Advice (longer read)
One of my clients just adopted one of the beagles from the ridglan farms (the test/lab/research beagles). Obviously he’s been through major things and as much as I try not to put human emotions on animals he has some major ptsd and is experiencing life outside of the research lab and a crate (he’s 7 and lived in a crate 24/7)-so literally everything is new to him. It’s been just over a week that he’s been in the new home and in certain areas he’s done amazing well with in adjusting too. Some areas are getting better, slow progress. The biggest hurdle the owner and I are experiencing is the poor dog wants absolutely nothing to do with outside. He’s extremely afraid of being outside-he shuts down even more as soon as you open the door and doesn’t even want to walk through the door (even though he wants to go outside before opening the door-which he wasn’t even signaling he wanted to go outside when he first came home. He’s not afraid of putting his harness on or the leash anymore either!! Big win!) my very first walk with him, with some coaxing with some treats (though he wouldn’t take it from my hand-he’d take it if I set it on the ground) he walked 15 feet away from the door and peed on the grass-that was saturday 5/23-but since then it’s like he’s regressed. He freezes at the door on the inside dead fishes and shakes like a leaf. The owner and I carry him outside and put him on the grass (about 5-10 feet away from the door) thinking if we challenge him just enough it’ll show him it’s ok to be outside. He’s absolutely terrified of any noise-cars going by, lawn mowers, doors opening etc-and bolts for the door so we just bring him inside once he does that not to add more stress (thinking it would be more detrimental). We’ve both tried walking him with the Jack Russell that was in the house prior to the beagle coming in since he really seems to like her (we both thought that maybe she can help teach him how to basically be a dog, model walking and be like almost a security blanket/comfort for him. I know trainers sometimes uses another dog to help model behaviors). We’ve both tried using positive reinforcement. We both know clearly walks stress him out and he’s just scared of life in general. We’re both at a loss. has anyone dealt with a dog who is absolutely scared of walks? Is just something that overtime with more exposure going outside and as he gets more confident/comfortable with life he’ll hopefully get better with walks? He’s not aggressive at all-he just shuts down emotionally. Just freezes whale eyes shakes sometimes starts backing up and then looks for the door and runs for the doors
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?