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My dog has an irrational fear of....
The closet. The basic story is that the hallway in our house is a big rectangle and at one corner is a closet that contains our heater. For some reason our year old lab had decided he terrified of the closet. Not just slightly afraid, but won't even walk past it sometimes.
The weird thing is, it's only sometimes. Every once in a while he'll walk right past it, like he forgot he was afraid or something. Other times he won't pass by it to even eat or go to the bathroom. He will sit on the other side whining and if you try to lead him past (on his leash or something) he FREAKS out.
We've tried coaxing him with treats and praise. Leaving the closet door open so he can see it's not evil. Our other dog walks past it just fine. The big issue is this closet is between the two main areas of the house where he lives. Our bedroom where we sleep and where his bed is, and the kitchen/backyard where he eats and such.
I have no idea what cause him to be so afraid, but we really need to fix this! I was hoping you ladies may have some ideas I can try to convince him that he closet is not going to hurt him!
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I don't want the whole world.
The sun and moon and all their light.
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Re: My dog has an irrational fear of....
I think some of those fears just stay.
Says me, who has a dog who thinks linolium is lava (although some days she's fine w/ it, others, not so much)
If you can find a way for teh dog to cross that comforts, run w/ it--for me, if I touch dawg's shoulder, the lava is less scary. Or if she's on a leash. So I make bridges of towels, put a leash on to get her to the door, etc.
Thank you for the input! I really hope this one doesn't stick around. lol I don't know what it is that made him so afraid but it's pretty much ridiculous. He won't get within 10 feed of the closet to save his life, and if you try to come towards him to coax him through the hall, he runs away. I tried putting him on his leash this evening (which he is usually excited about) but I think he knew what I was up to and he laid down and refused to move. At 70lbs he's a bit hard to make to anything!
I figure he'll eventually have to cross because he needs food/water/outside time, etc. I would like to leave treats down the hall past the closet as kind of a happy thing for him but our other dog will eat them up immediately. My poor pansy dog. =(
1380 board posts
I don't want the whole world.
The sun and moon and all their light.
I just want to be the only girl, you love all your life.
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home D
2 ideas, just stuff we have done with our dog.
Lay on the ground in front of the closet and play with him. Rather then always walking through the hallway. Make the area pleasant even playing games with treats in the area.
I also find that Rufus responds well to our smell so I might take a shirt DH wore recently (even better if it has been in the laundry basket) and leave it in an area I want him to investigate. A used bath towel works too.
Also because the closet has the heater in it, there might be a sound or smell your not hearing or smelling that only happens occasionally which may explain the seemingly randomness of the freakouts.