Hello everyone,

My husband and I have adopted a sweet shelter dog (lab mix, about 50 lbs) and have had her about two weeks. She's got some separation anxiety issues, which we're working on with increasing success, and some housebreaking problems, which we're also addressing with positive reinforcment and treats while she's on her walks or outside.

We feed her twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening and take her for a walk shortly thereafter. We each come home at lunch to let her out as well, so she's never alone for more than 3-4 hours. She ate her way through a crate during her previous adoption, and keeping her in one room of the house hasn't worked out either (she escaped) but letting her have run of the house has been great - she's as docile as a mouse.

Our problem? She's now afraid to go outside or go for a walk. She won't go near the door and puts her tail between her legs when the leash is put on her. My husband has actually lifted her through the door and down the steps, and once she's out, she's fine, but she's too heavy for me. I went home today and nothing, I put the leash on her and she rolled on her back. Not even her favorite "trail of treats" would entice her outside.

We have had a few thunderstorms the past few days, could that be it? Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks.

My very large dog won't go near any door when she senses a thunderstorm coming, she is under the bed to stay! While out walking if she senses it, I get pulled all the way home very fast. Yes, it's the thunderstorms.

If it's the thunderstorms, any suggestions for getting her to go outside again? It's beautiful today.

For the typical, highly food motivated Lab, refusing the trail of treats indicates a real problem. Try getting her as close to the door as you can, and sitting down on the floor with her. Talk to her and rub her belly, butt, and scratch her ears. Keep moving towards the door.

Longer range, build her confidence in you. Start with obedience training. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete As you praise the dog for following your commands, it will build its confidence.

Play tug of war with the dog and lose. However at the end of the game, take the rope or toy and put it up, less the dog becomes confused about who is top dog. Ropes from the pets' store quickly turn to hazardous shreds. Ones I made lasted much better. Go to a hardware or home center that sells rope by the foot. Buy 2' of 3/4" poly rope. Melt the ends, and tie knots in it. Get them as tight as possible, put it in a vise and pound it with a hammer. Watch carefully, and be ready to discard when it comes apart.

Finally, make sure it has a den to live in. If you are not using a crate, buy one. The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work.
Start just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going
in. Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at
Feeding time for more than one dog.

Here are more ways of showing her you are a loving leader that will stay with her and protect her outside.

''Elevation for small puppies: Sit on the floor and gently put your hands around your pup's middle, below his front legs, and lift him up. He is facing you. Hold him for 15 seconds. Repeat until he no longer struggles. If he is past 10-12 weeks, lift his front feet off the ground, but don't pick him up.

Cradling for small puppies: Hold your puppy gently on his back, as you would cradle a small baby. If he struggles, hold him firmly until he quiets for 10-15 seconds. With larger pups, you can do this as your sit on the floor, with your pup between your legs.

Quiet lying down: Place your pup on the floor on his side, with all 4 legs pointing away from you. Use your hands on his neck/shoulder area and middle, to hold him in this position. When he is quiet, praise him. Lengthen the time that you keep him quietly in this position. When he accepts this position well, handle his paws and muzzle, while keeping him quiet.''

The quotes mean this isn't my original work. It is copied from my Puppy Raising Manual. I have long used these or minor variations of them, and they are very effective. You may want to give him a belly rub while he is on his back too. Helps bonding. There is a big difference between him rolling over and demanding a belly rub, and you choosing a time to roll him over and rub his belly. The latter cements your place as pack leader.

Finally, heed anything RubyPitbull says about her. She has a good understanding of dogs and extensive experience with ones that bring issues from the past with them.

My dog use to hate going outside, but it got over that real quickly when it realized it had no way to release its energy.

Thanks for your faith in me labman, but I don't know how much more input I can give on this situation.

Penpapercoffee, the majority of dogs don't like to go outside when it is raining, more so when thunderstorms are brewing. They can sense it well before we do. There really is no way that I know of that will convince a dog to go outside during a bad storm. You have to wait for the storm to pass. If your dog exhibits a major adverse reaction to storms such as excessive drooling, pacing, and shivering/shaking, you may need to speak with your vet about his/her recommended meds or natural products that deal with this anxiety issue.

Not knowing what your rescue has been through makes it difficult to figure out what exactly the problem is with her. This may be the first of seemingly irrational behavior on her part. Please keep in mind that two weeks is not enough time for her to feel that she is in her permanent home. From a general read through of your post, I agree with labman's analysis that it appears she does have some confidence issues and needs your help in building that up. It is going to take her a while to find her comfort level, and will require a great deal of time and patience on your part. Please follow labman's advice. You and your huband need to be the Alphas in your relationship with her. Your dog desperately is looking for a leader to follow. Her fears will subside and her confidence will start to show when you have shown her that you are willing to take control of everything in her life and that she has a permanent home with you. Please let us know if labman's technique for getting her outside helped. This isn't something that will be cured overnight but if nothing that you are doing is working, post back here with as many details as possible as to exactly what is going on. We will try to help you as much as possible.

Okay, here is an update.

I agree with Ruby and Labman that we need to be the pack leaders and we have signed up for an obedience class and have been reading books since the day we got her. We use calm assurance, walk through the door first, etc. etc. She has progressively improved in her behavior since we got her, and we are taking a baby steps approach. This is just a disheartening setback because she loved to go for walks until Thursday of this week.

We took her to the vet for her thunderstorm anxiety, she does experience extreme panic, and we have put her on some natural remedies and installed a DAP diffuser in the house and she is wearing a DAP collar. The vet suggested valium if she gets extremely panicked, hurting herself.

I agree that two weeks isn't long enough, I'm aware of that. However, as stated in my post, she is not a puppy, so respectfully, much of that particular advice is not going to work for me as she weighs 50+ pounds. Also, she does *not* like to be crated whatsoever - she ate her way out of a metal crate with her previous owner and has a broken canine to show for it. She is much calmer when she has a place to call her own, but can enter and exit it freely - we have a few empty closets and a shower stall in our house that she goes to periodically to calm herself down or to chew a greenie.

Today we got her to at least hang out in the yard outside for a while, luring her out the door with her most favorite treats (pieces of hot dog) and sitting with her on the porch, scratching her ears, etc. as you suggested. We tried the starting behind her and saying "Go, go, go" which worked for a while, then she turned and ran back to house.

She loves to ride in the car so tomorrow we're going to try and get her in the car and take her to the park. Hopefully her confidence in us will grow with each passing day.

I appreciate your responses and all the suggestions here, they have been extremely helpful. Thank you.

Greenies, They were recalled in my area for awhile. Are you sure that they are safe?

I should add that I'm not trying to convince my dog to go out during a thunderstorm - I'm just trying to get her to go out once the weather is nice again. And as for the greenies, I'm on a recall alert mailing list and have heard nothing about this.

Here is some interesting reading about thunderstorm fears being linked to separation anxiety issues. Fear of Thunderstorms and Noise Phobias I don't think I would try these technquies with a dog that I am not familiar with. You may show this to your vet and see what he/she thinks about this article. It may be something that could be considered once your dog is comfortable with you. I think the most important part was that your dog should not be petted while showing fear.Because it is being rewarded for fear behavior. I personally would have petted my dog thinking that I was comforting it. As for the greenies, I have never given them to my dogs, but I did see they were recalled from petsmart a few months back, not sure why. Good luck with your dog, she is lucky to have a new family that is willing to work through her problems.

The material I quoted was meant for puppies, but some of it can be used for older dogs. Yes, it is important not to reward a dog for showing fear. Partly the difference in what I was doing was the confidence I was showing. Tone of voice is very important, more important than words the dog may not understand.

I don't give my dogs Greenies or any other consumable chews, not even the flavored Nylabones. The post somebody, that I knew and trusted, made on another site about watching her Boston Bull Dog choke to death in front of her eyes wasn't pretty. There is a large class action lawsuit working it way through the courts. I am surprised any retailers risk having them on the shelves.

For more on chew toys, see the sticky starting at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/i...tml#post251802

There is plenty of good material there even a crate isn't best for your dog.

PPC, both bushg & labman are right. The greenies have been found to be choking hazards and overall not good for the dog. There has been a class action lawsuit over them. Supposedly the formula has now been changed, but I personally would not take any chances with it. Labman has some good advice in the link he supplied. You can use Nylabones and Kongs filled with a little peanut butter and some dog treats, safely. They will keep her busy.

And, bushg is right about not petting the dog during a thunderstorm. I am sorry I didn't mention it. I don't have time to read the link at the moment but if it covers that, follow the advice given. You need to act completely normal and with confidence during a violent/noisy storm. With the natural anxiety products, if you know a thunderstorm is approaching, try to give her the pills about a half hour prior to the sound of thunder striking. It is not always easy for us to detect exactly when it hits, so just be aware of the weather conditions.

I think the training classes are the right place for you to start. It really helps to see the practical advice be put into action if you haven't trained a dog in a while. It also gives you access to a trainer who can help show you what you need to do when a particular anxiety or problem arises in your dog. It is always a challenge for us when we are trying to integrate an older dog into our homes who has been through heaven knows what during their lives. Please try not to get discouraged if your work progresses slowly or if she appears to have a bit of a backslide. This is quite normal for rescue dogs. It will take much more than a few weeks to undo the years of damage and retrain her. Persistence, patience, and good leadership are the key.

Hi Penpapercoffee - I'm not sure if you're still using this site or not, but I'm curious as to how you're dog is doing and what techniques worked/didn't work to get his confidence built up to be comfortable going outside.

I just adopted a rescue dog - female black lab - and we're running into a similar situation. She's still learning the stairs so we have to carry her down - and she hates it. The first week we had her she was great outside. Now the last week she is absolutely terrified. Sometimes she won't stay out long enough to relieve herself. And unfortunately, we leave in a apt in the city so we don't have a private yard for her to go in.

We've only had her 2 weeks but it just seems strange that she's not terrified and was fine before.

We've been teaching her how to recognize her name and to sit in our apt. We've also been trying to employ techniques to show we're leaders. We're also going to look into obedience training, but it's getting to be a major issue just trying to get her outside.

Any advice would be very welcomed!