New Issue - afraid of baby gates

[Lab_adore]

In the last two days Maxx is afraid to walk out of his pen. The door is open but he stands and looks out and cries and/or barks. One of us has to go in and gently persuade him to come out. Last night he was having a kong in bed and then wanted to come out but again wouldn't jump through the door. I unhinged one section and opened it right up so he didn't even have to hope over the little step; he could have walked through sideways if he wanted. But he wouldn't come out until I walked in and walked out with him.

Any thoughts about why this might have happened? At first I thought he was trawling for a treat but at bedtime last night he WOULD NOT go into the pen and we even threw a piece of steak onto his bed and he stayed put. So it is quite serious (steak is one of the highest value treats!) Eventually OH had to physically lift him in and then he happily went to bed, ate his piece of steak and snuggled in. He isn't ready to de-pen as he is still occasionally chewing the furniture (he is 8 months old).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[snowbunny]

He could have tripped on it or stubbed his toe or it could have been something completely unrelated, such as an external noise that spooked him as he was going through. The "why" doesn't really matter in these cases, it's just how you approach it.
My favourite "go to" is a pressure on / pressure off game when the dog is afraid of moving towards something. Making it a big deal can make it a lot worse.
Instead, start a long way back from the gate - and since I assume it's a removable gate panel, I'd actually take it and put it somewhere else to start with to completely change the "picture". Then, the idea is that you have two different values of treat; one pretty boring and the other really good. I'll use kibble and chicken for brevity. Start at a distance where he's not worried at all. If you see him looking worried at any point, increase the distance. First thing you do is toss a kibble away from the gate. As soon as his head starts to come up, mark him (with a word or click) and toss the chicken a little bit in the direction of the gate. Not close to it and, I can't reiterate this enough, never pushing him into the place where he starts to worry. Once he's eaten the chicken and his head starts to lift, mark and throw kibble away from the gate again. Repeat, so you are marking each head lift and tossing kibble away and chicken towards the gate. You should see him relaxing into the rhythm as he starts to understand the game and, as he does this, you'll be able to move him close to the gate. If you overdo it and he won't get a piece of chicken, don't worry, leave it there and throw the kibble away from the gate, then the next piece of chicken a little less far towards the gate.

I find this incredibly effective for "unsticking" dogs who are scared to approach a certain threshold or object.

 

[Boogie]

Great advice from @snowbunny.

Tatze became afraid of our back door. She’s just about OK now but is still a little wary and goes through gingerly.

?

 

[Lab_adore]

Thanks @snowbunny I'll give it a go

 

[Lab_adore]

Hey @snowbunny, great advice! Last night he was happily fetching his ball ffr

 

[snowbunny]

I’m guessing the “ffr” was you getting sat on or eaten by a Labrabeast.

 

[Lab_adore]

I’m guessing the “ffr” was you getting sat on or eaten by a Labrabeast

OMG what happened to the rest of my post? I was on the train so I'll blame that. HA HA I love your response

I wanted to say that last night he was happily running into the open pen (very open, one whole side gone) fetching his ball. And he ran right through it to greet me when I got home. He still won't jump over the little gate but already huge progress. THANKYOU

 

[snowbunny]

That's wonderful, well done