For context my fiancé and I have a dog that’s part chihuahua, rate terrier, and ACD. We got him when he was only a couple months old. Since then we have done extensive research to make sure we are raising our dog the best we can. We’ve done plenty of socializing through daycare, visiting relatives/friends and even getting plenty of exercise. A couple of months after he got neutered, he suddenly became very fearful of people. Even the friends and family that he’s already met when he was younger. This escalated to him being scared to even going outside to potty. We live in an apartment and it’s a short walk down the stairs to go outside but he gets so scared when I put his leash on to go that he’ll try his best to run or hide when he sees me getting up to get his leash. He sometimes starts to pee while we’re going down the stairs as well. Recently he has started to just start going potty in our apartment now too. We have tried taking him out at various times as well and it’s the same. He also used to love going to the park but is now very scared of going there. We have worked with a dog trainer and even him on meds with a behavioral plan but it’s been several months now and it doesn’t seem like he’s getting any better. We have tried desensitizing him by slowly introducing him to the outside by having our apartment door open and treat him every time he gets close to outside our apartment. However, once he’s outside he’s so scared that he won’t even accept treats. He so hyper focused on his surroundings that he doesn’t listen to commands either. What other methods can I try ? Or is this just his personality? We have tried mostly everything from our research and we’re just lost on what to do.
TLDR: Dog is very very scared of people and as a result the outside because he knows that’s where people are. Starts to go potty in the apartment because he’s scared/anxious. Doesn’t enjoy/scared of the things he used to love as a puppy.
submitted by /u/Zerfreen
[link] [comments]