Dog suddenly scared of living room

hmf8746 · February 2014

My husband and I adopted a 2 year old hound/pointer mix about a month ago from a local rescue organization. Though he is rambunctious outside, at home he was a total couch potato from the beginning (his previous fosters said the same thing about him too). He loved being in the living room any time we were in the living room.

Suddenly, starting a few days ago, he will not come in the living room at all. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment, so the living room is a pretty significant part of the place. It is between the kitchen and our bedroom, so he only really stays in the kitchen now. We have tried luring him with chicken and he still won't budge. Nothing has fallen on him or anything else that we think would be frightening for him, but he often hides around a corner just to be out of site of the living room. When we are in the kitchen with him, or take him outside, he is 100% okay and energetic.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? Or will it go away eventually on its own?

LuckyAngel07 · February 2014

It's possible something happened to scare him one day while you were out of the house. A scary loud noise, for example.

All you can do is very slowly work on positive reinforcement training with him. Reintroduce him to the living room almost like you would introduce a dog to a crate. Any approach toward the scary thing earns lots of praise and a reward (even if he's still well inside the kitchen). Very slowly, he'll make progress closer to the living room, which should elicit lots more praise and rewards from you. Stepping foot in the living room gets the biggest amount of praise and very high-value treat as a reward.

It will likely take time and he might move slowly and/or regress here and there. Good luck!

hmf8746 · February 2014

Thank you! We started feeding him his meals in the living room (at the suggestion of our friend that is a doggie expert), and it seems to be helping! He still doesn't love the room like he used to, but he's getting less timid each time. Hopefully you're right and it will just take a little time

formerlyGDaisy09 · February 2014

treats and praise if he even puts one toe into the room. Our girl is scared of our stairs (just our stairs, not stairs in general) she gets many treats and good girls for putting a paw on the first step. Don't force it too fast, we work on stairs for 5-10 minutes a day. its slow progress, but progress is progress.

Dog suddenly scared of living room

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