Scared of going outside

[squidandcaitlin]

We recently (3.5 weeks ago) adopted our lovely greyhound Squid! He is so sweet and affectionate and came toilet trained from his 6 week foster home before us. 

During the first week there were no problems going on walks or leaving the house. However after week 1 he started refusing to leave the house, even though he very much needs to go to the bathroom. 

In fact, I would say he's getting progressively worse at leaving the house every day.

Here's what happens. 

- Dog whines (we assume he wants to go outside)

- We get out his leash and collar and he starts wagging his tail and runs up to us happily puts leash and collar on

- As we move towards the door, he freezes and refuses to go outside. 

We have tried high value treats like chicken, bacon, cheese, and he still wont step his foot outside the door. Instead he looks around very scared and whines, and tries to go back to bed. 

We live in a ground floor apartment with small concrete balcony so he really does need to leave the house. Sometimes he wees on the concrete but this is really not ideal.

Some days he will refuse to go out altogether, some days we have to spend about 30 minutes coaxing him out, some days more like 10. When he finally goes outside he is so desparate to wee and poo he will literally wee for 90 seconds straight. 

When we get on the walk he's happy to sniff around and do his business, and we always stick to quiet routes that he dictates for us. 

However I noticed that he doesn't want treats while we are out as I'm trying to reward him for being outside. He very rarely will take a treat from us when on the walk which I assume means he's still a bit stressed. 

We've tried feeding him outside and he's happy to go outside and eat, but just doesn't want to go for a walk!

Any words of wisdom advice  or even just reassurance that time will indeed heal is much appreciated 

Thanks  

[ramonaghan]

First, congrats on your boy. I love his name!

Did the foster walk him or just let him out into a fenced yard? Regardless, time will indeed heal.  Doolin was the same way and he has made great strides, but it took a few months. In the first week Squid was probably in shock and just on autopilot, but now he's realizing his world has changed for good. Search the forum for "freezing" and "statuing" and you'll find this is quite common as well as many tips for managing it. Time, consistency, and patience are key. And lots of praise when he's a brave boy!