Magic Carpet Ride | August 08, 2012
We love our dog Sukie, but she is a bona fide nutball.
The latest is that she's developed a phobia of the doorway to Mark's office. Yes, you heard right. The doorway.
She's perfectly fine if she's either side of it, but it's the experience of going through the doorway itself that is inexplicably traumatic. Even dog treats will not tempt her.
On the odd occasion, however, her determination will outweigh her fears and she will attempt to make a sudden, mad dash through to the other side. In a spectacle that soon becomes akin to a scene from a Looney Tunes cartoon, Sukie's claws, scurrying frantically, fail to get a grip on the polished floorboards and she is unable to propel herself forward. She finds herself suspended in some kind of comical, roadrunner-esque motion loop in the doorway for what seems like an eternity. Her efforts to expedite the traumatic experience, backfiring drastically.
This predicament has made Sukie a little glum. She usually enjoys lying by Mark's side while he works but now all she can do is poke her head around the door and stare at him longingly.
Mark also misses her company and so, in a stroke of genius, was able to come up with this clever solution: He lays down her dog bed in front of her and coaxes her onto it. He then slides the dog bed through the evil doorway until she and her bed have safely reached the other side.
We call this the Magic Carpet ride. And it works a treat.
We know, however, this is not an ideal fix. It will take time and a whole lot of positive reinforcement to get her traversing that doorway confidently again.
Mark's been a bit down because of the situation but has, unfortunately for me, managed to retain his sense of humour.
Mark: "I hate it when I can't fix things... I don't know why but I just need to fix what's broken"
Me (jokingly):"Is that why you're with me?"
Mark:"Nah, you're not broken. You're just a little... bent"
{ photo by Amy Moss }
Comments
Putting down a rug should help. Sometimes she forgets that she's scared and walks over like it's no biggie and other times we have to carry her. It's ridiculous!
Dogs can indeed act in an strange way sometimes, but they are never silly, we just dan't allways understand why they act the way they do.
I am an almost certified dog behaviourist, and maybe I can give you a tip you can try to get Sukie over her fear. The reason she acts this way can have multiple reasons; maybe something happened outside the house that made a lot of noise just as she was walking through the doorway and she made a connection between these two things. Maybe one of her nails got caught between the floorplanks. Maybe she is getting older and are her hips not as good as they used to be and hurt her when she's on a slippery floor (if you suspect the last, you should see a vet and put down rugs for her to walk on). Probably you'll never know why she is afraid.
I hope Sukie likes her food. If this is so, you can sart by feeding her in the hallway the 'scary' doorway is in, but so far away from it that it dosn't scar her. You do that for a day or two. If she shows no fear at all, you move the bowl a little bit closer to the doorway and feet her there a couple of times. You keep doing this, going very slowly, until you can first feed her in the doorway, and you keep going untill you're all the way through. If you notice any fear, you go back a few steps and start again from there, but you take it even slower. Probably she'll start associating the doorway with something positive by than and the problem will be solved. Once you've arrived in the study with her bowl you can feed her there for a while longer, so the connection study-food will be very clear for her.
I wish you lots of succes if you want to try it!
Yours,
Krista
Thanks so much for your advice- much appreciated! We believe it had something to do with a loud noise. We're actually working with a behavioural specialist at the moment to help Sukie through her (many) anxiety issues and she had some similar tips. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a note!
Amy
Our Smalldog was born with an overly alert early warning system. Every now and then something will catch her eye and she'll freeze and start growling at it. A backpack dropped in an unusual place, or a chair tipped over? Sure, that seems kind of reasonable, if you look at it the right way. Growling at the pendant light in the kitchen that has been there since we all moved in two years ago? Less normal. Other things worthy of growling have included: the neighbour's satellite dish; a snail on a fence; a bowl with steam rising from it.
Hi Jenn, thanks for sending through the vid of your dog walking backwards- that's just BIZARRE!
Amy
Firstly I have to confess of my blogcrush on you! You inspire on soo many levels, so keep up the great, amazing work!
My Mackenzie sounds and looks a lot like your gorgeous Sukie! I posted on my blog, after reading your post yesterday about Sukie. I hope you can pop over to my blog to have a look at Sukie's sister!
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