But I Don't Like Night Walks Anymore...

[Guest lolasdad]

Hello,

 

I am new to the forum so just wanted to take a second to say hello.

 

My Grey Lola, who I adopted just over a year ago, refuses to go outside for her night walk/potty. Any other time of the day she loves going for walks. If it's daylight and just shake my keys or the leash she is up and running around in circles. After dark, however, asking her to go on a walk gets a completely different reaction, she will often look away or shake in fear. She is very scared of thunder and fireworks and this all began after the 4th of July, so I know the cause of her fear, I just don't know how to help her get over her fear of nighttime.

 

I live in Chicago on the second floor of an apartment building, so it is not like I can just let her out in the backyard until she does her business. I have to somehow get her down a flight of stairs. She often refuses to even get off her bed. If I can manage to lure her off it and get her out the door she will then put up a fight going down the stairs. I will either have to gentle nudge her from behind or just pick her up and carry her down them. Once outside she is visible nervous, but she will take care of her business and want to immediately come back inside. I allow her to come right back inside, but I would rather her go for a nice walk with me. Because I fear that forcing her to go out isn't helping the situation I have stopped doing this. Luckily for me she is only 3 and has an iron bladder, holding it for 12 hours+ is no issue for her.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on how I should handle this situation?

 

OH and of course, pictures!!!!!

Lola is good at the bed fail!

 

Lola and her bestie, Juniper, doing their best ying yang

 

HI GUYS!

Edited August 31, 2011 by lolasdad

[seeh2o]

No advice, but welcome and I love those pictures. That is a spectacular bed fail! Your girl is beautiful and such gorgeous eyes.

[TheFullHouse]

Is she at all food motivated?

[Guest lolasdad]

Is she at all food motivated?

 

She is very food motivated, and I have used that a few times to get her up off her bed and out the door. After a few nights of this however she got smart to my ways and refused the get up even for the treat. In short nighttime fear > her favorite treat.

[Guest Swifthounds]

Is she at all food motivated?

 

She is very food motivated, and I have used that a few times to get her up off her bed and out the door. After a few nights of this however she got smart to my ways and refused the get up even for the treat. In short nighttime fear > her favorite treat.

 

Sounds like you need better bait - something irresistible. Then, I would start small with the conditioning - break down the trip outside into small steps, take them one by one and reward anything resembling progress.

[Guest AmberStar47988]

Welcome to you and the lovely Lola! Will she walk at sunset/dusk? Could you progressively start walking earlier than sunset, condition her to go out just around dusk each night for a week or two, and leave five minutes later each night after that? Starting in bright conditions and desensitizing to her to the darkness by using sunset and dusk as a "transition" time might help.

[greytpups]

I'd love to hear what people have to say as well. Brooke has developed this fear as well. We have to go to her pillow and pull it out from her to make her stand up. then she shakes but will eventually let us put her collar on. Once she's out and sees that everything is fine, she stops shaking and enjoys her walk. I suspect it is because thunder and fireworks occur at night. She's food motivated, but nothing is good enough when she's stressed. Now that it's getting darker earlier and earlier, doesn't help either.

 

Brooke will walk though, albeit still a bit nervous but eventually she's ok and will enjoy her walk once she gets out the door. The only issue I see with your situation is allowing her to determine when to go back in. Maybe you need to take her for a short walk, just long enough to be the one who decides when it's time to turn around and go back in...sort of desensitize her slowly.

[Guest BrianRke]

First of all, Welcome to GT. Although I have not had this exact problem, it sounds like something Diamond would do. She is terrified of thunder and fireworks too. She is even terrified of my camera because it flashes.

 

The only advice I have is to be patient with her but also persistent. Obviously something "spooked" her on a nightly walk and now she wants no part of it. I think eventually, she will overcome it as long as she doesnt get spooked again.

 

Good luck to you.

[Guest KennelMom]

The last turnout Haley does is about 5pm...the next turnout she does is 10am...sometimes noon when we serve the pack lunch. She's been that way her entire life (she's now 14). Not out of fear, just out of not wanting to do the turnout. So...if the dog can hold it, it's probably not a huge deal.

 

However, if it is truly fear based - you're going to have to start working on some de-conditioning. Though with a very strong fear or spooky dog, there may not be an enticing enough bait. Our girl Stella will not eat anything outside of meal time. N.o.t.h.i.n.g. And we've tried everything under the sun for a decade. She just won't eat unless it's in her food bowl at feeding time...if we miss the feeding window, she won't eat that day.

 

I've found valium helps a great deal when dealing with thunder/fireworks phobias. It helps them relax enough so you can start to work with the mind and develop new associations.

 

And for posterity's sake, fear of going out (or coming back in the house) at dusk or night is often the first sign of vision changes or problems, so if you can't pin a new night-time fear to a specific event (like fireworks), it may be worth having your vet do a eye/sight evaluation.

Edited August 31, 2011 by KennelMom

[GeorgeofNE]

My advice is have her vision checked.

 

My last dog (a mutt) developed a minor eye issue that caused him to have poor night vision which made him somewhat skittish on our night walks.

 

I could be way off base, but it's worth considering.

[XTRAWLD]

Hot dogs. Hot dogs. Hot dogs. She's food motivated, so you have that going for you. Ryder was scared of going for walks due to roofers in our community. I had a hard time getting him out the door and then getting him to the end of the driveway and then to the corner, etc. He actually started refusing the food too. But you should start there. Every step she does, tonnes of praise, pets, and hot dogs. Even if you can get her to the closest patch of grass after nightfall, it's a success! Eventually start spending more time out there every night.

 

What resolved the problem for Ryder (you might want to skip and go right to this) was to take him elsewhere and go for a long walk. I was dropped off via car at my parents house (about a 5 min drive but it's over an hour walk) and off we went. He did his same statue "I'm not moving ma", to spinning and excitable movements, to pulling home with all his might, the same things that he would do at home, except he had no idea where he was. He was still strapped by some fear of roofers, but there were none to be found with his searching skyward eyes. There were however, 6 lanes of traffic roaring by him, sights and sounds that were completely different from home. The longer we walked, the more he settled. It was the change in the walking environment that helped him, and the long distance walk really did wear him out - except he was raring to go 5 mins after we got home. After that, he was way easier to handle and walked at home like a normal dog again. I don't know what clicked with him, but that worked on our first go. He still gets spooked when construction happens around our home, but haven't had crazy episodes like that since. If you do the walk, take some water with you and also allow her to walk on the grass as she sees fit for her paws. Watch out for glass, etc., and don't forget praise when you take a break and lots of hot dogs. You of course should try to do this at night.

 

Good luck.

Edited August 31, 2011 by XTRAWLD

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

I would guess that you adopted through "GO", so try calling this number, they will help you work through any issues:

 

847 421 9828

773 297 4739

 

Let them know that Chad saw your post and gave you the number to call. They will help. There are lots of people in Chicago that have greyhounds and you could possibly meet up with others to help. Call

 

Chad

[Guest lolasdad]

I should mention one other interesting twist to this issue. Last week I was visiting my parents in rural Missouri and Lola had no issues going out at night, but once we returned to Chicago her fear/hesitation came right back. So I really do not think it is a vision issue (hopefully). She also just had her annual last month and the vet did check out her eyes.

 

Thanks for all the great advice so far! I am going to buy some hot dogs today and try the "treat for any progress" method that was mentioned. I will keep you all updated.

[GeorgeofNE]

You'd need to see an eye specialist to have her vision checked--not just have the vet shine the light in her eyes. It's like going for your annual physical; you don't see the same doctor to have your annual eye exam.

 

But you make a good point--although it's probably safe to assume it was very dark in Missouri, but in Chicago there are LOTS of street lights, headlights, etc.? For my dog, pitch black was better than city lights.

 

But as I said, I may be way off base.

[Feisty49]

I'm interested in all the suggestions. My Annie, who I adopted 7 weeks ago, does not like to go out after it gets dark. Her last pee/poop (P&P) is at our 6 PM walk and she goes 12 hours without a problem, though when I get up, she is letting me know she's gotta go!!

 

At first I thought I've got to get her out at 9 or 10 PM because it's a long time until morning. After struggling with her for the first week after adoption, I basically told myself, "Screw it," which is when I discovered she can go 12 hours.

 

It will be interesting to see what our dogs do as it gets darker earlier and earlier. Wonder if Annie can hold it for 14 hours?

[XTRAWLD]

We went to a wedding years ago and unfortunately got stuck in traffic on the way home. Poor Kasey was stuck not being able to pee for 15 hours. We knew if he went in the house we would be totally ok with it. But he's got one great bladder and held it like a champ. That's the longest he's been "forced" to hold it. He also doesn't drink much when we aren't home, so I think that helps - or take water away if you know there is no potty break after a certain time.

[Guest SusanP]

I have two who get like this about going out at night after a run of thunderstorms (which often come at night). This year, too, Dr. Doug wouldn't go out at night for several days following July 4th--all those little popping firecrackers people set off at night. We do have a yard, and in our case, we deal with this by walking the scared dog individually on leash, yes, carrying them out if necessary. But you are already doing that...And no, a scared dog doesn't care about treats...

 

Some ideas: Wait until after the normal walk time to try again. When ours have to go badly enough, they are willing to dash out with us briefly just so they can pee fast and come back in. But you may not get a long walk for the time being.

We have one of our thunderphobes on Clomipramine during the whole storm season, though we still sometimes get the going-out-at-night problem anyway. We also give her Alprazolam right before a storm....I'm wondering if a dose of Alprazolam in the evening for a few days to relax her enough for going out might help break the cycle. You'd want to talk to your vet about this.

Be sure your collar/harness is very secure, because a panicky dog may struggle enough to slip out of a martingale and may run out of fear--a bad combination.

 

We've had a nice, long spell without thunder recently, here across the Mississippi from you, so ours are doing better now. You had some really big storms there in Chicago this summer, but am I correct that there haven't been any recently? Hopefully as thunder season winds down, your pup will begin to relax. And we notice with ours that every year ours do not necessarily behave the same way, so better luck to you next summer!