Fearful of Walks and Going Outside - Noise Anxiety

[cococabana]

Hi folks! Hoping someone who's been through similar might have some advice.

We've had our 3 year old ex-racer for around 7 months now. Walks were the highlight of her day and she loved going to dog friendly pubs and cafes. Overall she was super confident outside and in new places. 

For the whole month of October, there were fireworks for Halloween. These spooked her and she began refusing to go out for walks most of the time -- we'd sometimes go if she felt like it. But for the last 2 weeks, she's refusing to go past our driveway even though there are no fireworks anymore.

We've booked 3 sessions with a behaviourist starting next week. Until then, we've been driving to the local park for short walks and using treats to create positive association, she eventually relaxes a little while walking but noises that never scared her before trigger her. Xanax worked for one day and then didn't seem to agree with her after that.

It's so upsetting to see her like this, it's like she's a different dog. We worry that it might not be possible to get her back to her old, confident self.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Poor girlie    Fireworks should be banned. 
 

I’d just continue to do the short little outings …with lots of praise and treats.  Baby steps..one day at a time. 

Edited November 28, 2021 by BatterseaBrindl

[cococabana]

1 hour ago, BatterseaBrindl said:

Poor girlie    Fireworks should be banned. 
 

I’d just continue to do the short little outings …with lots of praise and treats.  Baby steps..one day at a time. 

They're the worst. They're actually banned here but the police don't really do anything about it. We'll keep going with the baby steps 

[HeyRunDog]

She'll get over it with time but with New Year just around the corner her confidence will take another knock. You could try walking her to the end of your drive with confidence until she stops, pause for a few seconds, a quick "well done" turn round and either go back inside or into the car and take her to the park. Trying to get her to go a bit further each time or pausing a few seconds longer.

There are sound downloads from the Dogs Trust and instructions on how to desensitise your dog here  https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/dog-behaviour-health/sound-therapy-for-pets

[FiveRoooooers]

Our up-the-road neighbor is a farmer who insists on blasting a Corn Cannon every summer to supposedly scare away the crows and geese from the corn field. When angel (Foster) Sweet first heard it she would panic and run to the door to go back inside. I knew that the cannon would run for several weeks, every 7-10 minutes on every hour from 7:00a-6:00p. What I did was every time the thing went off I'd sing "Dopey Neighbors" in a really (forced) happy voice and give her a treat. The treat needs to be of very high value, one that the dog doesn't normally receive every day but goes mad for when offered. At first I had to shove the treat into her mouth, but in short order Sweet figured out that when she heard the cannon she'd get a treat. It didn't take long for her to prefer high-value treats over a stupid corn cannon. This was several years ago, but current camper Punkin initially had the same problem. Back to singing silliness and shoving treats into mouth and she's a rock star now too. This method also worked with the girls for fireworks and gunshots.

Good luck!

[NeylasMom]

Consider talking with your vet or a vet behaviorist about a different medication. It could be really helpful to get her over the hump and aid in any behavior modification training you do, especially now that she's generalized her anxiety and associated being outside with the scary stuff. Once she's in a good place, you may be able to wean her off, but have something faster acting on hand for the next time to prevent her getting back to this place. 

[Moo]

I've suffered a similar knock after moving back to live in a suburban area from living with my parents which was near the coast and countryside. Unfortunately I also moved shortly before halloween and bonfire night, so the trauma of moving was followed by near constant fireworks.  Previous to this Rumble was a very confident walker (he had the general freezes for a few months after I first got him though), so it's been hard seeing the setback he's had. Weirdly, despite living opposite a park, he prefers to walk down the local streets and fairly busy main road? I don't know what the logic there is, but I don't mind if he doesn't mind. He's also got a weird thing about houses, so I always say he's interested in properties as he likes to stick his snoot in peoples gates and peep through the windows. The only real downside to this is that the floors near me have a lot of glass so you have to be careful, but anything that gets him out the house is a bonus now. He's also developed a fixation with my aunt's car who I now live with (he didn't go in a car much before this), so everytime we go out to walk he makes a beeline for the car and I often have to lure him out the gate with treats or push his bum.  He doesn't even care where he goes in the car, he just likes to sit in it. We've driven to the park with him many a time, and he just refuses to get out. The back seat seems to be his favourite place! Odd dog, but you have to love their weirdness.