Advice Needed With Dog Problem

[odddog1]

I have kept dogs for 45 odd years and have encountered many little problems with them along the way but with this one I am stumped, I have an 11 year old Border Collie who has has many funny little foibles but they have always been reasonably easy to rectify, over the past 6 months he has shown a fear of walking on the kitchen floor (Vinyl flooring), we assumed from this that he had slipped and hurt himself at some point, to help him I have put mats all around so that he can easily get to the back door and round into the dining room, this has worked for a long time but yesterday he started showing fear of the rugs as well, he has recently had a check up at the vets (receptionists and nurses scurrying around looking for rugs for him) nothing out of the ordinary except that he does have arthritis for which he is on medication for, has anyone out there ever encountered this problem with their dog? I'm open to any suggestions you may have so that I can make his life a little easier.
Thanks.

[rsvp]

odddog1 - you have a very normal collie!!!! - most of um who aren't working do the things you describe - it's built in - my delight tried to pen a herd of deer the other day (despite the fact he's never worked) - he's very suspicious of baby gates, cannot be trusted around the hoover, tyre inflator or blender, will attack a metal tape measure with ferocity and you really don't want to be in the house if it rains, hails or thunders........and lets not even mention fireworks and cars pulling up in the drive! What you've describe is normal collie traits. As I say, welcome to the club

[Dreamsandlove]

He's maybe hurt himself in the room and is associating the room with potential fear of this happening again!? Is this the only room he does this in?

[odddog1]

Hi Dreamsandlove, no not the only room, I have always fed my dogs in separate rooms, basically because he was a gutsy gannet when he was young and would eat his food then make a beeline for the Shepherds grub, he won't go into the lounge where he is normally fed, I have to feed him in the hallway where is is also sleeping at the moment, he has always been a little eccentric, he has never liked the dark much and when I open the door last thing to let the dogs out I have to go with him and bring a torch, for him you understand not for me LOL and if an owl hoots he's off like a scared rabbit.
We are progressing slightly though as this morning he walked into the middle of the kitchen floor then turned back again I did give him a treat when he made it that far...........keep your fingers crossed.

[odddog1]

rsvp are you sure you don't have my dog? mine would have been absolutely no good herding sheep, he doesn't like the rain is a quivering wreck in a thunderstorm and when fireworks are going off, I heard him barking a lot in the garden one day went to see what the fuss was about...............he was barking at a caterpillar, I kid you not.....it was a BIG caterpillar LOL, he will also stand like a statue over a molehill and listen, he can hear the mole underground, one day he saw the molehill move though and he legged it indoors, silly dog.

[wolf63]

There is probably a little bit of senility creeping into the equation too.

I always think of Collies as very bright, highly strung and neurotic. They are far too energetic for me.

[rsvp]

oddog1 - if you don't mind me suggesting something.........my dog Mac was a quivering wreck with fireworks, rain, hail and let's not even mention thunderstorms! so I downloaded tapes of these from my vets news sheet and played them non stop all day- first of all on lowest setting (so low I couldn't hear it) and over a long time increased the volume so, so slowly until in the end the tape was playing full blast and Mac ignored the noise - takes ages, weeks and weeks so buy a good pair of ear plugs but it does work -now he just gets a bit excited whenever it rains/hail/faireworks/thunder and we are working on the my expectation for him to remain calm when these things happen - I may live long enough to see this but we are making progress which is the main thing.

[Biccylova]

we had the same problem with our old lab we also had to put mats all round the kitchen but she was still very wary and walked very slowly, she had arthritis as well so i would say she knew that the floor was a slipping hazard.

[odddog1]

Yes I have thought about the cognitive therapy CD's but if he hears thunder on the TV he doesn't react to it but it may still be worth a shot.

wolf63 I always said I would never have a collie but these things sometimes just happen, I don't regret a minute of the last 11 years, we often say that he is more intelligent than the whole family you only have to show him something once and it is remembered.....my hubby on the other hand........LOL

[odddog1]

Hi there again, I would like to thank all of you lovely people who replied to my post, this is an update.....drum roll............... Harvey my lovely Border Collie is back to his normal self again, he is back to walking around the house on strategically placed rugs, still won't walk on lino but we can cope with that, I bought one of those Adaptil plug ins and whether it is coincidence or not I don't know but he got better within a week of plugging it in, he of course may have got better anyway but the plug in stays for now, we are so happy he is back :0)