Won't Walk Alone

[Guest Brana]

Hey everybody, I know I don't post a lot on here, but I lurk a lot.

I just have a question for you all regarding going for walks.

When we first got our GH, Indy in september she seemed to be happy to go for walks. We were told by our adoption rep that her previous family [she was with them for 3 years] said she loved to go for walks and was always happy to get out. Problem is now, she won't go for walks without another dog. We only have one dog, and so she basically only gets walks when we visit my parents once a month or so.

There is two situations I can think of that may have triggered this:

* after talking to the adoption reps, and them seeing her and how she reacts, they all agreed that she is a drama queen and has learned from her previous family that screaming and carrying on will make them stop whatever it is she doesn't feel like doing. I was told that she needs some tough love sometimes, and that I shouldn't let her get away with the screaming.

so instance number one: I was out for a walk with her, and decided to cross the street. [back in september] For some reason she decided she couldn't go on the sidewalk and started to scream. I told her be quiet, and just stood there for awhile waiting for her to stop. She still wouldn't go on the sidewalk, so I eventually got behind her, pushed her up onto it and then pushed her a few steps and after that she decided she was fine and was happy to finish the walk for several more blocks.

second instance: fast forward a couple of weeks, she's still going for walks, but only very short ones, and only when the dogs down the street are in their house and she can't see them, and they are not barking at her. We have to take her to the vet to get her teeth scaled. They said she needs to poop before she comes in, so I took her down the street for a quick walk since she wouldn't do it in the backyard. She started to scream a bit but I told her to be quiet, and pulled a little bit and she came around the corner with me. We went up our back alley and she finally went to the bathroom right near our garage. So I turned around to take her back around to the front (gate is locked, didn't have the key) and she decides she's not going. She is staying at our garage until the door opens [which won't be happening since I didn't have a key or a phone to call DBF to open it]. So she starts screaming again when I pull. I tell her to be quiet, try again. She screams again. I held her mouth shut, made her look at me and told her to be quiet. She didn't. We fought about it for a bit, and apparently she screamed enough for the whole neighborhood to hear [or so DBF says anyway] and then after lots of "be quiet" and pushing and pulling and pleading she gave in and walked back to the house. Unfortunately we were running late so she didn't get to go to the house, she had to get in the truck immediately and go to the vet. So all in all a pretty terrible day for her. When we left her at the vet we could hear her screaming inside from all the way across the parking lot. When DBF went back to pick her up later, same thing. Both the vet and the techs said the same thing, she's needs to learn she can't get away with screaming.

 

Our adoption rep said the previous family had said something about a lhasa apso, but she wasn't sure if they actually had another dog, or if they just spent a lot of time with a family that had one. Either way, Indy now won't go for walks unless my parents dog is with her. I have not been able to test this in my city, my parents have not been down for awhile, so I don't know if she would go for walks with him here. However when I tried to take her for a walk at my parents place without the other dog, she wouldn't go. I thought for awhile maybe it was the cold too, but she's happy to go for at least an hour in the cold with my parents dog.

 

The other thing she does is cower from us a lot. When the other dogs are around she doesn't do it. We've never hit her, never raised our voices. Never had to discipline her at all in the house because she is very well behaved and house trained.

 

Anyone have any ideas? or questions in case this is hard to understand?

[NeylasMom]

So let's try to look at it from her perspective. For some reason she suddenly doesn't want to take walks like she used to. So you: push her from behind, pull her, hold her mouth shut, tell her to be quiet, do lots of pushing and pulling, and "fought with her for a bit" (whatever that means, I'm not sure I want to know). All of this is somehow supposed to make her want to go for walks? From her perspective, if when she does she gets all of this negative behavior directed at her, why would she want to?

 

My guess is she initially hesitated because she was 1) scared or 2) in pain. I've met my share of drama queens, but dogs don't scream like that without a reason - fear, anxiety, pain, etc. You say that she cowers a lot around you. This is also a fear behavior. You say you haven't done anything to cause it, yet you describe how you've physically held her mouth shut, pushed her from behind, etc. Just because one happened outside doesn't mean she doesn't associate the behavior with you and react accordingly inside. However, if she cowered before these incidents, which I'm guessing she did, it's just an indication again of a fearful dog. The presence of other dogs does build confidence so the fact that she doesn't do it with the other dogs around is only further evidence of this imo.

 

Personally, I think you need to forget what other people are telling you and rethink how you approach your relationship with your dog from one where you attempt to force her to do things she's uncomfortable with to one where you figure out what is rewarding to her and use that to teach her the appropriate behaviors you want. In the meantime, do you have any friends who are dog owners who you could meet for walks? Even if it means putting her in the car and driving her somewhere? You need to figure out something if at all possible because exercise is one good way of relieving stress and anxiety, which will help you work with her, but they need to be enjoyable walks.

 

Have you ever read The Fearful Dog by Patricia McConnell? It's a little handbook that's available for less than $10, should be able to get it on dogwise.com. I'd recommend reading that, and any other books or booklets available from Patricia McConnell, as well as finding a training class that uses only positive reinforcement (preferably a clicker training class) with an instructor that will be patient if she has a harder time than other "students".

 

Good luck.

[BootsyCollins]

I would also get her to the vet for a full workup in case she is having pain. Maybe her collar hurts her when she feels pressure, for example.

[NeylasMom]

I would also get her to the vet for a full workup in case she is having pain. Maybe her collar hurts her when she feels pressure, for example.

I meant to say that.

[Guest Brana]

So let's try to look at it from her perspective. For some reason she suddenly doesn't want to take walks like she used to. So you: push her from behind, pull her, hold her mouth shut, tell her to be quiet, do lots of pushing and pulling, and "fought with her for a bit" (whatever that means, I'm not sure I want to know). All of this is somehow supposed to make her want to go for walks? From her perspective, if when she does she gets all of this negative behavior directed at her, why would she want to?

 

My guess is she initially hesitated because she was 1) scared or 2) in pain. I've met my share of drama queens, but dogs don't scream like that without a reason - fear, anxiety, pain, etc. You say that she cowers a lot around you. This is also a fear behavior. You say you haven't done anything to cause it, yet you describe how you've physically held her mouth shut, pushed her from behind, etc. Just because one happened outside doesn't mean she doesn't associate the behavior with you and react accordingly inside. However, if she cowered before these incidents, which I'm guessing she did, it's just an indication again of a fearful dog. The presence of other dogs does build confidence so the fact that she doesn't do it with the other dogs around is only further evidence of this imo.

 

Personally, I think you need to forget what other people are telling you and rethink how you approach your relationship with your dog from one where you attempt to force her to do things she's uncomfortable with to one where you figure out what is rewarding to her and use that to teach her the appropriate behaviors you want. In the meantime, do you have any friends who are dog owners who you could meet for walks? Even if it means putting her in the car and driving her somewhere? You need to figure out something if at all possible because exercise is one good way of relieving stress and anxiety, which will help you work with her, but they need to be enjoyable walks.

 

Have you ever read The Fearful Dog by Patricia McConnell? It's a little handbook that's available for less than $10, should be able to get it on dogwise.com. I'd recommend reading that, and any other books or booklets available from Patricia McConnell, as well as finding a training class that uses only positive reinforcement (preferably a clicker training class) with an instructor that will be patient if she has a harder time than other "students".

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the ideas. I will definitely try to find some Patricia McConnel books. The reason I say I don't think I caused the cowering is because she did that when we first got her, before we had even tried anything. You would walk into the room to call her to go outside to go to the bathroom and she would cower all the way to the door and no one had even touched her. No raised voice or anything, we tried to used excited happy voices as much as we could to get her to go out and she would still cower sometimes. I think its definitely been exacerbated by trying to force her to go, which is what my adoption reps told me to do.

Unfortunately I don't have any friends in this city with dogs.

I kept trying the force thing, because she has had this habit since the beginning of just randomly stopping on a walk and refusing to go anymore. The first few times we turned around and went home, but then a couple times we'd tug a bit, and wait for a few minutes, and then when you gave her a nudge she'd be happy to go again and forget all about it and enjoy the rest of her walk. So we thought maybe it was just a matter of letting her know who was boss. I definitely feel like

The fighting with her thing is mostly asking her to be quiet, turning around and trying to go the other way, then trying the other direction a bit. Lots of pleading and begging and "c'mon, lets go", standing and waiting.

I'm kind of at a loss for what is a reward to her as well. We have a variety of treats, and she's always happy to have one in the house or the yard, but when we go out on the leash she has no interest in any of them.

Lately when shes interested in going out the front we go out and let her sniff around and do what she wants. Several time's she's started down the sidewalk, but as soon as she gets to the house with the barking shih-tzu's inside she turns tail and heads for home. Unfortunately there's a house with barking dogs on either side of us so she won't go very far either way. She's done that since we first got her, however she would go past the houses if the dogs were all inside before at least. There is a dog park near us too, and we took here there once, but I think she was mostly overwhelmed by how many strange dogs there were. Its a big unfenced one, so we just stopped off to the side where she stopped and stood there and watched for awhile and then wanted to go home.

She's happy and friendly and excited to be around everyone in the house and our yard and anywhere that my parents dog is. And she plays in our back yard for short periods, however after seeing how excited she gets when playing with the other dogs at my parents I think she definitely would prefer to have a dog buddy. She doesn't really seem to be into playing with us.

I'm wondering if she's just one of those dogs that will always be happier with another dog around? or if its something she can overcome and be happy with just us and the cat?

[turbotaina]

Yup, agree with Neylasmom and Cmoon. Always, always, always, always get a vet check when you have strange behavior. Rule out medical then start working on behavioral.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Brana]

I would also get her to the vet for a full workup in case she is having pain. Maybe her collar hurts her when she feels pressure, for example.

I meant to say that.

I definitely want to get her to a different vet. I felt like the vet that we worked with that the adoption agency uses wasn't very helpful. It is the same vet her previous family used, but I felt like he was just trying to rush through the appointment and get us out the door so he could get to the next patient. She does have corns on a couple feet which we thought might have bothered her when walking, but they don't seem to bother her at all when we're walking with the other dogs. We've had them removed twice now, but I would like to learn how to do it myself if I can.

[turbotaina]

I would also get her to the vet for a full workup in case she is having pain. Maybe her collar hurts her when she feels pressure, for example.

I meant to say that.

I definitely want to get her to a different vet. I felt like the vet that we worked with that the adoption agency uses wasn't very helpful. It is the same vet her previous family used, but I felt like he was just trying to rush through the appointment and get us out the door so he could get to the next patient. She does have corns on a couple feet which we thought might have bothered her when walking, but they don't seem to bother her at all when we're walking with the other dogs. We've had them removed twice now, but I would like to learn how to do it myself if I can.

 

Invest in some therapaw boots for the corns

[Guest Brana]

I would also get her to the vet for a full workup in case she is having pain. Maybe her collar hurts her when she feels pressure, for example.

I meant to say that.

I definitely want to get her to a different vet. I felt like the vet that we worked with that the adoption agency uses wasn't very helpful. It is the same vet her previous family used, but I felt like he was just trying to rush through the appointment and get us out the door so he could get to the next patient. She does have corns on a couple feet which we thought might have bothered her when walking, but they don't seem to bother her at all when we're walking with the other dogs. We've had them removed twice now, but I would like to learn how to do it myself if I can.

 

Invest in some therapaw boots for the corns

 

Our adoption rep did give us a therapaw boot for the one foot that has the biggest corn, but she doesn't like it. When we tried it with the other dogs around she would walk a couple steps and the look at us like "take this thing off, please?" We kept trying to get her to walk with it, but she wasn't having it. Finally we took it off and she was raring to go after the other dogs.

[NeylasMom]

Well I have to say, it's tough to call it without seeing her in person, but she could be a little spooky. All signs point to her being a fearful dog, not a stubborn one. When she does stop, do her eyes glaze over and is she totally frozen, or is she alert and reactive to you and just not walking? The former is a clear fear response, the latter might be an indication that something is painful.

 

I know how frustrating the walks can be. Neyla was a spook when I got her and we struggled with walks for a LONG time. With Neyla, we would sometimes be chugging along and then something would scare her (or not, and she would just stop for some reason unbeknownst to me) and we would be stuck, sometimes out on a trail somewhere, by ourselves. There were times when I had to carry her back. I would pick her up and carry her for a bit, then set her down and try to get her to walk with me. Sometimes she would, sometimes she wouldn't. If she wouldn't, I'd pick her up again. Sometimes we'd walk 10 minutes out and it would take us an hour to get back. I will tell you that I found reserves of patience I never knew I had because I loved her so much. She still sometimes freezes up, although those times are now very very rare and usually triggered by a specific thing that scares her and what usually works is for me to squat down and call her, then she'll walk over to me, I'll give her a treat, then pop up and in a very sing-songy voice say "okay, let's go" and she'll usually come along and resume walking normally. Sometimes she won't, so we just turn around and go home.

 

I will say, Neyla could have never been an only dog during those first few years. Maybe now she could, but she wouldn't be as confident if she were. I fostered for a long time at first, but eventually I adopted a second so she could have a constant companion. They don't play or snuggle or anything like that, but it helps to have him along and when he's not around, it's clear she knows. Your dog doesn't sound as extreme so she may be fine as an only with time. Pick up the McConnell booklet, it will go a long way toward helping with the socialization, and get her checked out with a new vet in the meantime.

 

Oh, regarding treats, have you tried human food? I mean the really good stuff, bits of cooked red meat, hot dog pieces, lunch meat? That may help although again, with Neyla, she was often too fearful to take food from me outside for a long time. Over time she did learn to.

 

Last thing, put her in your car and drive to a quiet place where there are no other dogs and try walking there, even if it means a slightly shorter walk b/c you have to account for driving time. Neyla always did better on hikes than walking through our neighborhood so we would often go to local parks or nature preserves where we weren't likely to run into anyone or anything. The one thing I learned to be careful of is whether there is a shooting range nearby though as often nature preserves and the like, while they might not allow hunting, will have a gun range, which is pretty much teh WORST thing I could expose Neyla to.

 

I hope this helps.

[BootsyCollins]

After my first hound was attacked by another dog, he was terrified to go farther than the end of our block, and the sound of a barking dog sent him into major freeze up get back home as fast as possible mode. We tried treats, but he was too scared to take them. What ended up helping were a combination of things - 1, we just kept walking when he froze up and completely ignored the behavior, then once he settled into a normal walk we praised the heck out of him and gave him lots of treats; 2, we drove to unfamiliar areas for walks when we could; and 3, we fostered another greyhound for two weeks. Walking with that other dog did the trick. He snapped right out of it and never got back into it. It was like magic.

 

Good luck!!

[Guest Brana]

She doesn't usually freeze up. Just stops and looks at us like "I'm not moving forward anymore." However if you turn around to go home she's happy to go. As long as you keep going towards home. You can't fool her into just taking a different path, if you try to go up a block she's not having it.

I've been trying find that booklet, the fearful dog, but I'm not having any luck.

She has one called the Cautious Dog, would that be similar?

I'll get some hot dogs and see if she will take that.

[BootsyCollins]

That was exactly what Argos did.

[NeylasMom]

She doesn't usually freeze up. Just stops and looks at us like "I'm not moving forward anymore." However if you turn around to go home she's happy to go. As long as you keep going towards home. You can't fool her into just taking a different path, if you try to go up a block she's not having it.

I've been trying find that booklet, the fearful dog, but I'm not having any luck.

She has one called the Cautious Dog, would that be similar?

I'll get some hot dogs and see if she will take that.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. It's called Cautious Canine. The Fearful Dog is apdf that DDFL wrote, also worth a read.

[Guest Brana]

She doesn't usually freeze up. Just stops and looks at us like "I'm not moving forward anymore." However if you turn around to go home she's happy to go. As long as you keep going towards home. You can't fool her into just taking a different path, if you try to go up a block she's not having it.

I've been trying find that booklet, the fearful dog, but I'm not having any luck.

She has one called the Cautious Dog, would that be similar?

I'll get some hot dogs and see if she will take that.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. It's called Cautious Canine. The Fearful Dog is apdf that DDFL wrote, also worth a read.

Ah ok, awesome, Thanks. I'll see what I can find. I'm considering borrowing my parents dog for awhile and seeing if having him to walk around here with would help her.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

You know, I have read the thread, and there is one thing that you may try to help with a lot of different behavior. You say she cowers in the house when you ask her to go outside. I am assuming she doesnt cower when you call her or look at her. That assumption, she would seem to be afraid of the outside, be it an experience that scared her, or a perceived threat. Either way, maybe you try baby-steps. Get some good treats as suggested above, then get her to come to you at the door, then move one step outside the door, and keep going. When she balks, move towards the house a bit, then continue. I would suggest a "training lead" (lengths up to 30'), so that if she gets too scared when you are outside, she cant run and hide in the house not comming out at all. You want to allow her back in the house, but not so far you cant get her back to the door. I would try this when there is the minimum amount of distraction. Once you can work her up to going in the yard, keep the training going on walks. You want to treat her when there is something scary and she keeps walking. Dont treat her when she balks (or the carrot on a stick method), but try to coax her to move, even if you have to turn around to get her moving, then treat. She should get the treat for moving. If she does freeze, but you can get her to move by backtracking, then turn around for a few steps to get her moving, then reverse direction again towards your goal and treat as you are turing back to the direction you want to go. Good Luck

 

Chad

[Guest Brana]

You know, I have read the thread, and there is one thing that you may try to help with a lot of different behavior. You say she cowers in the house when you ask her to go outside. I am assuming she doesnt cower when you call her or look at her. That assumption, she would seem to be afraid of the outside, be it an experience that scared her, or a perceived threat. Either way, maybe you try baby-steps. Get some good treats as suggested above, then get her to come to you at the door, then move one step outside the door, and keep going. When she balks, move towards the house a bit, then continue. I would suggest a "training lead" (lengths up to 30'), so that if she gets too scared when you are outside, she cant run and hide in the house not comming out at all. You want to allow her back in the house, but not so far you cant get her back to the door. I would try this when there is the minimum amount of distraction. Once you can work her up to going in the yard, keep the training going on walks. You want to treat her when there is something scary and she keeps walking. Dont treat her when she balks (or the carrot on a stick method), but try to coax her to move, even if you have to turn around to get her moving, then treat. She should get the treat for moving. If she does freeze, but you can get her to move by backtracking, then turn around for a few steps to get her moving, then reverse direction again towards your goal and treat as you are turing back to the direction you want to go. Good Luck

 

Chad

 

I'll see if I can get a training lead and try that. She's usually happy to go out, only cowers on occasion, and I'm wondering if maybe she knows she doesn't have to go to the bathroom and she doesn't want to go out and thats why.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Well that sounds like similar behavior from nearly every foster that I have. Since I have 10 steps from my deck to the rear yard (where they go to the bathroom) the hounds have to do stairs from day one in my house. So the first few times they get me holding their collar on the way down and up. Then after a few tries, I just am close to them, then they do it on their own. Almost every one of them gets a bit nervous when its time for them to do it on their own and once they realize that I will not help anymore, they suddenly dont want to go outside. The more shy ones will cower and try to dart back into the house. That is why I ask, it seems like typical behavior.

 

Chad

[GreytHurleyDawg]

I am just going to add my two cents about my female greyhound, whom we adopted 3 months ago. I am not very good at training my dogs, as the people who have posted previously are, but I have a working knowledge (I really should break out some of the training books) and you do what works for you. My girl is the first female we have had and she is so different from my 2 laid-back boys. She is a barker....I would easily call it a scream because the pitch is extremely high, so this may be similar to your screamer. She will stand in front of us and start to bark, getting more and more frantic if you haven't stood up to soothe her or feed her or take her outside. We are not working on it 24-7 because we assume, with time, she will stop the franticness if we ignore her tantrums. To me, it sounds like she is actually talking while piercing your eardrums! She is gradually getting used to life here at our home but the point is, it is very gradual. It's not something you notice day be day, but month to month, I see the changes she has made. I can only say this because we are on our third greyhound. The boys had their issues and, to be honest, compared to this, they were relatively minor, but they either went away on their own or we worked on the specific problem and got them through it.

Our other problem with the girl is mostly gone now: she had an aversion to using the 3! measly backsteps to go out to the yard, which is fenced. She just wanted nothing to do with them. She was happy going out the other 3 doors and using those steps but the backyard or the back steps just spooked her. I finally realize that it may have been the rowdy boys who spooked her. They run up and down those steps willy nilly and will plow right past her or wait impatiently behind her or barge in/out at the same time as her, usually causing her to bump the door or at the very least scrape up her legs on the steps...she was constantly hurting her legs/paws because she would bump the steps on the way down. She enjoyed their company while outside and it would inspire her to relax or play because they were around, so we knew it wasn't them terrorizing her. Although, I've seen Hurley pee on her while she squats to pee....darn him! He does that to every dog! But, nowadays, she prefers to go out the door on her own. Sometimes she goes out right after I have closed the door to let them out, other times she prefers to wait until they are indoors and she'll go out and sprint around for 10 minutes on her own. I let her choose.

Are you thinking at all of getting a second dog? I know the adoption group can help you if you are. Some dogs open up more quickly with a fellow member of the species. I don't think that's the only answer, but it is one possibility some people like to consider. If you are not, just work with her, using the recommendations from posters here and from the books or your adoption group, but also know that time is often the most valuable healer. It takes time to adjust, it takes time because progress is not always forward...there are usually a few steps backward to slow down the steady pace (speaking of which, our Petra also freezes quite frequently! She wants to go away from the house on walks when I want to go back to the house or she just wants to stand and not go anywhere. Having the 2 boys along usually cures this for her too. She is most often alone when she freezes. We always thought it had something to do with the racing pack....either they want to keep up with the other dogs on the track or they want to just skip running altogether...don't know if I make sense. She still freezes when exitting the car: we have to carry her out and she won't come down the steps from the 2nd floor but I never said she wasn't completely and utterly spoiled! The thing I haven't figured out yet is what her motivation is during the freezes, other than something is telling her that something is wrong and she can't see a way out.....living with us is the only thing that will help her: she will gain the confidence she needs to stop worrying and freezing up.)

I know you said she is on her second (but forever) home now.....so she has been away from the track for years now. I guess this nulls most of my experiences because Petra IS fresh off the track but it still is a different environment: one she does not recognize or remember. Perhaps she is wondering where her old family is. I think someone who has experience with bounces will be able to provide a clue here. The one certain thing is that your love will help her and the learning curve is always different with each greyhound or any dog. She is responding and that's what counts! Is it on your time-schedule? No! That's her prerogative....you can train her out of it or accept that time will heal these wounds.

Best of luck, I hope you don't mind my ramblings but I have gained so much insight from other greyhound owners, it sometimes gives you hope that you can't get anywhere else.

[Guest Brana]

I kinda get that too, I don't think she's screaming out of pain, however she isn't an incredibly vocal dog most of the time. She likes to have a big roo in the living room a couple times a week, but other than that she's pretty quiet. She will get barking when we are around the other dogs, but usually only a couple times.

We are going to be getting another dog, but right now we can't. We are living in a rental that only allows one dog, one cat. We're pretty lucky they allow any. We are going to be buying a house in the spring and hopefully getting another dog sometime around then. I'm hoping to get something smallish and furry, like my parents shih tzu. Our grey doesn't seem to have any prey drive, and she apparently lived with or was friends with a lhasa apso at her previous home.

Thanks for the advice. I am not the most patient person, so I'm hoping time will heal her issues. I'm just having a hard time waiting for time to pass lol. We are going on four months together now, and she has gotten more and more comfortable with us, so hopefully it she will continue to relax.

Its reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who has a dog with issues. I guess every dog usually has their issues.

[GreytHurleyDawg]

I'm glad you will be able to get a 2nd dog someday. I bet your girl will benefit from it! Best of luck, we all get frustrated but it is important to recognize it.

[Guest Brana]

PROGRESS!!!! Yay for Indy!

Hot dogs it is! We got all the way to the end of the sidewalk, around the corner, and halfway up the back alley today!

Right past the yappy rat dogs out in the front yard across the road at the end of the street! And I ran out of hot dog pieces before we even got level with their house. So it took hot dogs to get most of the way down the street, and then we didn't have any for the rest of the trip. We got past our garage down the back alley before she froze. And then I crouched down and coaxed and waited for her to come to me, then lots of praise, and I'd move 4 feet away again. We got past two more garages before my legs started to get tired from crouching and I had to come home to get ready for work. And she didn't get stuck at our garage on the way back like last time. She wanted to walk right up against the door, but i think mostly because there was dry cement there instead of wet slippery cold snow/ice. Now she's back to sleep her brand new cushy costco dog bed

Thanks for all the advice guys! Especially NeylasMom!

[Guest john5396]

My 2 cents worth. We brought Luna home about 3 months ago. She would regularly freeze up when taking a walk. She really didn't like going up the block where a rude dog with an invisible fence lived, as well as freezing up at random spots. Every time she would show high stress: head down, tail under... Initially, we would try to ignore until she started to move, push her behind a couple of steps to get her moving again, reward with a treat when she started walking, etc. But the thing we did that was most helpful was to stop and rub her flank and talk calmly to her. I think we had to let her know that she wasn't in trouble, and Mom and Dad have everything under control. Being kind and comforting, petting her flank and neck, etc. is not rewarding bad behavior for Luna, We do look to reward good behavior, Giving a treat when she can walk past the rude dog without being bothered by him.