I have a 9 month old Bullmastiff and for the last month or 2 he has been scared to walk on my laminate floor. He is so scared that he won't even come out of his crate in the morning to go outside, he will just hold it. He won't come out to eat; nothing is working. So I have been forcing him out, which I know isn't the right thing to do, but I have to get my son to school and myself to work on time everyday. Please help me. What can I do to make him not scared anymore? It is extremely frustrating.
By tristat
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Hello, have you thought about moving the crate? If so, you can purchase puppy pads to put in the crate and also outside. You can train her/him to slowly walk on the floor. You can get a piece of this flooring at your local floor store and let her sniff, and put her paws on it to get used to it? I hope you have a large crate, your fur baby is going to be really big. Have fun and good luck.
Perhaps your dog is afraid of falling on your floor. Laminates can be quite slippery for pets. You could try a carpet, or a carpet runner from the kennel to the door until your pup gets used to walking on the floor.
My German Shepherd is exactly the same but it is because he slipped and fell. If your dogs paws were wet or the floor was wet, he may have fallen and now he is afraid.
When I got my 5 pound rescue Chihuahua, she was afraid of walking on my linoleum floor. I finally put a leash on her and attached it to me and she had to walk on the floor as I went around and did my chores, etc. She learned how to walk on the floor pretty quickly, since she had no choice. I went slow so that she was able to get her footing and wouldn't slip and fall and such. She was afraid of everything. I think she only knew a cage or something like that.
My large dog had a really hard time with laminate at the bottom of the stairs at my house. After he sled and fell a couple times, he would just stand on the stairs waiting for help getting down. We put an inexpensive door mat at the bottom of the stairs and that took care of it.
My sheltie is afraid of shny floors-I think it is the reflection. Can you coax her with treats-either fed to her with each step or a trail of treats.
Laminate floors are very bad for your dog's joints, especially the hips. I have seen dogs slip and fall and try so hard to gain their balance, so I think fear may be a built in instinct for their safety.
Dogs have a difficult time walking on wooden or laminate floors because they are very slippery and they can easily do the "splits" or fall and dislocate a hip or worse break a leg. Go to Home Depot or Menards and buy inexpensive rug runners. You might also want to invest in carpet tape to firmly hold them in place. Make a walking path thru the rooms with that flooring. Or, you could call The Dog Whisperer - check out his older shows where he trains a dog to walk on very slippery floor tiles.
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