Not Wanting To Go In House?

[Guest lemon]

I've had Tosh close to a year now and he has never liked narrow spaces. Because of this he tends to just want to be in the living room area of my apartment which is a large open space. I never pushed the issue because I figured with time he would get more comfortable but he still chooses to hang out in that area. He has also had some aversion to entering new spaces (stores & houses) but if leashed and walking quickly I can get him to go in them. Today we drove down to my parents house which we have stayed at twice before and he refused to go into the house. Leashing him didn't work like normal nor food. I tried the back door (which enters into a seemingly dark narrow space) and also a large sliding door. I ended up having to basically push/herd him inside since he was not coming in on his own and it was pretty hot outside. Obviously he was very anxious about going inside and I don't like forcing him because I don't want to make going inside a negative experience but after trying a number of things it seemed the only option. I'm curious if people have any suggestions/experience with this. I'm also wondering if I should take him to the vet to get his eyes checked or if there might be something else medical I should rule out. Thanks in advance!

[CharlieRhea]

My Charlie never comes into the bathroom which I always attributed it to being a narrow entryway. I wish I had an answer. I will be following your post and hope someone has some ideas for you. I will say that when I 1st adopted Charlie 2 yrs ago it took quite awhile to get him into my house the 1st day, he also does not like getting into the car. Other than that he is calm but new things can cause a little anxiety.

[Guest lemon]

Thanks for the response. The good news is that he has decided he can come into the house through the sliding door so I can at least get him inside. Who knows what is going on in that greyhound brain...

[PatricksMom]

Before you pay to get his eyes checked, have you tried turning on all possible lights in narrow spaces? Leo and Henry's eyes are fine, but the only way we could get them to go up the stairs in the new house at first was with every possible light on.

[Guest lemon]

That's a good suggestion. We did turn on all the lights but maybe they just weren't enough. After a few times of not wanting to go in through the front door and being gently "guided from behind" (i.e. nudged along inside) with a treat party being thrown after getting through the door he got over it and now will go in the door. I'm thinking this may just be something I need to devote training time to so he gets comfortable entering through narrow spaces and going into unfamiliar places. He's my first greyhound and raced until he was six so we both have a lot to learn.

 

When we traveled back home we stopped at Petcos & Petsmarts for the bathrooms since it was too hot to leave him in the car for even a few minutes at a rest stop. I got a few weird looks since we were walking around the store with a bowl of smelly wet dog food and then they saw this crazy lady propping open the bathroom door, putting the food inside, and running with her dog into it while making weird excitable noises, "Let's go into the bathroom! Yea!". I may need to go around town with him doing this at various stores .

 

His annual vet visit is coming up so when there I'll make sure his eyes get checked out. While running around in the backyard he actually ended up plowing into me, luckily even though we both fell neither of us were hurt. Most likely he just misjudged but if there is something going on I want to catch it early.