Hi all,

I just wanted to share a recent triumph my Annie had. She has a serious phobia of storm drains, and when approaching one on our walks, she starts to crouch and pull away, and then she tries to rush past as quickly as possible. The other night I got an idea, and veered off toward the storm drain when she did this. I walked over and stood right on it, just resting, ignoring Annie. After a minute she started to relax. When she did, I held out my hand and called to her with kissing sounds. When she came over, I praised her. I repeated the exercise with every storm drain, with her apprehension lessening each time. By the third storm drain, she actually put her paw on the drain grate, and started sniffing the chasm where the rainwater goes down! She still starts with her apprehensive fearful crouching as soon as she sees a storm drain up ahead, but she relaxes a lot more quickly when I go stand on it (I don't necessarily want her to stand on it, since her paws could easily become stuck in the grate holes). The goal is for her to be able to pass one by without any notice.

Anyway, I just wanted to share our success-- it's a good feeling to help a dog overcome fear. : )

congrats to you guys

Thank you share us.

That's great!

[wishbone]

Excellent job there, way to go Annie!