# Dog Suddenly Scared of Living Room



## jjfighter (Nov 5, 2006)

Hello All,

I have just adopted a lab, shepard mix named Jenna from the Humane Society. She is a great dog, very sweet and playful. But is dealing with some shyness and stress issues. Over the past 2 weeks we had been making good progress. But 2 days ago she suddenly became scared of our living room. She stays in her crate for most of the day now except when I take her for walks. And I'm taking for 4-5 walks a day just because it makes her happy. 

I tried helping her confront her new fear of the living room by trying to have her sit with me while in the living room, but it did not help at all.

All prior dogs I've have had dealt with a day or 2 of shyness but quickly realize they are in a good home. She seems to like us, but not the room.

Any help, advice, etc would be great!

Thank you!

Matt


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## Jessica&Crew (Sep 23, 2006)

Sometimes it is hard to accept, but you could be rewarding her scared (bad) behavior by babying her a little too much in tense situations.

When she acts fearful, how does she show it and what is your immediate reaction?


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## Callie15 (Jul 6, 2006)

Maybe when she was in other homes she had problems withrooms like that. Or she could be having flashbacks of her past homes, but i'm not sure exactly. Good luck though, and enjoy you're new dog.


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## jjfighter (Nov 5, 2006)

I haven't been coddling her or re-enforcing the behavior. If she's frightfull and shaking I'll basically ignore her. But the problem is that she is just retreating to her crate upstairs. I'll give her an 30 minutes or so, and say hi to her, she'll follow me down, and then go right back up. It is very frustrating right now. She hasn't eaten today either.


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## Jessica&Crew (Sep 23, 2006)

I'd consider having a crate, even a temporary one downstairs as well as the one upstairs.

Is your living room a main source of events in the household? If you put the second crate in a low traffic area, out of the way of the TV if you have one inthere - she may see it as an alternative solution to running upstairs.

By allowing her to go upstairs and hide of her own free will, then going to reassure her and bring her down, you are in a way reinforcing her behavior. You're letting her see that the flight instinct is correct, and as alpha - you reward the behavior by allowing her back into the pack once her fears subside.

If you cant have a crate directly in the living room, Id try to have one close by, so she can see whats going on at all times, and still feel secure in her area. As long as she avoids her fears, there really wont be a resolution to any of them.


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## jjfighter (Nov 5, 2006)

We have a gate the blocks the cats from going upstairs. We have been leaving it open for her. Should we block her from going as well if we get a new crate?

Thanks for the advice.


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## Ragmop53 (Aug 29, 2006)

Alot of things could have happened. What kind of floors do you have? Did she go into the room before. Sometimes a light flickering, stattic on carpet on the floor, did something fall close to her? Since she likes her cage so much, maybe try putting it in the room. Try laying down on the floor and calling her to come to you, see if that helps.
My sister had a Aussie and he was scared to death of the wood floors, where carpet ended that's where he stopped, stairs frightened him too, now this was when he was a puppy. 

I just thought of this too, I have read where to put crates, they should be where the family meets and gather so she will feel included.
And how new is she? She should be kept in a closed area until she is familiar with her new surroundings. To big of space, with different nosies and smells are confusing to a new dog.

Good Luck with her

Ragmop53


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## Doglistener (Nov 5, 2006)

Hi 

Wonder if you could supply a bit more information such as how old is the dog. What flooring do you have down, and what does the living room look over outside, is there any wild animals in the neigbourhood, have you put on the heating recently in the room. Try and give as much information as possible including any background you may have on the dog.

Stan


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## jjfighter (Nov 5, 2006)

She is 2 years old, it looks like she was previously an outdoor dog. We've had her for about 2-3 weeks now. Nothing changed in the living room. We are using our heat a little bit more now, but that's not it. She seems to be scared of a certain area of the room now. We used to play in that area up until 3 days ago. She actually liked that area too because we have large sliding glass doors that allow her to look out into the neighborhood.

There are no wild animals or anything.

One thing I might have thought was, when I came back from walking her my wife was vacuming. I think she heard it from outside because she didn't even want to come into the house. My wife stopped and the vacuum is stored upstairs. But still no change, and it kinda started before that.


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