Scared of chews

[snowbunny]

I briefly mentioned this before, but it happened again today. It's really weird: Shadow is terrified of beef scalp chews! I think I know why; on our recent diabolical journey to the UK when the van broke down, I popped one in each dog's crate partway through the journey. He was the only one who didn't eat it, so it was with him the rest of the journey. I think he has associated it with the stress of that trip, poor thing. I needed to have a conference call today so got them out for all the dogs. Remembering he was weird about them last time, I chose a small one for him, thinking he might act differently if it wasn't as large. He took one look, ran out of the house and over to the other side of the garden, where he just stood looking at me. Poor lamb! I put it away and called him over and he sat on my lap for a while, then I got him a Kong, which he was quite happy with.
Poor boy, scared of a chew!!!

 

[MellowYellow]

Poor lad!!!

 

[Lab_adore]

Awwwww poor shadow

 

[Beanwood]

Aww! Benson is scared of squeezy tubes..the primula cheese ones he thought were the work of the devil! It was really odd.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Moo was scared of whiskey it was the smell. Doug loved it and so does Rory.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Oh poor shadow x

 

[Candy]

Little Joy is currently scared of most edible things, presumably because they all made her hurt while she had that horrible abscess. Fortunately food is OK and so are Kongs. I expect the rest will be alright again eventually.

 

[Oberon]

Poor boy. I guess beef scalps are off the menu!

A few weeks ago we went for a wharf and stood on a floating jetty that moved a bit when a boat went past. Obi quickly generalised this to being scared of crossing all bridges and also anything that looked like a bridge, whether over water or not. We’ve had a couple of bridge crossing re-training sessions in a nearby park and in the end he was going over slowly and calmly. But dogs (and humans) are very quick to make strong associations with scary events, aren’t they...

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

How strange! But just goes to show how smart they are, to associate one small thing with the larger scary incident.

I'm sure there are lots of other goodies that Shadow still loves to eat, so he's not totally out of luck.

 

[Emily]

Poor Shadow.

It is interesting and I think it shows that we can't always know the reason that they are scared of something. How many times do we think "but they've never had a bad experience with....."

 

[FayRose]

Poor lad.
You make a good point Emily, I have wondered in the past with a previous dog what on earth the cause of some strange behaviour was.

 

[Charlie]

Poor boy At least you know why Fiona which is a bonus. xx

 

[chrisc831]

Shame they can’t generalise training in the same way

 

[snowbunny]

Shame they can’t generalise training in the same way

Some stuff they do! After purposefully not training “give paw” for three and a half years, my dog sitter decided to teach them that and now they won’t bloody stop pawing at me when we’re shaping behaviours! GAGH! It’s never the stuff I want that sticks so easily

Or maybe she’s just a better trainer than me. Bah.

 

[JES72]

Homer is scared of the coffee pot. He barks at it every morning, unless he’s upstairs still having snuggles with Hubby. No idea why and barking is not is usual anxious behaviour.

It can be so difficult to unravel all the connection they make.

Little Joy is currently scared of most edible things, presumably because they all made her hurt while she had that horrible abscess. Fortunately food is OK and so are Kongs. I expect the rest will be alright again eventually.

Poor Joy. I can’t think how horrible it would be to be scared of eating.

 

[Candy]

Joy has stopped being scared of edible things and is now taking rewards from my hands again as if this was never a problem. It started at breakfast when she nudged me to share my last bit of toast with her (yes, I know, but I have always shared my last bit of toast with my dogs and they've never expected any other meal to be shared with them and it's a nice start to the day) and has continued from there, with her helping me to clean my hands after assembling her Kongs (licking off the banana and yoghurt, she's a very helpful little dog) and happily accepting rewards for good behaviour when out. Walks have been a bit longer today as well. We're definitely heading in the right direction now!

 

[HAH]

We're definitely heading in the right direction now

So pleased to hear this VERY good news!

 

[Jacqui-S]

That is very good to hear Candy x

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

I totally understand why Shadow is scared of the chews. Have none of you ever gone off a food because of a bad event/vomit bug? Or is it just me? I couldn't eat lasagne for years after my mum got into a car accident when I was a kid - I associated the lasagne (my meal that night) with her car accident. And I've never been able to eat raspberry slice since puking it up as a kid. I FEEL YOU, SHADOW.

 

[Jen]

Have none of you ever gone off a food because of a bad event/vomit bug?

Yes! I had my first stomach bug since I was a child this year (normally it’s just alcohol sick which is fine - just liquid).

But I honestly don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat meatballs again. The thought makes me feel instantly nauseous. Makes it even worse that judging by what came up I apparently don’t chew my food very well