hudsy

I’ve been working on the same agoraphobia issues with my Grey I’ve had since February. As previous posters mentioned, best thing to do is to take your time and don’t force it, but do challenge the dog little by little to expand their comfort zone. I found the backyard a pretty ideally way to allow them to safely experience street sounds while still having an escape route back inside. Worth mentioning, they might start being fearful when they even see you going for the leash, if that’s the case slip it on them and give treats and praise for indoor walks, then if you have an entry way or garage works as a next step (since it’s “outside”, but not full outside).

I’m going through this with my own hound. Something must have startled him and now he’s very resistant to going on walks— stretch, rolling over to show his belly, and refusing to get up when I call him over. My strategy has been two part: training in comfortable situations to build up his confidence and rewarding him with treats for when he gets his collar on, and being very consistent in making him come on the walk (to make him learn he can’t just get out of going). During the walk I try to make sure he was lots of commands / clear instructions so he doesn’t feel overwhelmed about what he should be doing.

So sorry to hear that, hope you're doing alright.

I have the same reaction with my Grey, and honestly the best thing you can do as the owner is not allow the situation to occur. If you’re out at the park and you see an off leash, troublesome dog, you’ll have to get yourself between the offending dog and your own, and keep them away. I have no shame in admitting I’ve kicked away several small dogs that just didn’t get the hint, since it’s better than a large Grey reacting out of fear / anxiety.

My Grey seems to have some sort of agoraphobia as well, so I've been working on this problem a bit myself. Here's a bit of advice I got from the adoption organization owner when I brought this up with him: He suggested teaching a "look at me" command, that you use to refocus your dog's attention during walks onto you, rather than anything else that might spook them. You obviously need to practice it on-leash in a very calm, controlled environment at first (in the house, in your backyard, progressively moving to a place with more and more stimuli), but I've found it to really help the dog focus back on you.

Both of the dogs I've ever had have always ignored all the other dogs at the park (except for the other Greyhounds, of course). I used to feel the same way as OP, I was always noticing other dogs getting defensive / barking out of the blue!