Dog is afraid of going outside!

[Pepper44]

A few years ago a friend had this dog abandoned on their farm. A truck slowed down at the end of their long driveway and shoved her out. The dog was beat up, she had a huge gash on her snout, no tip on her tail, and little lash marks on her belly. They didn't want her, so they were going to take her to county animal control. Animal control puts all unclaimed dogs to sleep in 1-5 days, depending.

I couldn't help myself...I brought her home. My DH didn't want her and wasn't happy with me for quite awhile. Now Abby is a part of our family and we've worked through a lot of her issues. She goes through random bouts of regression where she'll be extremely submissive and start peeing at every eye contact or yelling tone of voice even when it's not directed at her. I don't think she'll ever fully get over what happened to her. A lot of the time though she's just a normal black lab mutt. She loves to play fetch. She follows my DD everywhere. Right now she's with DD in her little play tent and DD is playing tea party with her. She would never let anyone hurt my kids, she even insists on laying by the bed when they are asleep. She won't leave the bed for anything, not even treats.

The only huge issue we're struggling with is getting her to go outside. She completely freaks out. Her eyes get really dilated, she won't make eye contact, she tucks her tail and runs through the house peeing, she yelps like we're killing her. It's the worst at night. Some mornings she goes right out, other days I just avoid the whole issue and wait for her to have to go so bad she can't stand it. (She would never go in the house on purpose, ever.) Sometimes it takes her until 3in the afternoon to finally go out!

At night she has to go out before bed or she has accidents in her crate. She's started becoming aggressive, out of fear. Now every time we touch her collar at night she will bite! This is not her normal behavior, she would never growl or snap any time other than when she's freaking out over having to go out. We can grab her collar any other time with no issues at all.

I have no idea what to do! We try to stay calm. We used to grab her collar and just start running, then she would follow us out the door. That stopped working, so then we started getting her on the leash (she was excited and let us put it on) and running out the door. That stopped working, and she started the snap/bite thing when we go near her. We have also tried taking her out the front door but she won't do her business when on the leash walking out front.

I should also mention once she gets outside she is perfectly fine. She runs in the yard and plays happily. It's just getting out the door that's the problem.

Anyone have any good ideas?

[litanyagainstfear]

You can always try a dog behaviorist/trainer in your area -- especially for aggression issues, sometimes professional help is your best bet. If you want to try to suss this out on your own, I suggest trying out some positive reinforcement training -- there are lots of books/websites on the subject. NILIF training is another method that might work. Google it and see what you think.

If there is a particular area where the aggressive behavior generally starts, you can try treating every time she walks into the area. Start building positive associations for the places/things that stress her out. Another example: every time you touch her collar (I would start by just touching, not grabbing to go out), give a treat. Start slow, and don't treat and then immediately grab for the collar. Just start by treating. It's possible sudden movements like collar-grabbing were part of the abuse she appears to have experienced, so that may be a trigger for her.

Mainly, do your research (which I am sure you have/are), and be extremely careful. Good luck!

[daisymama12]

What about putting her food in a line going from outdoors to indoors? So she follows the kibble trail?
Or put very very high value treats (fish, bits of burger, hot dogs, whatever your pup loves) closer and closer to the door, and then one just on the other side, so she just has to put her nose through the door.

I would abandon pulling her outside in any way, seems like it's not working, sounds like it's making her fear worse. It may take a while.

I'm sure an dog behaviorist would have great advice.

[russsk]

I would also recommend a behaviorist. We had a dog with a similar issue. He would completely freeze up and would refuse to go outside after dark. Even if we managed to get him out he wouldn't move once he was there, unless it was to go back in the house. It took months of working on it, but we eventually got him over it. One of the first things we did was change up the situation. So we would go out a different door, change the routine before we went out, etc. Then we had to get more creative, by doing things like putting a new rug in front of the door, hanging a sheet in front of the door and leaving it open, rearranging the furniture near the door, etc. It was not an easy process, and I could not have done it without help and encouragement from the behaviorist.

[SquishyKitty]

Do you have another door? Is it one door? Is she afraid of the door itself? Our mastiff is terrified of doors swinging and the baby gate we put up sometimes. TERRIFIED. Once they are open, she's fine.

I would see a behaviorist, they can help you work through the issue.

[ChristyMarie]

Originally Posted by litanyagainstfear

If there is a particular area where the aggressive behavior generally starts, you can try treating every time she walks into the area. Start building positive associations for the places/things that stress her out. Another example: every time you touch her collar (I would start by just touching, not grabbing to go out), give a treat. Start slow, and don't treat and then immediately grab for the collar. Just start by treating. It's possible sudden movements like collar-grabbing were part of the abuse she appears to have experienced, so that may be a trigger for her.

This is what I would do as well. Touch her collar, with a treat, so often that she doesn't even notice anymore. Sit and have a belly rub and a treat 10 feet from the door for a week, then 9 then... Lots and lots of positive experiences on the route to outside.

I also agree that the act of grabbing the collar could be a trigger for her. One option would be to let her wear a short leash in the house so you can reach for and hold the leash instead of grabbing directly for the collar. Alternatively, you could also try a harness instead of a collar and see if that makes a difference. When you hold a harness she won't feel it only on her neck and that may be different enough from past trauma.

It takes a lot of love and a lot of patience to get a dog over that kind of trauma. And she may never get over all of her triggers. It sounds like you've gone really far with her, she's lucky you found her.

[russsk]

I also second the suggestion of changing equipment. We ended up using a sled dog harness with our dog, and it worked out great. It was very comfortable for him. The pressure on his neck from the collar and face from a halter when he would get stressed and pull was increasing his stress, and the harness caused him no pain.