[Maia]

Hi, I'm new and this might be a common problem but i didn't find an answer that completely satisfied by question. We have a 4 month old German shepherd who has recently become terrified of leaving my house. Its really my boyfriend's puppy but we split our time between the two houses, she has been well adapted to this and was previously fine. However I live right on a busy road and she has now become terrified of leaving the building, she will go out the back but its a struggle to get her to shift to the car (once she finally leaves the building she will drag you to the car, attempting to walk in front of the traffic!) let alone walk to the park which is just round the corner. We were away for ten days during which she was taken to the vets when she was yelping when getting up, she has been diagnosed with having a growth issue in one of her rear legs, possibly from a trauma when she was younger (although neither me or my partner recalls any incident, it may have happened before we got her). While we were away she stayed with family and it was about the same time they discovered she was terrified of traffic. My partner lives off of a main road so there isnt really any traffic around his house but the other day when i took her for a walk she seemed reluctant to leave and then led me in a short 10 minute circuit back to his door.

Anyway! What I want to ask is if there is any way to help her get over this fear as I am not intending on moving anytime soon and she is going to get very big and needs to get out and stretch her legs! Any advice you can offer will be much appreciated.

[cigwyllt]

The only thing I can think is to spend time just being outside making a fuss of her, giving her treats while she sits calmly and build up the length of time she sits for and the gaps between treats. At the moment she is still very young and it is very easy to overestimate the amount of exercise she needs so if you can work on getting her to relax in traffic when she needs the exercise hopefully she will be able to enjoy it.

[lange]

I pretty much agree with Cig..not a surprise.

Your dog probably went through a fear stage when you were gone and something triggered this specific fear. WHat it was doesn't really matter. What matters is getting her to relax with positive enforcement.

Like Cig said, just take her out and get her to play with you. Help her focus on something else instead of her fear. Try doing training sessions w/treats. Run around, roll around on the grass, do whatever catches her attention. The good thing is that she is a puppy and should easily snap back to being playful. Don't focus on the actual walking yet. Just make outdoor time playtime and if you can bring more people with you she'll probably get more excited. Maybe you can even add a friends dog or puppy to the playtime to help her get relaxed & moving.