Increasingly fearful of the outside world

[banana46]

I've read through almost every post I can find about fear of noises/spooks etc., but haven't really found a situation that completely matches what I'm experiencing with my new grey. We've had him for six amazing weeks. We've bonded so well and he's the absolute perfect dog inside our apartment. He loves to play with us and give us cuddles and has shown no signs of sleep startle/aggression etc. When we first met him, he ran up to us and licked our faces/ran around us in circles. We didn't walk him for a whole week, as recommended by the adoption agency. However, we did take him for little walks through the apartment complex we live in so that he could suss out his environment and pee(we have a courtyard with a garden, which we let him use as a bathroom as well, but the dog pee smell soon got so intense and nothing we tried would make it go away!! And don't get met started on the flies!!). Anyway, at first, he was completely unbothered by everything: traffic noises, people, barking dogs did not phase him and he would just keep walking and sniffing. If he saw a person, he would try to sniff them and was so, so confident. After we waited a week, we tried a few short walks and they went really well. Then on one walk about two weeks in, we ran into a few problems. He witnessed his first electric bike and a screaming child who ran up to him with her arms out. This was all in one walk in the space of about 5 minutes (and on our way home as well). He was absolutely freaked out. He doesn't freeze, but tries to bolt when something scares him (sidenote: because of this, we now use a no-pull harness, which has been a lifesaver). As I know that you need to wait for dogs' cortisol levels to come down after such a terrifying experience, we waited several days to attempt another walk, but he was now much more fearful of everything. So, we decided to do late night walks instead so that the chances of us running into anybody would be much slimmer. This was going really, really well. He was becoming confident again and marking his territory left and right. He was beginning to get into a routine and letting US know when it was time to go for a walkies and jumping out of his skin with excitement when it was time to go (tail wagging and even the odd zoomie in our living room when we said the magic 'walkies' word and got the harness/leash out). But then, one night a couple of weeks ago, we were just out of the apartment complex and an extremely loud car went past a few streets away. It was one of those ones that has been decked out to sound like fireworks are coming out the back of it. Needless to say, it absolutely terrified him and he ran all the way home, basically dragging me along the road to get there. Now, he basically won't go further than 10 metres out our door without coming home as soon as he hears any noise whatsoever or sees a person. I don't know why he's decided he's afraid of people as well. We have been having some success driving him to a really quiet spot a few suburbs away where there's a walking track that's not near any roads. He absolutely loved doing that until yesterday when he heard an electric gate opening and freaked out. We've also tried taking him far out into the country suburbs of the city we live in, but no matter where you go, there's always some car or motorbike that drives past, so we can never really seem to completely avoid a noise that he doesn't like. He'd never been fostered or anything and he's quite young (1 year, 8 months), so I am aware that this is all new for him and obviously very overwhelming. He was living in an extremely rural area before moving in with us far, far away from civilisation, from what we understand. Another caveat: even though he mostly gets scared on walks and wants to come home, he still gets really excited to GO, even if the walk ends up lasting all of 20 seconds before he freaks out.

One of the biggest issues we have is that he's not particularly food motivated. He won't eat if he's really scared, which I believe is pretty normal. He also won't eat if he's enjoying his walk!!! When he's in happy sniffy mode, he has absolutely no interest in even the highest value treats (BBQ chicken, cheese, hot dogs - we've tried it all!). This makes it really hard for us to reward him for doing well on walks. It doesn't matter whether he's hungry or not - he seems to find sniffing the world more rewarding than tasty treats!! Also might be worth mentioning that even when he freaks out on a walk, as soon as we return home, he returns immediately to his happy, loving self. 

The sad thing is that when we do have a successful walk, the effect it has on his mood is so amazing to see. We know that it's a slow process and that with time, he will probably improve. However, I want to make sure that we're doing the right thing for him. Due to our working schedules, we have to leave him for about four hours a few days of the week in the morning. We've installed cameras, so we know he doesn't mind this and literally just sleeps the whole time. However, I do worry that he may experience separation anxiety or isolation distress at some point and if we can't tire him out by walking him in the morning, he might become destructive or injure himself somehow while we're gone. We leave him with food enrichment things, but you never know what might happen.

Anyway, I was wondering if anybody has experienced a similar situation or would be able to give us some advice. If he freaks out on a walk, should we wait several days every time or keep trying, but keep the walks so short that he the chances of hearing a scary noise are greatly reduced (there's always some motorbike or person talking loudly, so scary noises are somewhat unavoidable)? Is it worth taking him out our gate every day and letting him decide when we come back inside? Or is that too much for him? Any advice on what to do when he bolts? Should we let him go in the direction he wants to go? Obviously we don't want to force him to stay near whatever's scaring him, but should we let him escape the situation but turn him in a different direction than the one he wants to go in? We've been trying everything the adoption place suggested, but it just seems to get worse or at least stay the same. (Sidenote: we are planning on meeting up with a friend who has a greyhound, but their greyhound isn't particularly confident on walks, so I'm not sure if that'll help that much. There's also a greyhound walking group near us, but they tend to go to parks and places that are pretty busy, so I'm not sure if that's the best idea either to build his confidence). 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by banana46
grammatical error oopsie

[1Moregrey]

At 6 weeks he is just at the beginning of his culture shock.  He is most likely just now noticing the sound and sight that have been there since you brought him home.  Think of it as being on auto pilot and suddenly having to take the wheel.  The more time you can spend outside just listening and watching the better.  Slowly get him used to your neighborhood if he spooks at a noise and you are in a safe place to get him to stop and listen/watch.  
My girl spooked at the sound of a nail gun that roofers were using on one of our walks.  I stopped her from sprinting off we went back and I told her a story about the roofers why they were on the roof, the big noise is going to happen now, again and the like.  She gets told about all noises if they are real or recorded (they get turned off and on).

So more time, patience, and exposure.  The more mater of fact you can be the better the less likely you will feed into his insecurities.  
Being told he is a good boy and ear, neck, back scratches are just as good as food.  My first one would not eat away from home.  She worked ear rubs and verbal praise.  People would try to give her steak and all kinds of high value treats she would not even look at the food.  So do not worry about that. 
If he is willing to go out daily do daily by being scared/spooked and then not going out you might be making him think it is a bigger deal if it happens every time.  
Each time you go out think he is going to be brave and not bothered by noise it is no big deal just something new to explore.  Then your fear/anxiety will hopefully not be transferred to him.

Hope this helps it just takes time as they are really just over grown puppies experiencing the big wide world for the first time.  Except the fight or flight is fully developed.

[HeyRunDog]

Six weeks is just at the start of your new greyhounds journey into his new life and it will take time for him to adjust and trust that you are looking out for him. As 1Moregrey says, slowly introduce him to the new sights and sounds of your neighbourhood. He takes some of his cues on how to react from you, so if you start to tighten his lead and get wound up in anticipation of something that's happening he's going to think it's panic time. Stay calm but be ready to react if something happens but not before. Don't comfort him until he's calm again otherwise he thinks you are rewarding him for being afraid. You could also try to teach him the "Look at me" technique so you can distract him before he notices the problem.

10 hours ago, banana46 said:

There's also a greyhound walking group near us, but they tend to go to parks and places that are pretty busy, so I'm not sure if that's the best idea either to build his confidence

That is a good idea. Going on greyhound walks really improved Grace's confidence. Talk to the other owners and explain your problem and try to walk in the middle of the group so your boy can see how the others are reacting.

He will improve. It took my Grace a couple of months to get used to the traffic, now she doesn't even notice a noisy motorbike going past. After 3 and a bit years she still doesn't like noisy children or the sound of footballs being kicked but she no longer dances around on the end of the lead in a panic. Time, patience and humour are all you need to get through this with a bit confidence thrown in for good measure.

PS. What's your greyhounds name?

[banana46]

Thank you both!

Yes, I was worried that by holding off on walks after a big fright I was teaching him that the noises were in fact something to be afraid of! At the start I was definitely guilty of trying comforting him when he was afraid. I'm glad to hear that I can keep trying to get him out of the house daily (even if he only lasts a minute). We're working on 'look at me' at the moment, so that's a great tip. I shall also try my best to exude confidence and hopefully that'll rub off on him! And we'll definitely take him for an adventure with the walking group in that case. Hopefully he'll get out of the car despite the noises if he sees a bunch of greyhounds!

Also, his name is Fig :-) 

[nougat]

My girl is also pretty sensitive to sights and sounds, which is tricky because we live in the city. What's helped is teaching her the 1-2-3 pattern game, which I start playing if we are approaching something that might be distressing for her (e.g., a loud, idling truck) or if some loud car might be passing by. This helps bring her attention to me and distract her from the trigger (i.e., the loud noise) so she doesn't have the opportunity to notice and get scared. Also helping is just to mark -- either with a clicker, or a verbal "yes" or some other word -- and treat every time a loud noise happens (e.g., a honk from a car), which in theory helps her associate the loud noise with something positive (a treat), and has the bonus of getting her to look at me every time something loud happens. At the very least, having these strategies under my belt make me feel more comfortable walking her because I feel like I have ways of dealing with the situation when something spooks her.

In terms of the length of the walk, we really kept the walks quite short when we first got her. We would walk a 2-3 blocks to somewhere we could sit and watch people and cars pass by, and I would explain to her "that's a car" or "that's a stroller". I'm sure I looked quite crazy, but I'd like to believe that me explaining things to her kind of helped, or at least the normal tone of my voice helped reassure that there was nothing to be afraid of. We would go to the same location for a few days, and then extend the walk by a block, finding a new place to sit and watch. I think that sometimes just being outside to expose them to the sights and sounds of the city, and without the pressure of walking and going somewhere, helped.

And Fig is such a great name! I hope Fig is able to feel more comfortable soon (:

[mansbestfriend]

Hi. Sounds like you have some good info about stress in dogs. Remaining calm when your dog isn't, can take practice but is important. Speak to your dog in a calm soothing voice, ideally when 'that scary thing' is still away in the distance. It can help to find a quiet park to chill for a while, and watch the the world go by from a safe distance.  And yes the idea is to lower the dog's stress levels that are simmering just below the surface (threshold). Maybe also search "noise phobia in dogs" or "spoon theory for dogs". Cheers.