How to help a dog with a phobia?

[roche]

We recently adopted an 11 year old black Lab. His previous owner has had to go into an old folks home. The dog is great, firendly, not pining or anything but he has this phobia...It seems like he won't walk on tiled floors. Now, that is a problem, as the entire ground floor of the house is tiled. We've put down rugs everywhere, but even then he seems a bit dubious. Actuallly it is a bit more of a problem than it seems - if we go out, there are other floors he won't walk on, so you end up taking emergency rugs...
Has anyone experienced this sort of thing, or got any ideas about how to change it?

Thanks in advance,

Roche

 

[greatbritishhoney]

In the past I've had an elderly rescued labrador with a wealth of mental problems and found that although you can lessen the problems you can never completely get rid of them (you can't teach an old dog new tricks!).
However, in your case I'd recommend doing what you'd do with a puppy - confine it to one area, preferably where it's bed will usually be, make sure the majority of the floor is covered with rugs, until it is comfortable there (maybe for a few weeks), then gradually introduce it (on the lead) to other areas of the house. Then allow it access to, say, two rooms where the floors are partly covered, and build up like that.
If the dog exhibits fear of the floor JUST COMPLETELY IGNORE IT, any reaction on your part (even reassurance) will just reinforce the behaviour.
Reward the dog when it does walk across the tiled floor, maybe putting a trail of treats across the floor ending at you for a big fuss.
You may also need to investigate that there is no underlying medical problem (foot problems, arthritis etc). A visit to the vets may help.

 

[Skyhook]

A tiled floor can be a real problem for a dog, specially if he's not that agile... if he feels himself slipping it could be frightening for him. You may have to look for practical, rather than psychological solutions.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I agree. At 11 a lab is old. His legs aren't going to be in the best of nick and he is going to be frightened of slipping and hurting himself. Make sure his nails are kept trimmed and provide plenty of non slip mats. I don't think any amount of training is going to allay his fear and I think it would be unkind to force him.

 

[victor meldrew]

I agree. At 11 a lab is old. His legs aren't going to be in the best of nick and he is going to be frightened of slipping and hurting himself. Make sure his nails are kept trimmed and provide plenty of non slip mats. I don't think any amount of training is going to allay his fear and I think it would be unkind to force him.

I have an eleven year old Samoyed bitch, she is wary of tiled floors , vinyl floors ,anything slippy ! she has a bad hip (the result of a slip on a laminated floor at my sons' house perhaps).
If she lies down on such a floor she panics simply because she can't get back on her feet . The phobia you speak of could be the dog knows its limitations and avoids dangerous surfaces !

John W

 

[cak29]

I agree, I think slipping would be the main fear, maybe he slipped at his previous house and therefore remains weary. At that age would be difficult to completely train out of him, although you could socialize the idea of walking on tiles by encouraging with treats and rewarding when he steps on it. Clipping nails to ensure the full pad makes contact and slip proof rugs in some areas seem to be the way to go.

 

[roche]

Thank you all for your responses. He has had his claws clipped and rather more exercise than he had been used to. And now is getting about the place much better. With the lead on he froze. We just let him come and go as his confidence? let him, and now he is pretty good. Still a way to go but getting there.

 

[freethorpe bees]

Well done to you for giving him a good home, he's a lucky lad!

 

[Poly Hive]

Clicker training is a great way to reinforce good habits.

We were introduced to it by a keen gun dog trainer who swore by it.

We started training our whippet, then a new lad to us and the senior dog, the lurcher pretty soon showed us that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks esp if it is click and treat...

Google clicker training....

PH

 

[roche]

The funny thing is - on a walk he is the best dog in the world - never more than a few feet away, comes back pretty quickly, checks to see that you are there....

 

[greatbritishhoney]

How have you got on Roche? Any improvement?

 

[taff..]

Clicker training is a great way to reinforce good habits.

We were introduced to it by a keen gun dog trainer who swore by it.

We started training our whippet, then a new lad to us and the senior dog, the lurcher pretty soon showed us that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks esp if it is click and treat...

Google clicker training....

PH

I agree that clicker training is a good tool, I have tried it in the past and seen people using it with a massive variety of success.

I do agility competitively, (I'm now running in grade 4 of 7, so getting to be running at a reasonable standard) for me it was a failure, mainly because my timing is not good enough. I could not consistently click at EXACTLY the right time needed to re-inforce what I wanted to re-inforce. so I binned the clicker and moved onto other techniques such as target training (the dog touches the target with his nose or paws depending on which target is presented).

my other thoughts about training are that whatever I start doing today, I must be able to do tomorrow, the day after and next year, if that means that I must wear a clicker around my wrist for the forseable future it just isn't going to work for me. I've always got two of my target on me.....the palms of my hands.

obviously what I say ^^^^ there is a personnal view, and dog training is as personal and subjective as beekeeping, and it begins by working out what exactly you want the dog to do, my new puppy who's 6 months old was doing what the majority of pet dog owners want their dogs to do by the time he was about 4 months old

 

[roche]

Well, he's doing OK at home, but we've got him in the office today - carpet tiles. He came in, walked carefully down the corridor (keeping as close as possible to the wall) into the lift, along another corridor and into the office in a bed next to the desk. Now he won't leave the immediate area of the desk. Corridors, carpet tiles are all just too much...

 

[cak29]

Sounds like he is just weary of everything and needs be feel comfortable and secure. I foster rescue dogs, some walk in my house and jump straight on the sofa, some need encouragement at every step that they are doing good and are not going to be punished or hurt. Sounds like you are doing well with him!

 

[Miss B]

Have you checked that his toe nails don't need clipping? It might just help.

 

[Miss B]

Have you checked that his toe nails don't need clipping? It might just help if it makes it more comfortable for him.