Let’s talk about hardwood – it’s hard to live with sometimes

When you’re completely sweet, loving rescue pup suddenly growls or snaps at the air as you’re getting up from the couch it’s startling and, honestly, scary. 

Or when she’s sleeping at your feet under the dinner table and you’re met by low growls each time you shift in your seat. 

Or when she starts destroying toys at an unusually quick rate. 

It’s a bit nerve-wracking walking on eggshells since there are things that bother her one day, but not the next. And knowing that Pinot can feel my anxiety, making the situation worse.

When I first adopted Pinot, she had clear resource guarding issues. You couldn’t get near her while she was eating her meals or a chew. It took weeks to desensitize her to someone approaching her during dinner time. But with steady behavior and positive conditioning, you can now even give her a pet during those times. 

Back to the couch example. What was the catalyst? 

She hadn’t finished her daily dental chew. Even though she abandoned it in her bed to come lie by my feet, the second I stood up (to go in the other direction), she popped up, growling, as she sprinted to grab her half-eaten chew.

At first, I thought it could be possessive aggression. Maybe I had missed the warning signs?

But then she wouldn’t come upstairs to bed. I had to chase her around a bit to get her to my room and I watched as she slipped slightly on the patch of hardwood between the two upstairs carpets. And it clicked. 

We have two types of hardwood floors in our house, one is more rustic and one is more traditional (and shiny). She wouldn’t walk on any of the more traditional hardwood floors. 

Dogs that develop fears of hardwood, usually after a slip, can become anxious, fearful, and isolated. 

Pinot felt that she couldn’t join me when I went to my room as she usually does. She couldn’t go searching for dead bugs on the air vents on the far side of the house. She felt trapped in the few rooms with carpets and rustic hardwood. 

Obviously, Pinot can’t speak so I’m guessing here. 

I figured if I got her nails cut and paws trimmed, she would be fine. But she still wouldn’t go near any of it.

Nothing would get her to brave stepping on the shiny hardwood floors. Not treats, not her dinner, not even left-over turkey. I even had her best dog friend over and she wouldn’t brave the floor for Luna. 

It made me so sad to watch her visibly want to join us on the other side as we tried to coax her across. It broke my heart to watch her give up time and time again, rolling over into a completely submissive position.

My fearless rescue pup was suddenly scared of everything. She even stopped letting me put on her harness. She’d run and hide under the table each time her harness came out, despite her love of walks. 

But we kept trying and using positive conditioning. I started with praising her for having one paw of the wood, then keeping one paw on the wood, then two paws, you get the picture. 

About five days after she stopped walking on the hardwood, we had another puppy playdate. First, we let the dogs get their energy out in the backyard (so they wouldn’t run too quick inside and slip again). And when we brought them inside, Pinot braved the hardwood! 

I was thrilled, my pup was running around the house like nothing had ever happened! 

But then her friends went home, and she went back to cowering under the table when we tried to coax her across the floors.  

After another few days of positive conditioning, we had a session with her trainer and everything clicked! 

Pinot loves Javaar and he was able to use the excitement of seeing him to help get her around. He’d give her a push when she was scared and the two of us ran around the house becoming overly ecstatic whenever she braved the scary wood.

She was timid again once he left, but this time I used Oma (and treats) as bait. She did it again! 

My pup has regained her confidence, her curiosity for hunting dead bugs, and those aggressive behaviors have slowly faded.