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Old 12-16-2012, 06:14 PM   #1
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Question Luma's afraid of our kitchen...odd.

So for the past few weeks, Tony and I will be in the living room and Luma will jump off our laps or out of her bed, wander into the kitchen, and next thing we know she's skidding out of there frantically.

We'll be watching her sometimes...she walks in there (the light is off in the kitchen) there is a big wide open area, and then a little narrow part kind of like a "hallway" where our sink, dish washer, stove, fridge is. She is fine in the open part. Her potty pad and food bowls are there. She'll stop right at the end of the hallway and just stare down the path. Then suddenly she will slowly start backing up....walking backwards...and then scramble to run away, usually falling over and flipping onto her back and everything.

I keep her nails short so I know it's not that. She walks around fine in the open part of the kitchen but she will flip out if you sit her in that hallway. I went in there, encouraging her with treats, speaking in a happy voice, but she refuses to come to me. I put her in that area and blocked her off so she couldnt run away, I sat down on the floor and pet her and gave her treats, but as soon as I let go she starts tripping over her legs and shaking and whining. I dont get it. Ive never reprimanded her in the kitchen, never hit or yelled at her while she was on the tile floor. I don't understand what happened to make her scared of the kitchen but it's kind of strange and I want her to feel secure and confident in any part of her home! What can I do?

Btw she never falls over randomly or anything. I dont think its anything wrong with her health. Maybe a pot fell and scared her once, and now she associates it with bad things? Shes fine in the open part of the tile, not timid at all. Its just weird how she will stare down the hallway and randomly back up and run off. Kind of creepy...almost like shes seeing something I can't. I just want to know if there are any exercises I can do with her to make her feel comfortable there. She used to sit on my feet while I cooked. Now she stays far away and whines.
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:23 PM   #2
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Ghost. Only thing I can think of.
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:29 PM   #3
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Ghost. Only thing I can think of.
Funny I was thinking the same thing....
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:31 PM   #4
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OOk ok stupid thread topic I guess. It is weird though lol.
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:32 PM   #5
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Ghost. Only thing I can think of.
That was my guess. She sees something
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:33 PM   #6
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Ghost. Only thing I can think of.
That was my guess. She sees something
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:43 PM   #7
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OOk ok stupid thread topic I guess. It is weird though lol.
Not stupid, but I agree it is a bit strange. I believe in ghosts, so who knows?
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:45 PM   #8
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Honestly, Jackson is really quirky, and he has very weird fears sometimes that seem to come out of nowhere. Months later I'll figure it out....

But his recent one is our tray we have out in the living room. It's like a TV/dinner tray that stands. It fell over last weekend so now he's terrified of the living room, and walks in very slowly and cautiously. lol. Of course that one I know why he's afraid of. But sometimes he has weird fears that I dunno where they come from.

They can be weird sometimes!
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:48 PM   #9
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Is it tile or carpet there? Maybe the floors cold? Lilo used to always step on the hardwood, realize it was cold then run off ... Or she sees a ghost. Hehe
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:48 PM   #10
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At the end of the hall is a wall. I put her there earlier to try to get a video and she was looking around like she was lost. She was really freaked out like she was terrified. Just looking around and crying pretty loud until I picked her up. Idk. Right now she just got out of bed and walked over there, growled a bit and ran onto my lap. What the heck?!
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Old 12-16-2012, 06:50 PM   #11
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My whole kitchen is tile, but shes only afraid of the hallway, she walks fine on the open part and will do tricks, fetch toys, etc from that area. Just not the narrow area lol
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Old 12-16-2012, 07:08 PM   #12
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Is it possible that she saw a mouse there?
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Old 12-16-2012, 07:26 PM   #13
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Maybe she sees a reflection? Are your appliances stainless steel? Maybe when she comes into the kitchen she might cast some type of shadow. Could be any sort of thing.
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Old 12-16-2012, 07:47 PM   #14
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First thing I thought was a ghost then I thought maybe a light or shadow off the appliance. Or maybe the ice maker made a noise and scared her. I know sometimes car lights hit a certain way and reflects off of the toaster and startles me. Or it could be even something falling off the counter or even the broom falling? Poor Luma. . . Maybe try something so tasty and start bringing her closer to the area. Not all the way. Just a little at a time. Hugs to you both
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Old 12-16-2012, 07:58 PM   #15
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She's developed some fear associate with going through that narrow part, perhaps associated with some sound she heard when going through or something she smelled that was odd. She could have seen a shiny piece of cabinet handle or appliance. Sometimes a dog will become fearful of lights and shadows, shiny things. Some are scared of shiny floors and avoid them at all cost. But it could be anything that glinted or unexpectedly reflected light. Anything can trigger a fear reaction and pattern. If you could change her things to a different part of the house for a while that allows her to change up her associations that might help. There is the theory that "resting" the dog's mind and reaction pattern from the thing that scares it and then re-introducing it step by step can help break a new fear pattern if done early on.

Otherwise, daily and repetitive walking her through the area, on the leash if necessary, and coaxing her with actual meat - fresh boiled chicken or turkey hot dog bits - just in front of her nose and giving her a reward for every few steps should start to desensitize her to the thing in there that she is fearful of.

If she balks or avoids the meat treat in front of her and doesn't advance to get it, just keep matter of factly walking her through(technique on a way to do that below) and then a big reward, treat when she's out of the room. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Break. Take her outside into the fresh air and let her decompress. Have a play session. In another hour, do it all again. Repeat X3 after the first walkthrough and break-time outside. Keep the sessions short and don't talk to her or coddle her while walking her through. Just matter of factly leash her, have the treats at the ready and hold them in front of her as you quietly coax her in there or, if she's having none of that, use this technique to walk her through: Just gently keep pulling her through at first on her harness, little by little, not in one long pull. Pull a bit and when she is forced to move her feet forward a few steps, pause. Then pull a bit until her feet move forward a few steps, pause. No talking, just smile in case she looks up at you, though you aren't looking at her at all. Keep on until you are through the narrow part and then a huge party session and treat. Repeat the three times and outside for a nice play romp and decompression. Each hour do the 4 pass-thru's and break. The breaks will teach her that even though it is scary and bad, it's only those few times and then she gets to go out and play and see a happy, joyful mommy happily rewarding her with a lot of fun outside.

Also, after she's become fairly used to many daily walking sessions through the area, start tossing a few meat treats on the floor in there from time to time when she's not around to see you do it so that she will happen on this serendipity in that scary area and hopefully making her want to go in after them on her on. Keep repeating this once you find she's been in there and eaten one or two. This will help her start to go in on her own. I would make the treats part of her dinner and also then begin to spread her kibble all out on that area of the floor for a while so that she is eating her meals all in that area, piece by piece, right off the floor. If she eats canned dog food, I would put it on bits of wax paper or something but spread it all out so that she slowly has to walk through every part of the area on her own in order to eat her dinner and start to associate the whole scary area with her food intake. Also, draping some towels or tablecloths over the cabinet so that they hang down and over things that are in there might change up the appearance and help to relieve her past bad associations with the overall look of the area, which could be part of what is scaring her.

You also might change the scent in that area, placing some pungent potpourri like eucalyptus or something strong like that on the kitchen cabinet in order to change the smell some.

Some things like that might change things in there up enough to disorient her from the things that had her discombobulated and scared and together with eating her meals throughout the scary part and the frequent walks through over and over and over, she should start to accept that part of the house again little by little.

Really let her get hungry and thirsty before doing this the first time using the meat treats. Fast her for a time and be sure she is so hungry she will actually take chances in order to get that treat - that will set her up for the most success.

Try these things if you want and just see if some or all of this won't work for Luma. Good luck.
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Last edited by yorkietalkjilly; 12-16-2012 at 08:01 PM.
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