around the pads of your dogs paws. As your dog matures they become long enough to inhibit traction. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Juan,

Although I never had surface problems with any of my dogs, I noticed the other day while trimming my 1 yr-old puppies' nails that their pads became quite hard and lost their puppy softness and pliability. Also, they seem much drier, probably due to seasonal changes--less humidity. They look kinda slick and shiny, and with hair and carpet fibers stuck in the cracks, the traction seems to be minimal. I guess it also depends on how new and clean your linoleum is. The tile floors in your obedience school may seem slicker, but they probably have enough gritty dirt on them from all the traffic to create some traction. I would try to keep the nails as short as possible, especially on back feet, and maybe rub some oil or lotion into the pads to keep them soft and pliable.

I think Renee is right. Our GSD has the worse traction on our floors. He's been like this his whole life. Our Finkie (Finnish Spitz) has cat like feet and zip around without a problem.

We noticed that the pads of her (Finkie's) feet were always soft and hydrated. We started using a bit of lotion on GSD's feet to keep it hydrated. It seems to help.

We use a natural bees-wax moisturizer to help prevent getting the floor all messy. There are probably better ones too. Whichever your use, rub it in good!

Best of luck!
DHC

I think I remember seeing that this sort of behavior can be seen in certain lines...Am I correct?

As posted above many times it isn't the change in the surface or how it feels as much as it the glare or relections being cast off of the floor. This isn't a fix but try turning off the light or pulling the shades to see if this makes a difference. In a home I would agree that over time the dog will simply adjust to it.

Thanks for the information. We did figure out that the floors in our home (tile/wood) were not what the puppy was used to and he began to slip more and more. The more he slipped the more careful he was about the surfaces. We did find a product called paw wax to keep feet from slipping. We quit using it because it left a real visible paw print (both on wood and tile). Now, we keep a bit of Aloevera gel rubbed in his paws to keep them more supple. Not quite sure it is working all that well as he just went sliding around a corner this a.m. Oh well! Thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate it.

Every large breed dog I have ever had as gone through this "stage". Since it always seems to start about the time they get "gangly" and a little more awkward. They tend to grow out of it as they get a little more mature and more control over their bodies, as well as increased strenght in their legs, they become more sure on this type of surface. So I wouldn't worry about it. It is going to go away.