Help Me Fix My Dog

[rascalsmom]

First, a bit of background.

 

We brought Jack home right after Thanksgiving, in 2009. He was a foster dog. Of course by the end of that year, we adopted him. He was great--one of those "good out of the box" type of dogs, didn't seem to have any issues at all--we could hug him, cuddle him, he was the perfect dog. It was our habit to spend the evenings in our basement family room, and he joined us down there every time. All three of the dogs did.

 

Last fall sometime, he suddenly did NOT want to go downstairs. He acted afraid. We would bring him down with us, only to have him bolt up the steps; so we then just let him stay upstairs.

 

At the end of February we moved. I was hoping that, with a different house, he would not be afraid to go to the basement--our new house has a fabulous family room in the basement, it even has a door leading outside, so it doesn't 'feel' so much like a basement. But, the only times he's been down there is when I made him go down. The last few times we took him downstairs, we blocked the stairs so he'd be forced to stay with us, and he did calm down, got on the dog bed, and went to sleep. He still will not go down willingly, though.

 

He also had an incident where he slammed into our screen door--he did not get hurt, but that spooked him, and he was suddenly afraid to go outside. He HAS to go out through that door, it's the only door to the fenced yard.

 

Then, two weeks ago, Ruby tried going through the screen, and got hurt quite badly. (Her thread is in H&M.) She spent two days in the hospital. During those two days, Jack rarely came out of my bedroom. He didn't eat much, and I had to MAKE him go outside to relieve himself. When Ruby came home he seemed much better--he'd hang out in the living room again. He still acted afraid of the door. He was in the house when Ruby got hurt, so I know he saw that, and heard us flipping out (she wasn't breathing, so of course we were flipping out!!).

 

Anyway, he is once again spending his days in my bedroom. Both he and Rascal have not been eating well, but especially him. He still does not go outside willingly.

 

I am at the end of my rope. I don't know what to do for him, to help him overcome these fears. The thing that's hardest to reconcile is that he was PERFECT for the first 10 months or so that we had him!! He did not have these strange quirks!

 

I am probably going to call the 'behaviorist' our adoption group uses, talk to her and see if she's got any insight. A friend of mine also knows of another behaviorist, and used her when she adopted her first greyhound, who was very fearful. But I figured that GT'ers might have a few suggestions, too.

[jetcitywoman]

When you try to help him overcome the fears, are you rewarding him or just forcing him into the situation? You have to teach him that there is nothing to be afraid of, that it's a happy place/thing. Simply forcing him into the basement, for example, won't work because he won't understand "see, nothing bad is happening to you". You have to make something good happen for him to get the idea.

 

Last year soon after we got Ajax, I did a knucklehead move and gave them each a rawhide in the back yard and didn't supervise them. I don't know exactly what happened, but the end result was that Capri had a bite wound, Ajax seemed oblivious, but the weirdest part was that instead of being afraid of him, she was afraid to come onto the deck to come inside. She could go out that door just fine, but then got "stuck" because she couldn't cross the scary deck to come in. I took treats out, sat on the lawn just at the point where she wouldn't come any closer, and relaxed. I let Ajax out too, and he laid on the deck. Both of us relaxing showed here there wasn't anything scary. When she finally came to me, I gave her treats and loves. Then encouraged her to go up on the deck where I gave her more treats and loves. Problem solved. Your dog might take longer, but that's generally the way to do it.

[rascalsmom]

As for going to the door and going out, when I get him to the door I say, "good boy, Jack" very calmly. Open the door, let him out. When he's ready to come in, he is afraid to approach the door (can't really blame him there!). I go out, get him to come near me, hold his collar (or he'll dart into the yard again), calmly approach the door, open it, praise him. I don't make too big a deal of the praise, because I want him to realize this is NORMAL, going through the door. Same for the basement. We try not to make too much of it, just act like it's normal to be there. Of course since Ruby got hurt we've not been going to the basement anyway.

Edited April 26, 2011 by rascalsmom

[Guest KennelMom]

Have you had his vision checked? How old is he?

[rascalsmom]

Haven't had his vision checked, but he seems to see just fine. He is 5 years old.

[robinw]

Have you had his vision checked? How old is he?

Why didn't think of that? Phene is acting the same way, and he's ging blind.

[cleptogrey]

have you consitered either temporarily taking the screen door off(quite easy, i did it before my first grey came home since our back porch is tiny) or leaving it open ? how about always bringing him outside w/ lead on and talking and rewarding him with food and keeping him onlead, the umbilical cord method in the house and retraining him? he will most likely feel more secure on lead and you can praise and reward his now mandated social behavior. keep him with you while you cook, watch tv, doing the laundry and maybe even in the bathroom. with treats and praise he should start comming out of his shell.

[rascalsmom]

When we first moved into this house, we were not using the screen door, since it was winter. Just the regular french door, which has mullions, like this. He learned to go in and out when that door opened. Once the weather got nice, we were having the door open to let air in. The dogs had never seen a screen door like that, and I knew it would require some 'teaching'. Jack, being a dog who does not enjoy spending too much time outside, is always in a rush to get back inside. I was standing there when he approached the door, trying to get him to stop, and see it was NOT open--he slammed right into the screen.

 

Anyway, we want them to learn that they have to WAIT to go in and out, since we want to be able to have our door open in nice weather.

 

Then, a couple of weeks later, Ruby tried going through the screen as I was reaching to open it. Her result was not nearly as pain-free as Jack's, but Jack was right inside the house, and I am sure he witnessed all of it--her falling, me screaming to my husband that Ruby wasn't breathing, the frantic rush to try and call our vet, taking Ruby to the e-vet. Then, later that same night, my DH was outside the door, again trying to get Jack to STOP before coming in--Jack barreled right past him, fortunately hit the screen at the corner where it was already popped out of the track, and went RIGHT THROUGH IT into the house.

 

Taking him out on a leash, and in on a leash, might be something to try. It is very hard to control an 85 pound dog when he isn't on a leash.

Edited April 26, 2011 by rascalsmom

[racindog]

If it would be me then I or an other reliable animal communicator would ask Jack what he was afraid of etc and what was going on. A good animal communicator might be just the thing. Sounds like it could be an "entity" has come upon him or something? At any rate I'd ask him about it first before I had him analyzed but thats just me. Re: the door thing try verbally explaining the door issue to him-it might help-no harm trying. I have had remarkable success using ac so its one of the first things I think of.

Edited April 26, 2011 by racindog

[krissy]

Dogs can become afraid of things quite suddenly and for seemingly no reason.

 

In this house we go through phases with Summit (we've had him 6 months) where he is randomly afraid of some part of the house. The first time it was the livingroom. He wouldn't spend time out here, was very nervous and kept going back to the bedroom. So I closed the bedroom door so he couldn't go there, but I also showed him that there's nothing bad in the living room. Got him to come over to his bed, gave him lots of treats and praise, asked him to lay down with lots more treats and praise. A day and a half later he'd forgotten all about his fear. He still prefers the bedroom so I still keep the door closed if I want him to stay in the living room... but it's only because he wants to sleep on our bed.

 

Then last week he suddenly decided he was afraid of the kitchen and wouldn't come in for his dinner. I think the problem in that case was that I had this old helium balloon in the living room that was dying, and my BF took it off it's string so it could "wander" around. Summit seemed a little nervous of it so I was working with him on his fear of the balloon. Holding it near him and giving treats, then letting it wander and asking him to look at it, then giving him treats. Anyway, after the balloon died and disappeared he became afraid of the kitchen. Once again, lots of treats. I put high value treats into his bowl and he would tentatively go in there, slurp them up as fast as he could and get out of there. As soon as he ate the treats and left I went in and put more in the bowl. A day and a half later he was fine again, though while he eats his dinner he does still occassionally peak around the kitchen wall to look for that darned balloon!

 

Did you teach the dogs about the screen ahead of time? For things like that in the future I would literally take them over to the door with one person holding them if needed, open the glass door and then touch their paw or nose to the screen. Then open the screen and have them walk through. Then do the same from the other side because dogs don't generalize.

[Guest KennelMom]

Haven't had his vision checked, but he seems to see just fine. He is 5 years old.

 

Dogs usually adapt to vision loss so well, it's hard to pick up on. The first signs are usually hesitation going in/out (light changes) or going up/down stairs. One test you can do at home is to take some cotton balls and (when you have his attention) gently toss them at his head and see if he moves/flinches/tracks them. 5 is when something like Progressive Retinal Atrophy will start showing up, so I'd at least do some home vision checks. PRA isn't common in greyhounds, but there are a couple prolific sires that are carriers, so it's not an impossibility.

 

And, it's entirely possible he just developed a new fear for reasons known only to him. Our staghound is suddenly afraid of going through the kitchen to get to the yard (but he comes back in from the yard just fine). No clue why he suddenly decided the kitchen floor is scary Right now we've put down a rug for him and, when we have time, working on some positive reinforcement for coming close to or stepping on to the kitchen floor.

[OwnedBySummer]

I can't add any more information to the whole door and basement thing. I agree with using treats and praise and practice. Summer had a scary floor thing and I took her in and out of as many stores as I could to expose her to various scary shiny floors. I also won't put runners down on my tile floors at home (the gorgeous tile floors are part of the reason why I bought this house!) and she simply has no choice but to traverse them. She's fine now but it took a while and I had to apply ourselves to it.

 

As to the screen door, I put these on mine so that Summer could see that there was something there. I introduced her to the screen with her paws and her nose, too, but these make sure she knows that the screen is there. They work like a charm and I think they're a great idea!

 

 

[galgomum]

Haven't had his vision checked, but he seems to see just fine. He is 5 years old.

 

Dogs usually adapt to vision loss so well, it's hard to pick up on. The first signs are usually hesitation going in/out (light changes) or going up/down stairs. One test you can do at home is to take some cotton balls and (when you have his attention) gently toss them at his head and see if he moves/flinches/tracks them. 5 is when something like Progressive Retinal Atrophy will start showing up, so I'd at least do some home vision checks. PRA isn't common in greyhounds, but there are a couple prolific sires that are carriers, so it's not an impossibility.

 

And, it's entirely possible he just developed a new fear for reasons known only to him. Our staghound is suddenly afraid of going through the kitchen to get to the yard (but he comes back in from the yard just fine). No clue why he suddenly decided the kitchen floor is scary Right now we've put down a rug for him and, when we have time, working on some positive reinforcement for coming close to or stepping on to the kitchen floor.

 

 

When reading the story it popped in my mind also right away.

You may want to check his vision. Not saying that is it, but his behavior reminds me of Isa who was going blind.

She would react the same if one of the others was missing because she relied on them to be her eyes.

Thing is, it is really hard to pick up on as KennelMom says.

[Batmom]

I think there might be something in the vision thing. If not that ... hard to say. Could be a noise, a dislike of stairs, a scent, ... or something totally unknowable.

[GeorgeofNE]

Haven't had his vision checked, but he seems to see just fine. He is 5 years old.

 

 

Doesn't matter what his age is. I think it's a good idea to check on.

 

My old dog got fearful at NIGHT (only at night) and I took him to the doctor and was told he had some degenerative condition (mild, and it never really got worse) that messed up his night vision.

 

When I figured that out, I stopped taking him on walks in the dark and just let him go out to relieve himself.

[robinw]

Haven't had his vision checked, but he seems to see just fine. He is 5 years old.

 

Dogs usually adapt to vision loss so well, it's hard to pick up on. The first signs are usually hesitation going in/out (light changes) or going up/down stairs. One test you can do at home is to take some cotton balls and (when you have his attention) gently toss them at his head and see if he moves/flinches/tracks them. 5 is when something like Progressive Retinal Atrophy will start showing up, so I'd at least do some home vision checks. PRA isn't common in greyhounds, but there are a couple prolific sires that are carriers, so it's not an impossibility.

Exactly. The first sign that Phene was losing his sight was he stopped going upstairs. He can still see, but we think he only sees movement. A test like Heather described wouldn't work with him because he still tracks movement. The vet determined that something was wring by looking into his eyes with a bright light. Does Jack have a vet appointment in the near future?

[rascalsmom]

Robin, Jack isn't due for a vet visit till September. I may take him in, though, if I have to take Ruby again soon.

[monmeehan]

I have to agree with OwnedBySummer about putting something on the screens the dogs can see easily (assuming no vision loss). We put tape on the glass of our sliding doors, but Cheyenne plowed right through our (old, loose) screen, and bounced off the (new, stiffer) replacement screen a couple times before I wised up. The screens seem especially hard for her to discern at night (dark outside, lights on inside).

 

One mini-sized string of Tibetan prayer flags tied to the screen = problem mostly solved! Sometimes she still does act spooked and I have to either coax her back in, or walk out and then back in, so she can tell that the screen's open.

 

 

 

Edited 'cause eye cain't speel.

Edited April 28, 2011 by monmeehan

[rascalsmom]

Dogs usually adapt to vision loss so well, it's hard to pick up on. The first signs are usually hesitation going in/out (light changes) or going up/down stairs. One test you can do at home is to take some cotton balls and (when you have his attention) gently toss them at his head and see if he moves/flinches/tracks them. 5 is when something like Progressive Retinal Atrophy will start showing up, so I'd at least do some home vision checks. PRA isn't common in greyhounds, but there are a couple prolific sires that are carriers, so it's not an impossibility.

 

And, it's entirely possible he just developed a new fear for reasons known only to him. Our staghound is suddenly afraid of going through the kitchen to get to the yard (but he comes back in from the yard just fine). No clue why he suddenly decided the kitchen floor is scary Right now we've put down a rug for him and, when we have time, working on some positive reinforcement for coming close to or stepping on to the kitchen floor.

OK, I just did this cotton ball test with Jack, and he definitely saw them, watched them, and then thought it might be something to play with. I'd say he passed with flying colors.

 

I emailed the 'behaviorist' our group recommends--on Tuesday--but have not heard back from her.

I'm going to call someone else, someone my friend used.

[Guest SusanP]

Our Spinner has twice now developed a fear of going up stairs (only up , not down), and as our back door to the yard is downstairs through a walk-out basement, this is a problem. What has worked for us twice now is a course of Clomipramine for anxiety. After about 2 weeks on it, he has begun to be able to come up with support/treats. He has relapses, but that has worked.

Your pup sounds very anxiety prone. Perhaps anxiety meds short term would help. Then you can feed/treat him in your basement family room, etc... and see if he adjusts.

[krissn333]

If you want to go the anxiety med route, try the Composure Chews . We have used them with some of the dogs at the kennel and they seem to help

 

But first I would have his eyes looked at, just to be sure.

[rascalsmom]

Thought I'd update on Jack.

 

He seems to be pretty much 'normal' now. It is quite obvious that his 'normality' is directly linked to Ruby's well-being. As she has recovered from her neck injury, he has proportionately become more normal. She is now about 98% of where she was before--her only deficit seems to be when she's moving quickly/running--her hind end isn't fully under control. She is eating; so is Jack. She is going up and down steps; Jack is now willing to go to the basement, without being 'made' to go. Jack no longer seems to be afraid to go in and out the door.

 

The behaviorist finally called me back--yesterday. She told me that it sounds like he was suffering from a sort of PTSD...she said she sees it all the time in shelter dogs. He must have been traumatized by the accident and Ruby not being here, and then her recovery, which was not at all our normal routine. She had a similar reaction from her non-grey when her greyhound got osteo and had an amputation--he also hid, etc., like Jack was doing.

 

WHile I am thrilled that my sweet silly boy is back, I still fear for what will happen when Ruby is gone. She will be 12 on Thursday, so she's not a young dog!

[Remolacha]

I am glad Jack is "back". I would worry, too, about what will happen, but you really don't know what the future will bring, and at least you know what to watch for if Ruby does leave before Jack.