Overcoming fear of slick floors?

[Dreamflite]

Hi,

 

This is my first post here after much lurking! I adopted a now 2yo Border Collie/Australia Shepherd mix named Maggie about a year ago, and wasn't really prepared to handle a BC or a BC cross. I've made some mistakes, but I'm trying to fix them and get things straightened out with Mags. She's got a couple of behavior issues I'd like to solve, and a friend of mine (Aerie) suggested I ask you guys. The main issue is fence jumping and constant barking. To try and curb these behaviors, I've brought her in the house with my parents permission (I'm 18, but still living at home so what they say goes!), but I've traded barking and fence jumping for another problem!

 

Maggie is very very hesitant to walk on our laminate wood floors. They cover the kitchen and dining room and she has to cross them to get anywhere in the house. I noticed this problem over the summer, too. We were at the park and she wouldn't walk on the slick cement basket ball court or on the slick cement floor of the shelter house. She is fine on asphalt and streets/driveways. I'm guessing that she goes too fast and starts slipping and it scares her. I'd like to get her over this fear, because my mom isn't happy with long runner type rugs strung through the whole house.

 

I've tried coaxing her, offering treats, and dragging (not the best idea...that set me back a bit) but nothing works very well. After she has been in the house for a few days she gets better about it, but still gets scared. If the rugs are spaced farther apart than her comfort zone allows, she hunkers down on one of them and gets all geared up to jump across before she just tiptoes to the next rug, lol. If we don't have the rugs set out, she stays stranded in one room or on whatever carpeted surface she can find.

 

Any way I can help her conquer her fear and ditch the rugs for good? Any tips for fixing our fence jumping issues (besides fixing the fence...that needs to be done, but can't be tackled until things warm up) would be appreciated.

 

Also, any good ideas for inexpensive toys to keep her occupied? I work during the day and need to keep her out from under everyones feet.

 

Can I designate and area or a room and have it be her 'space', kind of like a crate? I have a crate for her, but it's really big and our house is on the smaller side.

 

Thanks so much, I'm looking forward to any help I can get!

 

Anna

[Maralynn]

Welcome!

 

What worked for my dog who was scared of slick floors was just ignoring him. In his own good time he relaxed enough to start walking on them without looking like Bambi on ice. Whenever I tried to coax him over the floor he'd just tense up and it wouldn't work at all. Once he learned that the floors weren't going to eat him, he was fine and now has no issues with any slick floor.

 

In your situation I'd leave the rugs down for now and just ignore her when it comes to floors. Then in a week or so start gradually moving the rugs - but take it slow!

 

If she doesn't get into things, you could just put her in your room for the day while you're at work. You could get a food dispensing toy keep her occupied for a little while. If she does get into things, then you're better off getting a wire crate that folds up easily so you can set it up in the morning and take it down at night.

 

What type of exercise does Maggie have, and do you do any training or activities with her?

[Dreamflite]

Welcome!

 

What worked for my dog who was scared of slick floors was just ignoring him. In his own good time he relaxed enough to start walking on them without looking like Bambi on ice. Whenever I tried to coax him over the floor he'd just tense up and it wouldn't work at all. Once he learned that the floors weren't going to eat him, he was fine and now has no issues with any slick floor.

 

In your situation I'd leave the rugs down for now and just ignore her when it comes to floors. Then in a week or so start gradually moving the rugs - but take it slow!

 

If she doesn't get into things, you could just put her in your room for the day while you're at work. You could get a food dispensing toy keep her occupied for a little while. If she does get into things, then you're better off getting a wire crate that folds up easily so you can set it up in the morning and take it down at night.

 

What type of exercise does Maggie have, and do you do any training or activities with her?

 

Thanks for the response! I'll run the rug thing by my mom. Mags has already eased up a little bit today, so it shouldn't take as long.

 

She's pretty good about staying out of things. I do have a wire crate that came with her, if I can find a good place to store it I'll see about setting it up and down for no other reason than to keep my mom happy.

 

I try to walk her, but my schedule has me up early and home at dark, and add the cold to that and it's not only unpleasant but possibly a little dangerous. I want to try the treadmill with her, but I'm not sure how it will work. She is/was an outside dog, but she tends to be calmer inside even over extended periods. Why would that be?

 

As far as training activities...I'm trying to work on just teaching her some fun tricks and to solidify her basic commands. She's really bad about down, and sit is sometimes inconsistent. I'll ask for something, and she just checks out. You can tell, it's that bad! I'm trying some clicker training, but I need to read up on it more and get consistent with it.

 

She can sit, down (sometimes), come (almost 100% of the time), she knows wait and will hold it for a reasonable amount of time but isn't sure what I mean when I try and release her with an "Okay!", and walks nicely off leash in a near heel most of the time. I haven't tested this around large groups of people or other dogs, though, and it's harder to keep her attention when our other dog is walking in front of her. She doesn't like to be on a leash though...she doesn't choke herself anymore, but gets frustrated and starts to wheeze. Other things she knows....the difference between the porch gate and the side gate. She'll go to the 'gate' or the 'porch' if I tell her when we get done with a walk. She also bikes like a champ. Doesn't pull, doesn't cut in front of or behind the bike, and isn't scared of it. She jumps like a deer, too. We've gone 4 foot before. She does open and closed tunnels well so long as the floor doesn't rock, but is iffy on a dog walk. Since this is all homemade, we havn't had a chance to try weave poles, an A frame, or a tire jump. She's not as willing to try new things and isn't as fearless (or is it stupid?) as our other dog. She checks out during practice courses too, and has the attention span of a gnat sometimes. When she's had enough, she's had enough and just flops down. She also gets to the point where she will slow down and go "Moooooom! Do I have *have* to?" during an agility course but will do what I ask on the 2nd or 3rd command.

 

Hehe, that sort of went OT....oh well. Thanks for the help, if nothing else it's good to know that she'll probably ease out of the floor phobia.

[Soda-pop]

I had the same problem with my dog. I do a lot of clicker training so I tried that and it wasn't working. I can't afford a bogillion runners so she kind of had to get over it. I have this big ugly sectional sofa that we have seperated and what she would do is jump from piece to piece and then cry if she couldn't come. She actually didn't drink water for over 8 hours because she wouldn't walk on the floor. (In my defense, it was the first night we moved into the place with the slick floors so I didn't know she wouldn't walk on them!! I realized it the next morning and promptly gave her water outside)

 

So, on the advice of an experienced bc person, basically I just expected obedience on the floor. I put her on the leash and said "Soda Come!" and waited. I didn't drag, I didn't didn't correct, I didn't do anything except give the cue. I let her trust that I wasn't going to let the evil floor kill her (or whatever) and I praised her when she did come. It actually worked REALLY quickly and pretty soon she would follow me wherever on the leash. Then, I had to get her doing it off leash, which was a whole 'nother go 'round and that part took a little longer and I basically had to the fade the leash but in about a week she was walking around the house with ease. Sometimes she still freaks herself out, but like Maralynn suggested, I just ignore her. I will usually even gently turn away when she's having a spaz attack. I don't make a production or anything, I'm just like "oh for heaven's sake" and don't reward it with any acknowledgement.

 

Funny thing: When I went home to TX for Christmas she stayed here with the bf and stopped walking on the floor again the last few days but when I came home she was fine on the floor.

 

Paige

[mcburniefarm]

We have laminate also. First: keep those nails trimmed so she uses her pads!! Massage some bag balm into her pads to help keep them softer, grippier if you need to. Second: dollar store rubber shelf liner, looks like rubber netting. Also sold as a non-slip rug underlayment. Cut it into sections and place in slippery turn areas, under and around her dishes so she will stand on it, and her bowl won't slide. Rolls up fast so mom can have her bare floor fast.

 

Our late Rough Collie paniced when we remodeled. She would dive from carpeted room to carpeted room across the hallway, straight lines only. She would get herself stuck on the entry door boot mat, with a cavernous 12 foot gap to the kitchen. Many times we had to drag her slipping and crying across the "floor opening to hell" to get her to the linoleum. We discovered her nails were too long, she was aging and didn't excercise as much, and her bad hips hurt when she slipped.

 

Our BC has decreased speed inside....and I keep his nails trimmed. Sled dog booties with rubber soles could be an indoor routine mom might like, she might even help put them on vs having runners all over...

 

Been there!! Susan

[Lewie'sMom]

First: keep those nails trimmed so she uses her pads!!

 

 

Yepper. I'll echo very loudly to keep the nails trimmed. And be diligent. They can grow pretty quickly. If you hear "clickety, click, click" as she walks across a hard floor, her nails are toooooo long.

[Alaska]

Also, any good ideas for inexpensive toys to keep her occupied? I work during the day and need to keep her out from under everyones feet.

 

Can I designate and area or a room and have it be her 'space', kind of like a crate? I have a crate for her, but it's really big and our house is on the smaller side.

A stuffed Kong is always good. You can prepare them and stick them in the refrigerator, so a family member can just hand one out if Maggie is getting underfoot. Lots of Kong stuffing recipes on the internet.

 

If there's no room inside for the crate, could you set up a baby gate to keep her corralled in one room?

 

One thing I do is have a really intense frisbee or chuckit session for 10-15 minutes before I leave in the morning. They burn a ton of calories that way and are happy to settle down when I leave. I initially avoided relying on these devices for exercise, in favor of more intellectually stimulating activities (for both of us), but in this case the chuckit or frisbee are being used as a management tool when time is really short, not a replacement for the more interesting things we do together in the evening.

 

P.S. Tell Aerie we miss her.

 

ETA: Re fence jumping, you've got to make it more interesting to stay in the yard than to leave. That means being out there interacting with her, not leaving her alone in the yard when it's just a boring yard (until you've fixed the fence and she can no longer make the decision to leave on her own).

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

I try to walk her, but my schedule has me up early and home at dark, and add the cold to that and it's not only unpleasant but possibly a little dangerous. I want to try the treadmill with her, but I'm not sure how it will work. She is/was an outside dog, but she tends to be calmer inside even over extended periods. Why would that be?

I am willing to be it's because she's inside with the family and not outside alone and bored. Possibly even anxious to be outside alone. I'd try and keep her with the family as much as possible.

Inside toys to keep her occupied, a Kong as mentioned, buster cubes(and the ball version), bully sticks, various other treat/puzzle toys, but the more complex the puzzle toys are, the more expensive they are as well.

If you are having problems with her shutting down during training, I would take a look at how you are approaching the situation. Are you crowding her, leaning in over her, getting anxious, stressed, frustrated, staring directly at her....these are all things that can make a "soft" dog shut off. See if you can find a copy of Turrid Rugaas book, "On talking terms with dogs". You'll learn a lot about your dogs body language (and yours too for that matter!) Google clicker training and you'll find a lot of good info to get you well on your way to clicker training....it's a pretty wonderful method.

good luck!