Dog nervous to "go" outside

[midwest07]

We have a 4-5ish year old lab mix.  He is kind of a fraidy dog.  He gets pretty anxious with storms, fireworks, loud noises, construction, etc.  Since those things happen outside, it can make him nervous to go outside in the back yard and go to the bathroom.  Usually it's a temporary issue just while it's actually raining, thundering, etc.  And our temporary fix is that he will walk down the street on a leash and go because he loves to take walks.

For the last week, we have been getting a lot of rain and storms.  He is now basically refusing to go to the bathroom at all in the back yard, even if it's perfectly sunny out.  We will go in the yard, stand there with him and he just stands and looks at us or goes back to the door to be let in.  At first, we were placating him and taking him on the short walks.  But this cannot happen every time he has to go.  He did finally pee this morning out back because he must have had to so badly.

What would you do?  Our solution since last night is to keep taking him out back and not take him on the little walks like he is hoping for until he gets back into the routine.  He will eventually have to go.  But then of course that could happen inside as an accident.

(I should mention we have another dog, and it's not fair to her for him to get in little walks, so when he gets a walk, she does too.  I know there are people in apartments, etc who have to walk their dogs every time, but it's a bit of a pain when you aren't used to it.)

[mala]

Just keep taking him out in the yard and praise him lavishly when he goes. And start some training to help with the anxiety. There's a thread here with suggestions about training a dog to be calm during storms. Work on showing him that the "scary" things aren't so scary after all.

[patches31709]

Yeah I would keep taking him out. He'll go eventually, and when he does, praise (and maybe even treat) like crazy. Maybe after going in the yard take him for a quick walk since he enjoys them so much.

[midwest07]

Aug 10, 2013 8:05:28 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

You can walk him on a leash in the yard - we've done this with our dog. Lots of treats when he goes. But you need to work on the storm/noise anxiety to fix the problem for realz, so I would start with that. Thundershirt if that helps or meds if it doesn't (there is Xanax, but you have to be home/give the meds 30-60 minutes before the storm, or something longer term like Prozac or clomipramine). Treating the anxiety is the kindest thing to do - it's basically like a human having a panic attack every time they have to go outside the house.

He has a Thundershirt to wear during storms and fireworks and other nervous times.  We also have meds but I don't like to give them if the shirt is working, which most of the time it does.  It's just during these times when it's totally nice and sunny, it doesn't seem like he should need the shirt.

As an update, he is getting better the last few days and it even rained the other day and he was fine to go out later that day.

[lavender444]

I agree with praising and treats. Make him see outside is a nice place. Go out with him and feed him treats and make it a happy place.