Afraid of Water Run off Grates in the Street

[magicre]

thanks, bill....bubba is a scared boy but brave, too....he so wants to be a real dog :)

[magicre]

i will preface this by saying that my dog is the cagiest, the smartest dog in the world....

people can and do tell me that bubba is 'just a dog', but i disagree. he gets this look in his eyes that tell me he knows exactly what's up.

he now leans 75 degrees....before we get to the end of the driveway LOL

i'm laughing because i think it's funny. he smells those treats coming out of the fridge and his little brain is twirlin' on how to get him some.

i've decided to be smarter than the dog...and by the way, when he is walked and he is on my inside and we are on the sidewalk, he trots...note the word....trots right by them...

because he is a puller, we make like a tree when he's trying to mark the world as is his sworn to g'd duty....and then he has learned to give in first and we continue our walk....

and then you can see the wheels turning. there is no terror in his face....i can't explain it, and maybe i'm projecting, but i swear i see that glint....LOL

so.

what i've done is this.....this dog is so food driven...and that's why i don't care for using food as a means, although initially it is a good way to get him to the point where the fear is not terror...and i do understand food is ever so much better anything else..

now i just drop his leash and i keep on going...and guess who is trotting like a little king right after me?

i believe we have success...or will by next week.

because of him being a pug....and his inability to regulate his own temperatures...


we are taking honey's office, getting rid of the extra bed and we're putting a treadmill in it....for both me and the dogs....the rainy season is coming....and right now, i can't take this g'dforsaken heat.....so, they are not getting walked as much...

treadmills have been a g'd send in the past for my dogs and myself.....and now they shall have both, giving them zen like calmness.

thanks for all of your help :)

[Tarielle]

Magicre, I have seen this done before with a dog that was fearful of storm water drains. Here in Australia we have them built right into the curbs on either side of the street. They are effectively in our nature strips (the grass bit between the footpath and the street).

I don't know how much effort you want to put into having your dog get over this fear because the solution to this involves you getting out into the street and actually covering up the grate with a blanket or a tarpaulin so that your dog can't actually see it. Then you put the food trail down and have him walk right over the top.
Gradually you pull the blanket back little bit by little bit and each time the food trail goes down and he walks over again.

Eventually you should get to the point where the blanket is not over the grate anymore but in front of it. The food trail goes over the blanket and over the grate. Hopefully by then he will know that the grate is not going to hurt him and he will walk right over the top of it.

Obviously this is going to take time and patience. Not sure if you want to be standing in the street that long, lol.

[magicre]

Magicre, I have seen this done before with a dog that was fearful of storm water drains. Here in Australia we have them built right into the curbs on either side of the street. They are effectively in our nature strips (the grass bit between the footpath and the street).

I don't know how much effort you want to put into having your dog get over this fear because the solution to this involves you getting out into the street and actually covering up the grate with a blanket or a tarpaulin so that your dog can't actually see it. Then you put the food trail down and have him walk right over the top.
Gradually you pull the blanket back little bit by little bit and each time the food trail goes down and he walks over again.

Eventually you should get to the point where the blanket is not over the grate anymore but in front of it. The food trail goes over the blanket and over the grate. Hopefully by then he will know that the grate is not going to hurt him and he will walk right over the top of it.

Obviously this is going to take time and patience. Not sure if you want to be standing in the street that long, lol.

he's a funny kind of pug, tarielle...and we did just that, during the 'i'll try anything phase....i used my jacket to cover the grate......started the food trail about 20 feet or so....then lengthened it to the door of the house...and he'd trot out, eat the food, get to the jacket and stop dead.

this dog is so food driven.....he begins to focus on the food....except when i put food on the jacket covered grate...then he circled around the jacket, working his brain to see how he could get to the food without stepping on the grate...because i think he's smart enough to hear the water running underneath.....so i could cover it with mink....if he would not go onto the grate or near the grate with the involvement of food....it is then i decided to choose my battles...

aluminum foil was worth it....these grates which are in the middle of these streets (usually they are at the curb) are simply not worth the battle.

when he balks, i drop the leash.....and continue walking.....we've been doing that now for a few months...he gets no treats...instead....downplaying it seems more helpful than making a big deal out of it...

we are now at 90%.....he walks past the grates and has no issue...every once in a while, he stops dead.....and i just drop his leash and i keep going....

i wish food worked on him.....well, it does, but not in the way it works on most dogs....i realise we all think our dogs are little einsteins, plotting away...but i swear he does just that....his little brain starts to suss out how he can get food...because to him, that's all that matters....LOL

thank you, though....that was very well thought out...i bet it would work on most dogs....

:)

[Tarielle]

Oh man, I can't believe you tried that and couldn't outsmart him.

They really are little plotters and schemers aren't they?

Sometimes I wish my dogs could talk but then I imagine how much therapy and couch time would be needed to explain to them that their fears are all imaginary and totally unecessary, lol.

I guess this is one battle as you say, that won't be won in your favour

[magicre]

Oh man, I can't believe you tried that and couldn't outsmart him.

They really are little plotters and schemers aren't they?

Sometimes I wish my dogs could talk but then I imagine how much therapy and couch time would be needed to explain to them that their fears are all imaginary and totally unecessary, lol.

I guess this is one battle as you say, that won't be won in your favour

LOL.....i can chalk this one up to human 0, dog 1 LOL

i wish they could talk.....i just wanna know why they scare him now when they've never scared him before.

man, we take care of one fear and another one pops up to take its place..