hard flooring phobia!

Hi all,

My 1 year old ridgback has developed an extreme fear of hard flooring. Any type may it be laminate or tiles, he will not walk on it.

He did have an incident at my grandparents house were he slipped on their flooring so i think it all stems from there.

Its not getting any better though. I take him to a couple of dog training classes a week but it is difficult as they both have hard flooring and sam will jus freeze and not move at all. He shakes and eventually just lays down.

Can anyone give any advice or suggestions? Thanks

Do you clicker train with him? If not then i think now is the time to start.

What ever you do - don't do the Cesaer Milan tecnique of marching him across floors.

it is hard without seeing the dog, and personally i think you should get a trainer/behaviourist from the APDT or APBC website.

Once you have him tuned to a clicker i would start work at shaping him towards being on a hard floor.

If you have a hard floor at home i would put him on lead, and lead him towards the room. Personally i would not look at him (but watch him out the corner of your eye) and would sit just inside the door on the floor looking really relaxed, maybe even eating or pretending to eat some of th edog fav treats. Initially click and treat him for any interest in the you or or the floor, and then any movement he makes forwards e.g leaning forwards, one step towards the floor etc, then build it up to one paw on the hard floor, and then stop there.

Try again in 15 minutes, and it will be a slow process but you should be able to convince the dog that they are not going to hurt themselves.

If you're not yet experienced as shaping behaviour than i would definately suggest getting an APDT trainer in the help you.

Smart dog you've got there! He's learned by his mistakes, and he won't do that again in a hurry! Personally, I'd go out and buy a great big rug and cover most of the floor with it, big means heavy, so it won't move (if you're talking lounge of course and not hallway??). Why try and make HIM come round to what is obviously scaring him to death now? I'd rather try and fix it from another angle, but then that's just me. Good luck in whatever you do though.

LOL - yeah i forgot that bit Helena! I was going to add - go and buy a huge rubber backed rug!

If you are not clicker-training but your dog have some special treats he/she loves (sausages/liver/whatever). Just spread this treats out on your grandparents floor and let the doggie work its way inside. Give praise as he/she pics up the treats and works his/hers way towards granny & grandpa

I had a dog who was afraid of slippery floors.

I'd suggest using Paw Wax (from Pets at Home) when on any slippery floor, and only exposing him to the floor at a pace he can take without being fearful. So you may need to start a way away from the slippery floor at first.

Another dog started to be afraid of slippery floors when she started to get arthritic hips - in this case it doesnt sound as if this is a problem, as it appears the problem was caused by what happened at your grandparents, but if in doubt do get him checked out just to make sure

Wys
x

Storm had the same problem, he fell and did his back leg in on the laminate flooring and would then refuse to go on it. In the end it was a huge rug what sorted it. How ever before that and he used to do bring a couple of blankets or towells himself and lay them if he wanted to go through the room. I didnt belive my mum or sister untill I saw it with my own eyes.

Rugs worked for us. I`ve sent off for Paw Wax - apparently that`s good too.

I use paw wax or show foot on dogs that come to training who are a bit worried about the flooring, that normaly helps them gain confidence,

someone said on a recent thread, flat coca cola sprayed on the feet does just as good a job though,, so it could be worth a try

Its brill for dogs like gsd's who have hairy feet in the winter snow,, stops all the balling of snow in the feet