My dog Brick is afraid to go out the back door.
He was outside in the early evening and everything seemed fine. My brother yelled down to me (I was in the basement) that Brick wanted to come in. I let him in and he seemed fine. When I went to put him out before bed, he fought me not to go outside. I pretty much had to carry him out. He peed and came running back to the door. It's been pretty much like that since. I have to carry him out and walk him into the yard. He just stands there and won't roam around the yard. When my neighbors are outside, he is always at the property line barking & carrying on but not anymore. He'll only be out there with me and he'll stand right next to me. I don't get it. He has no problem going out the front door. He needs to get over whatever is bothering him but I don't know what that is. I don't want to make a habit of taking him out the front door. That to me would just reinforce in phobia of the backyard. What do you all think? |
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| makes me wonder if the neighbors were tired of the barking and did something. someone or something scared him. |
Something happened to scare him.  If it was a normal area for him and he was comfortable out there, this is a complete change. I assume you checked it out and there is nothing odd out there? (to rule that out) I would start over like a puppy - potty him w/ you out there, give treats. Do some playing out there - whatever seems a normal thing to do with him in the back. Assuming it is really safe and no threat, he needs to get back out and be comfortable as soon as possible to keep it from becoming a worse phobia. |
Guest wrote: makes me wonder if the neighbors were tired of the barking and did something. someone or something scared him. Nah, those neighbors like Brick. They go over to him and pet him & play with him. Their dog will do the same to us. |
got sheep wrote: Something happened to scare him. If it was a normal area for him and he was comfortable out there, this is a complete change. I assume you checked it out and there is nothing odd out there? (to rule that out) I would start over like a puppy - potty him w/ you out there, give treats. Do some playing out there - whatever seems a normal thing to do with him in the back. Assuming it is really safe and no threat, he needs to get back out and be comfortable as soon as possible to keep it from becoming a worse phobia. Dawn, I don't see anything out there that hasn't been there before. Nothing is out of place. The only things I can think of is maybe he heard a loud, sharp noise. He's afraid of that kind of noise. Could a wild animal have wandered into the yard? I've never seen him afraid of any animal before. What about some new smell? His nose seems to be going a mile a minute when he's out there. I also have an irrational thought that maybe someone beaned him with a BB gun (there's some dirtbags in this neighborhood). But I gotta believe he would have yelped and he would have been trying to get to the spot where it hit, right. There's none of that. When I took him out a little while ago, I had to carry him out, set him on the lawn, and then walked him out in the yard. He did his business and I just walked in. He was right behind me. I treated him for going potty like you would a pup. I hope he gets over this soon. |
The weirdest things can sometimes set them off  My old boy Spencer developed a fear of going into a particular field to pee. It was an area he had happily gone into for years, during the 2 weeks a year we are camping out at the State Fair. One day, in the early morning, while we were out in this field, they decided to start up one of the carnival rides, in order to test a repair. Now, mind you, Spence had been out there taking potty breaks plenty of times with all of the rides going, as well as people screaming, music, etc, with no problem. The fact that this started up suddenly while he was out there completely freaked him out though. he was never willing to potty in that area again! I tried and tried, and finally gave in and started taking them to a different area  You cant do that, I realize...but I wanted to point out that it may have been something normal-seeming (for us) that for them is "different" enough to be scary.  |
| Could a possum have been out there in the dark and scared the crap out of him? We had one in our yard last year and Clyde came streaking back in, Bear stood his ground and growled and Owen tried to play with it. You never know who'll get spooked or why. It's too bad it isn't warmer out. You could leave the door open and kind of let him walk in and out as he pleased until he got more comfortable (as you supervised-- if a possum is out there, you don't want it in your house!). |
| I'd go with the wild animal, maybe has claimed the yard with scent? (pee etc) |
| do you think something stung him ? Like a bee ??? |
| I'd have to go with the possibility of a raccoon or opossum. My dogs love to chase raccoons, but opossums will hiss. I know, because when I was leaving from Josh's apartment when we first started dating a big, nasty, beady-eyed opossum was eating at the bushes, it turned it's head like a snake, bared its needly teeth and hhhhiiiiisssseeedddd. Needless to say, I have a dislike for them now and if I see one I make Josh go out and scare it off. Irrational, yes, but ick. |
| I'm leaning toward a loud noise (that I didn't hear) or a wild anilmal. He's never been afraid of wild animals before but maybe one stood up to him instead of running away. Isn't it skunk mating season now? Maybe he got scared by a skunk. He doesn't smell and the outside doesn't smell. I don't think it was a bee. It's still too cold here for bees. But I still have to walk him out and stay out there with him. I walked him out this morning & I went back inside but stood in the door, he did his business, and came right back to the door.  |
sasquatch maybe???  |
| Joking aside, do you have coyotes in the area or their scent? Poeple in our area usea a racoon deterrent that is actually called predetor pee and its coyote urine....could someone be using it in their yard and your dogs is smelling the scent? |
| Sometimes you can hear the coyotes way off in the distance, but we've never seen any in our yards. My neighbor and I are thinking maybe he squared off against a racoon, possum, or skunk. |
| Well, we were out back for about an hour & a half today. Playing, running, hugging, petting. He seemed to do better today. I treated him a couple of times for his good behavior. As a matter of fact, he is outside right now by himself. So it looks like we're getting somewhere. It's a good thing it's warming up. I'd hate to have to do this in the dead of winter. |
| That's good news. Keep up the good work. Yes, thank goodness its a bit warmer out. Our skunks, coons and possums are all on the move around here - so all would be a possibility. Maybe you should borrow our coonhound Maggie for awhile! She hunts w/ Todd, so she absolutely goes happy crazy when she smells one around the yard....and it's not to play with them  |
| I was the "guest" who posted about the copyotes...couldn't get in for some reason from my work computer.... My dogs do this ocassionaly and I think they smell something unfamilair in the yard. For us, its usually a racoon, possom or something small. As far as I know, we don't have any coyote problem.... Glad to hear it may be gone...makes me believe even more it was something foreign in the yard...I am always on alert when my dogs act a "bit off" with what was usually normal...A long time ago, my parent's neighbor's dog was barking and barking...out of the ordinary for their dog. We were annoyed the dam dog was barking at something all night...we later found out the house was robbed and the robbers put the dogs out while they proceeded to rob the entire house Dogs know and they warn us in sometimes strange ways.... |
| Well, he's outside as I type this. He's been out for the last half hour. He pretty much went to the door by himself. Had to nudge him a bit to go out, but when he got out he seemed fine. Ran around a bit, did his business. So I went back in and he didn't try to follow me. Checked on him twice. The first time he was just laying down and the second time he was just standing there. Hasn't barked or scratched at the door at all. We're supposed to get some good rain this weekend. Maybe that will wash any scents away. |
| Today's update: He went right to the door this morning & scratched at it to be let out. I had to nudge him a bit again, but he went out. He was out for about 15 minutes, did his business, didn't seem afraid of anything out there. I had to actually go out into the yard to bring him back in. He wasn't ready to come in. That's more like the Brick we all know!! |
 Very good news  |
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