i have been away from home for four days. Arnie has been with my wife and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I got home today and I am a little distressed because he seems to be terrified of me. He looks so unsure and uncertain. He ducks his head when I try to touch him and looks like he thinks I'm gonna hit him. I've never hit my dog before. He's not doing any of the cues I've taught him. He barely sits, he doesn't seem to understand heel anymore. He just looks unsure and scared. What could go wrong in four days? My wife didn't mention anything weird, and she has been doing our normal day to day stuff with him. I'm confused
I had this happen once, I reached for my dog and he backed down and let out a little cry as if I hit him. I talked to him like he was a human, asked him what was wrong? Of course no response but I did go in and asked if anybody had punished the dog in any form be it verbally or physically. Obvious answer was no from everybody in my home.. I did find out a few days ago from a friend he was walking and kicked the dog. It was in a dark spot in our home and if anybody who has a black dog knows how hard it is to be seen. The dog did "snap" out of it a day or two later but it had me worried. I would just keep showing your animal positive gestures, keep petting him and maybe offer a treat once or twice but when offering the treat, make him come to you. If you force yourself on the dog I'm not sure what could happen if anything. Good luck!
Sit on the floor and offer cheese or a favourite treat. Hopefully he'll quickly re-establish the link between coming to you and good things happening. Don't push too hard, just let it happen.
I feel for you, that must be sad! He has just had a fright at something - you might never know what. Take it easy, as others have said - sit on the floor, don't touch his head for a little while, offer treats - he will soon remember who you are.
Bless him. I agree with sitting on the floor and giving treats. I would also make sure I had a happy voice as they can be sensitive to changes in tone of voice. Hope he gets back to himself soon
So I think I've narrowed it down to him being afraid of Velcro. We got his new harness. And every time I bring it near him he cowers. He puts it on, with a struggle, but he obviously doesn't like it.
Because they're far, far safer than a collar. Both for the puppy's throat, which can get damaged whilst still learning to walk on a loose lead, and also as far as slipping out of it and running into traffic is concerned. Additionally, I don't have room in my car for a travel crate for my dogs, so they have crash-tested harnesses they wear when travelling. I don't like that they don't like them, but I do my best to desensitise them and I feel they are a necessary evil. In the same way that dogs don't like having vaccinations, but they are still important for health. You just do what you can do to make it as less stressful an experience as possible.
As Fiona says, there are massive benefits to using them. And it's obviously possible to get dogs to be fine with them, Mags manages with her guide dog puppies (although I also do wonder if the breeding programme that would certainly exclude any dog that didn't like a harness has some impact at all...dunno....). Charlie no longer wears a harness unless I judge that the risks of a collar are significant, and I will switch Betsy to a flat, wide collar as soon as it's safe to do so. I do wish I knew what it was about harnesses - whether a particular design, how they are introduced (although I can't see that I could have been any more careful with Betsy than I was), whether it's the sensation around the body, or whether it's the control of the body....
Sorry that people have such trouble with harnesses. All 3 or ours have come to us at an age that isn't puppy so I don't know what they's had before, and have been delighted to put their harnesses on. Harness = walk = ohmygoodnessthisisjusstsobrilliant. Coco (& Belle)'s harness isn't even a particularly good one (Company of Animals No-Pull - not that it lives up to it's name).
Velcro is an awful sound for humans, must be even worse for a dog. How does he react if you try to put on his old harness?
Yeah I spent a little time last night desensitising him to it. The Velcro doesn't need to move every time he puts it on. Only the first adjustment. So he'll be ok
We don't use harnesses at all with Guide Dog puppies, except car harnesses for travelling. Bruce is too big to fit in the car crate so he has a car harness. We do have jackets for them once they are six months old. We spend at least two weeks getting them used to wearing it just at meal times first, then only on stress free easy local walks. If something stressful happens when in the jacket in the early days they can 'blame' the jacket and dislike it for that reason, once it becomes normal to them we do all our lead work shop work etc etc with the jacket on. Once the pups get to Big School they are very gradually introduced to the harness. And yes, some hate it and all efforts to desensitise them fail. It's rare but it happens. Those pups are withdrawn from the programme. ...
And neither is them slipping their collars and running into traffic. All we can do is the best for our dogs. For me, that means, safety first. Which means harnesses until they are capable of walking nicely in a flat collar. Vaccinating isn't a positive experience for dogs. Nail clipping isn't a positive experience for dogs. So many things that we ask of dogs they wouldn't find intrinsically "positive". Walking on a loose lead included. We do what we have to to keep them safe and healthy, training, desensitising and counter-conditioning them as much as possible so they don't find those experiences as intolerable as they otherwise could.
