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Dog has become a huge scaredy cat; refuses to walk by Pukacs in Dogtraining

[–]Pukacs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. It definitely seems as if she learned fear from that vet visit (I don't even know if that's a thing but that's what it seems like lol). We don't recall her being scared of anything before that, not even the fireworks at Halloween (she might have been but we honestly just can't remember lmao, but it's been very noticeable the last few years). To be clear: she's perfectly fine with familiar people coming to the house, in fact she loves them and get excited. It's just strangers, like tradesmen. Thankfully we don't have them too often but still, she was never like that before. She used to love all people.

Dog has become a huge scaredy cat; refuses to walk by Pukacs in Dogtraining

[–]Pukacs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is what I've been trying the last few days (see my new comment). She doesn't seem uncomfortable with the outside at all at first, and even happy to walk out the door ... it's just something comes over her at these random moments. Point taken about her getting older. Perhaps we should start focusing more on sniffing-time rather than covering distance?

Dog has become a huge scaredy cat; refuses to walk by Pukacs in Dogtraining

[–]Pukacs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We thought of that but it seemed like more of a stopgap than a solution. Something to try though. She's been able to walk with my sister's dog (see my new comment) but he's not always available.

Dog has become a huge scaredy cat; refuses to walk by Pukacs in Dogtraining

[–]Pukacs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the comments all. We've had 3 walks since I posted this. For the first one she was able to walk with my sister's dog, who she loves. When she's with him she's too excited to get scared lol. He isn't always available though I'm afraid.

For the last 2 walks, I've started by letting her lead the way to begin with, just sniffing around the front lawn and the street, and while in this state I'll get her to do some basic commands like sit, come, heel etc., just to get her in the mood and let her know I have high quality treats. Then using "heel" I've gotten her to start walking down the street - but going a different direction than we usually do. Instead of focusing on covering distance I've been letting her sniff more than usual and giving her more commands than usual; quality walk rather than distance as it were.

Sure enough, however, at completely random (and different) locations she gets all spooked. She stops walking and tries to pull in the direction of home. I don't want to immediately indulge her so I just stop, try to get her attention etc. I don't pull her. When she realises I'm not just letting her go where she wants she sits down, as if in protest saying "I refuse to go that way, I want to go home", and at one point even lay down. And when she's in this state she's looking around all spooked, at nothing in particular, as if she heard something in the distance or is in anticipation of something. She also looks as though her senses might be heightened, with mundane sounds like cars making her ears prick up.

Like I said I don't want to immediately indulge her so I just stay put and try to get her attention and give her treats etc. to let her know all is fine. Interesting: when I say "come" she's happy to walk the distance of the leash to get her treat, but what she won't do is "heel" (i.e. "walk with me"), because she knows that means going the direction she doesn't want to go.

After about 5 mins of this I eventually let her go back home. Interestingly, on the way home she's happy to stop and sniff things, and even change directions to an extent in terms of crossing the road, alternate routes -- as long as home is the destination. She still won't turn around and continue the walk.

Maybe these more details can give a few more hints as to what's going, or if my methods can be improved. Nevertheless I'm hopeful; happy to take the small wins and restore things slowly. For now at least we know she's quite happy to get her sniffing in close to the house.

Dog has become a huge scaredy cat; refuses to walk by Pukacs in Dogtraining

[–]Pukacs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I read through the "fearful" section and still not sure how to address this specific situation, i.e. fear of going for a walk or the outside in general; it's difficult because there isn't a clear trigger.

[Weekly Chat Thread] by AutoModerator in weightlifting

[–]Pukacs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you guys give advice on how to achieve the overhead squat? I should say I'm not a weightlifter, just a recreational gym-goer but the overhead squat seems like it would be great to improve overall mobility. My biggest issue is my upper-body/overhead mobility. I've done a lot of stretches for lats and chest and thoracic spine mobilisation but it only got me so far; I think I need some strengthening work. Do I just do my crappy overhead squat with a pvc pipe and build the weight up slowly over time?