Hi! My 8 month Giant Schnauzer has developed a bit of a phobia. He will not walk past shops with blinds outside, hates umbrellas, tents and awnings and now has just realised that our lampshades at home must be "upside down" umbrellas! All this sounds quite amusing but I dont want this to become a problem when he is an adult. Any ideas?? Thanks.

It is quite common for pups to suddenly become frightened of things that previously never worried them at this age - so dont worry :)

tee hee! my pup was terrified of our teacups when we first got him which was very cute but i did think did if he's scared of teacups then what next!

don't worry just persevere, keep calm when you see one of these objects and walk past it normally, i.e. don't make a fuss of him or try to avoid the object. i'm sure he'll find something else to be frightened of instead !!
good luck

When a pup is scared of something - as both of mine were - the best thing to do is try and get them to see these things as much as possible. Ignore any scared behaviour, maybe tell them to stop being silly, it a happy but strong tone of voice and walk past. Sometimes it helps to touch an object, (if possible,) and make the puppy realise that you are not scared and the puppy should take a cue from you. When the pup shows confident behaviour, reinforce it with lots of praise and tasty treats.

My old collie cross had a phobia of wheelbarrows and wouldn't walk past one in the park no matter what, he also hated the hoover.my four labs now are scared of nothing, and just completely bonkers:)

My mini schnauzer has an absolute phobia about umbrellas too. I only have to get my brolly out my bag and he runs off crouching to hide somewhere. Also, my friend turned up with a brolly in hand one day, and he wouldn't have anything to do with her, even when she no longer had the brolly in her hand. This is really unlike him as he barks and goes mad at any visitors and is not a shy dog by any means. I can only think i frightened him once with my brolly and he's never forgotten it. I've got one of those where you push a button and it pops open very quickly and I probably startled him when we were about to go out for a walk once. I can only sympathise I'm afraid...I'll be following some of the tips myself! He's never associated lampshades with upside down brollies though thank goodness!

Another thing he is funny about is leaves, as we walked past a leaf one day, and it hopped straight into him. It turned out to be a toad, as we live near a large natural pond. Ever since then, if he sees a large leaf, he approaches it very cautiously. If the wind blows it he jumps two feet in the air. Autumn walks are hell!

There you go, i posted that message and then my puppy developed a strange obsession with wellies, bouncing backwards and forwards and barking, i left her too it and she got over it. Then she started seeing bogeymen in her water bowl, trying to remove it with her paw and dipping her nose in and out very quickly. Very cute to watch but very messy.
However sometimes i wonder if they know something we don't, for example my collie was playing around in the streaam and started spooking at a leaf floating around. Then i suddenly realised that it was flowing in the opposite direction to the current of the stream - weird!
(Or maybe i just have really odd dogs?!)

One of our dogs is frightened of plastic carrier bags. So when we scoop we have to keep the bag hidden until he's finished or he doesn't actually do it because he's so scared. He also dislikes bin liners!!

Sorry I'm not much help with the request for ideas to stop these phobias - but I'm too old and too tired to even think about it. ;-)

Yours yawningly
Norm

our murph doesnt like binliners or carrier bags, Its the noise they make when you shake them out that frightened him in the first place. He doesnt mind the small pick-up bags as they mean that he is going out for walkies, and he has no problem with that idea at all :D maybe I should start taking carrier bags and bin-liners with me on walks, to see if it would cure him of his fear!! Its worth a thought, I can see I am gonna need a coat with bigger pockets at this rate. Sarah :D

My Pap used to be the same with new things, so I would take him up to them ...encourage him to get close and sniff it. Once he realised that there was nothing to be afraid of he stopped being scared. Its worked on the Lawn mower, leaf vac, vacum cleaner and rubbish bags that are put out for collection. He is now 8 months old and has now just become racist. Everytime he see's asian ppl he growls and barks or pulls away from them. Another new thing to deal with but I am sure if I can find some nice understanding asian dog loving ppl along the way we can cure this as well.

If it's something specific, like carrier bags or umbrellas, it's very easy to cure because you can control the intensity of the stimulus.
Start off by standing at a safe distance away when he's not reacting to it at all, and then take a few steps forward, until he's noticed it, but isn't unduly worried. Ignore the scary thing, and reward him with treats and games and make him feel special. When he's completely focused on you and ignoring whatever is scary, take a few more steps forward, again, until he is aware that it's there, maybe looking at you but glancing over the shoulder every now and again. When he's looking at you, reward him well like you did before. Looking at you can mean eye contact, but if the dogs nervous you could teach 'watch my hand' and then the hand gives the reward. Repeat the whole process again, only moving on when everything except your hand is being ignored.
Don't soothe, or react to the stimulus at all, try to watch your dog, not the scary thing, so the dog isn't that aware of what's going on, as far as he knows you just want to play with him, because you're focussed on him and nothing else.
Depending on how strong the fear is, you might not get right up to the object on the first day, it takes however long your dog decides.
You could use a 'special' treat which the dog adores but only gets when he focuses on you when scary things are near. That way he'll be much more inclined to focus on you because the treat is extra special.
If he snatches the food, or doesn't take it at all, he's too frightened and you'll need to back off a bit.
Because he's so young and it's so new, he'll probably not take long to get over it.
Just make sure the dog doens't realise you're making a bit deal of it, or that will make things worse.

Good luck with it, I'm sure it'll work out fine, once he realises how silly he's being he'll be back to a normal happy dog.

regards,
Jo