Agoraphobic greyhound!

JailhouseBabe

I have 2 rescue greys, a girl (nearly 8), and a boy just turned 8. We've had him for a little over 2 years now, and he's had good long walks from day 1. His routine has been disrupted recently (I had a fortnight away, home for a week, then another week away). A friend of mine moves in to look after the dogs, so their routine is not as disrupted as it might otherwise be.
Anyway, the problem started on my first day home from the last trip, 2 weeks ago. While walking both dogs, a bus backfired right next to us and then almost immediately a motorbike backfired three times. My boy has always been terrified of thunder, fireworks, etc., and panicked massively upon all this loud noise. I had to take him home immediately (he's 35kg and pretty much dragged me home!), and since then I have only managed to get him to leave the house twice for walks. Where he used to get excited upon hearing me yell "walkies", he now just runs straight into the living room and lies down.
He seems fine in all other respects, running around the garden as usual, etc. I've considered a trip to the vets, but I would struggle even to get him out of the house and into the car! He's also never been open to bribery with liver, chicken, or any other types of food.
Has anyone had experience of this before? Will he eventually forget and start going out again? Any tales/suggestions will be gratefully received!

rev229

When I was a child we had a whippet who at the mention of walk ran to his bed and stay there, he was very lazy and fat!! No advice for you sorry!!

Fire_Fox

You might try a DAP diffuser and desensitisation? If you can find a recording of fireworks/ cars backfiring or whatever, play it very very quietly and increase the volume slowly over a period of time. Is he not even food oriented when he is hungry and the food is very smelly? Another option is an animal behaviourist, your pet insurance may cover this. Really you need to be able to get him into the car if your vet does not offer home visits.

Sagz_2

I've used Serenum on my lurcher who got freaked out by fireworks and it did take the edge off his fear.

For now, I'd be inclined to leave him behind whilst you keep the routine the same for your other dog, try not to make a fuss of him staying behind just ignore his behaviour. In a week or two just clip his lead on and go out the front door, be overly jolly, not all coochie-coochie to pander to his fear. As soon as you are out the door turn around and go back in, unclip the lead and again make no fuss.

Slowly build on the number of steps you are taking out of the house, always returning before his fear reaches it's peak. In time he will hopefully learn to cope with his fear, and after that will begin to enjoy his walks again.

It's not a quick method - but I have used it on more than a couple of timid and frightened dogs with good results.

RuthnJasper

Sagz wrote: »

I've used Serenum on my lurcher who got freaked out by fireworks and it did take the edge off his fear.

For now, I'd be inclined to leave him behind whilst you keep the routine the same for your other dog, try not to make a fuss of him staying behind just ignore his behaviour. In a week or two just clip his lead on and go out the front door, be overly jolly, not all coochie-coochie to pander to his fear. As soon as you are out the door turn around and go back in, unclip the lead and again make no fuss.

Slowly build on the number of steps you are taking out of the house, always returning before his fear reaches it's peak. In time he will hopefully learn to cope with his fear, and after that will begin to enjoy his walks again.

It's not a quick method - but I have used it on more than a couple of timid and frightened dogs with good results.

Sagz's advice is good - that's what I was going to suggest. Your lad probably will become more comfortable in time.

In the meantime, I've found the following herbal product helpful for Jasper-dog (http://jasper-thedogsblog.blogspot.com/), who often has a 'wobble' around bonfire-night: http://www.dorwest.com/Catalogue/Veterinary-Medicine/Scullcap-Valerian-tablets.

Oddly-enough, I've noticed over the years that Jasper is generally OK until someone says "There there, Jasper." or "It's alright boy." or similar - then it occurs to him that he might have something to worry about. If no fuss is made, he's often fine.

I can't speak for your dog, but perhaps he may be - at least in part - picking up on your apprehension? But I'm sure he will be OK in time.

Lots of luck to you and your dogs - they are very lucky to have such a loving, caring owner. x