Dog who can barely walk and gets scared randomly What is wrong?

Answer 1

My dog has this same problem: he's afraid to walk outside. I suspect that the problem for him is his terrible fear of cars and the associated noises that they make. We live near a fairly busy street and he panics when we go outside, completely refusing to move for minutes at a time. All of the training sites say that it's important to feed the dog really good treats while you're walking, like hot dog circles or greenies or something. My dog, of course, is too afraid to eat. About half the reading I have done says to praise your dog and coax them to walk, while the other half says that the worst thing you can do is to praise a nervous dog when it is acting nervous. I have a feeling the second group of answers there is the right one- don't praise a dog who is doing something you don't want them to do! If your dog is afraid, it's probably not random. It might be a loud noise that he's hearing, or a specific person that he's afraid of. Pay attention to the behavioral patterns of your dog, and I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out. In the meanwhile, if anyone else can speak intelligently about this question, I'd love the input!