2 Weeks in and now Freezing. What do we do?

[Shiny_Grey]

We adopted our gorgeous boy (3 years old) about 2 weeks ago. He has never been in a home before and we don't know much about his history except that he's had no injuries. From day one he loved going for walks, he would trot up to us when we got our coat/shoes on, wagging his tail and could barely contain himself when we got his collar/lead/muzzle/ coat on. 

All of a sudden a few days ago he started to stop on his walks, he would start walking and then halfway down the road he would just stop. He'd only start walking again if we went back towards home. He would stop to sniff which we let him do on patches of grass around the neighbourhood and then meander back towards home, digging his brakes in if we didn't go with him. 

Now its a struggle to get him to leave the house or get past the driveway. He seems to be able to move when a treat is offered or when a toy is offered but we can't do that every few paces. 

Our neighbourhood is very quiet, there's barely ever anyone else around besides one or two dog walkers/walkers and hardly any cars. He has gone from being keen for his walk to walking away from us when we get his lead out. I don't want my boy to be unhappy - he has a small garden that he has zoomies in and a play to make sure he gets exercise, he does his business both on the walk and in the garden usually. I would be very grateful for any ideas on building his confidence or narrowing down the root cause of this issue. He did seem to enjoy his walks and getting to sniff around the neighbourhood, I'd like to get back to that if possible. 

 

- We were giving him 2 half hour walks a day, we have been stairs training him daily in the past few days. Only for 10 minutes at a time so I wonder if that's over exercising him? We've cut that down to every other day 

- I noticed his paws seemed dry, so I have started applying paw butter to head that off 

- He has been fussing at a few places on his body and causing hair loss, that seems to be getting better - we will be looking into his food in case there's an allergy(gradual changes). He had a lot of dandruff when we first brought him home but next to none now. We are brushing him regularly as he seems to be shedding

- He will walk forwards to pick up a treat but will stop again, we squeak a toy and he looks for it and will play on the spot but won't progress on the walk, we've tried waiting it out and using gentle encouragement but its taking half an hour just to get him to move a few metres 

- He is very attached to us in the house, doesn't like it when he can't get to us so most of the time we are with him - even sleeping in the living room until his stairs training is complete - we will be doing separation training gradually with him but trying not to overwhelm him at the moment 

- He doesn't seem to be limping and there's no tenderness in his limbs/back/paws/muscles/ legs etc

- As far as we know he's not had any negative experiences on a walk - no dogs get anywhere near us and things are usually really relaxed and straightforward 

- He seems to be growing more concerned with noises outside the house, it is a very quiet neighbourhood but he gets anxious when he hears my neighbour getting in/out of his car / a delivery driver etc. 

 

We have a routine vet check up scheduled for 2 weeks time, I'll get them to do a thorough check to make sure there's nothing else going on. I'd love to know how to build his confidence and get him back to happy walkies

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, any advice is appreciated 

[ramonaghan]

Congrats! What's your boy's name?

This behavior is very common; you'll find lots of threads here if you search "statuing" or "freezing". I think the first couple of weeks they're in such shock they just cooperate on autopilot. Now he's absorbing more of his new reality and trying to make sense of it. Go very slow and don't force long walks. Try 5 minutes at first and build up from there. If he seems to like car rides, sometimes taking him to a new spot can help. I also found with Doolin (my freezer) that nudging him gently with my knees from behind works better than pulling him—they understand pushing from racing, but pulling not so much. When he freezes, you can also try walking him around in a tight circle to get him going again.

Time, patience, and positive reinforcement will do the trick. He's probably feeling overwhelmed, even by what seems quiet and benign to you. Lots of new smells and sights around, and he's not quite sure what's expected of him yet. You'll both get there! People here like to say 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months are all milestones in their acclimation to life as a pet. It definitely took a few months with Doolin, and even now after a year and a half, he'll stop on walks sometimes if we try a new route or he sees something up ahead he's unsure of. They're such delightful little weirdos!

Edited February 12 by ramonaghan

[macoduck]

What's worked with mine:
- keeping the leash short so my hound is right beside my hip
- no sniffing since this walk is just for exercise
- any treat should be a really high value one that he gets at no other time other than on walks
- when mine would stop I would stop and not pull on the leash, and I'd say very little to her if anything
 - then I move her in a very tight circle with her at my hip, just turning in place until we are facing the opposite direction from where we'd been heading.
 - then take a few steps before turning tight again to be facing the way I wanted her to go
 - diffuse the signal that you are taking him for a walk by putting on your coat, picking up the leash, wandering slowly around the house, then put leash down and take your coat off. You can also add in clipping the leash on but still not going out the door.
- repeat that at odd intervals before you really head out to walk him

 

[Time4ANap]

Good advice here. Also check his paw pads to make sure there are no damaged pads. It may take a bit for the pads to adjust to new surfaces. Hard spots could be a corn trying to come through which would be painful during walking. There is lots of info here on corns and they are quite common. 

[Shiny_Grey]

Thank you to everyone who has responded. We had a couple come over today with their greyhounds as we heard walking with more confident dogs can help. He still froze up on the driveway and in multiple places around the neighbourhood. We had some success but you could see he was getting overwhelmed. Ears pinned back, unsure expression and his tail wasn't relaxed at all. I feel so bad for him at the moment, he seemed fine on walks but seeing him now makes me feel like we've made him unhappy. 

We tried putting him in the car and taking him to another point on our usual walk. Took a lot to get him out of the car and then he started really strongly walking in a direction he has never gone before. We carried on with him, to see what would happen but its not a route that would make a round trip. We had to double back on ourselves to go home but he just froze up. We had to get him back to the road - gradually - and then I had to get my husband to bring the car to us to take us home. Was a bit of a disaster. 

I've been reassured that we just need to keep persevering, seeing how far he will go and not pushing him to do a full walk. I am happy to stand on the driveway while he takes it in until he's had enough. Essentially I will see how far he wants to go, but when he starts pulling back to the house I'll call it a day. Treats and distractions seem to help for a few paces, we will try to make the outside world a positive place. Hopefully he will start to calm down over the next few weeks and months. 

[Apollo_the_Grey]

so much good advice on these threads.    

I had freezing issues with Apollo as well.  Even to the point where he actually sat down on a walk and just watched the world for a few minutes.   Like was said before, things are new to him... sights, sounds, movement and especially smells.  He is developing the "filters" to understand his new baseline of normal.   It takes a while for all that stimulus overload to relax and be processed and new mental filters brought alive.  I agree with the short walks, shorter leashes (under 6ft/2m) and lots of praise when he does things well and tons of patience when he's not too sure.