One step forward and Two Steps Back

[ZekeDad]

We adopted Zeke a couple of years ago. When we did, we did it knowing that he had been kept back from adoption for almost a year because he was terrified of everything. Our female, Tess, is very confident and sweet and between Tess, my wife Ellen, and myself we started to love him. We discovered that he is OCD and certain things like stairs. He has to make tree attempts at the back stairs before he comes up them. He would come up the inside stairs in the evening unless nobody is near him or watching. He is terrified of rain, thunder and lightening to the point of needing some meds to stay calmer. 

Some days he runs right to us and some days he backs away. If it storms he hides behind my chair in my office. But he will only allow so much petting (except for butt rubs).  Some days he wants his head scratched and massaged and some days he jerks away if you attempted to move your hand near his head. 

I thought I had him trained to not crash out the door to our back yard until I said okay, and then it went backwards. Even treats don't make him come on a bad day. Our female mostly ignores him when he gets like this. She will even just go into her crate to avoid him at times. We have never been able to get Zeke near a crate even using treats, water or his dinner. If feels like he was abused or has PTSD. because we never know how he will react from day to day. He is never aggressive and usually very sweet. Our vet tells us he's healthy. He's also very smart.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We've had greyhounds before and other dog throughout most of our 50 years of marriage. We're stumped and we really love him.

Thanks for listening,

Lou

[Remolacha]

I am not an expert, but he sounds very much like a classic spook to me. The OCD behavior is common. What can seem like random or unpredictable behavior and reactions aren’t really. He just sees/hears and thinks about things in his own way. I know that isn’t very clear, sorry  Spook dogs are somewhat like the canine version of a person on the autism spectrum, especially high functioning autistic. 
Having a calm, confidant dog around can be a big help to them. Calm, patience, letting him move at his own pace will help. 
 

I hope others with more experience with spooks will see this and add their advice.

[BatterseaBrindl]

No experience or advice... just wanted to say thank you for adopting Zeke and giving him the best life possible.

Many would have returned him long before now ....

[FiveRoooooers]

Instead of a crate, an x-pen set up as large as possible might be helpful. Soft bed, toys, treats, nylabone, whatever he likes go in it. To engage him, he might like a puzzle game and/or Noseworks. 

Your home sound like just where Zeke needs to be in order to find his way and thrive. Enjoy each other!