We've got a weird one. Our 3-year-old lab suddenly won't come into the house through the doggie door. He'll go out through it happily, but on the outside coming in seems somewhat scared of it. He'll paw at it but that's it. He'd rather sit out in the cold at the people door and look at us. This came out of nowhere. Our only clue is that my wife said that the dog yelped when she touched his left ear yesterday, but he subsequently let my daughter thoroughly check his ears and there's no sign of injury. Any ideas?
We have a dog door (actually a double door in the Winter) and have not had problems with our own dogs but some visitors have never gotten used to it. On a related note, Cooper all the sudden decided that she did not want to go near the open gate at our cabins HOA. She had no problem coming in, but she would not go out through it. When she got within 100 ft. of it she would go in a different direction. This went on for a whole season, but we got over it this Summer by throwing a tennis ball towards the gate and letting her retrieve it. Her tennis ball drive exceeded the fear of the gate, and within a few weekends she would go through the gate with no problem, just like old times. She still tends to walk on the side of road opposite the gate, but she will go close to it if there is a tennis ball reason. We have no idea why she became spooked by the gate, but with some time and encouragement she got over it.
