We have a 3 year old lab that we adopted 6 months ago, and recently (within past 3 weeks) he has started to refuse to walk in our neighborhood. He walked and skated and jogged and everything else for the first part no problem. He has always had some anxiety (rain, music, loud sports on TV, washing machine, etc) but has been fairly manageable. Now that this has started we have taken him to a vet to make sure he is ok (health, hips, etc). He is fine, we did however start a couple weeks back a prozac cycle (started after the non-walking behavior started) to see if we can help de-sensitize him to whatever is causing this non-walking behavior and also possibly help with some of his other anxious behaviors. He has no problem leaving the house but as soon as he realizes that he is not loading up in the car he freezes and refuses to go anywhere else. You could unleash him and walk all the way down the street and he will just stay at the tailgate of the vehicle. I know this could be a process but have read so much about what to do and not to do to help but they all contradict. I read one article and it says do not bring treats as it encourages his non-walking behavior and then the SAME article in the next sentence says reward his walking behavior with treats, seriously...which one is it. I refuse to get rid of this dog as he has been adopted to many homes and I am going to make sure this is his forever home. Other than this one issue we are having this dog is PERFECT. So please help. I am not opposed to spending money on a dog behavior specialist if it will help train ME how to train HIM properly. Also, side note.....if we load him in the car and take him to any of our parks he typically walks VERY WELL. So he is scared of something in our neighborhood maybe? Or just so focused on getting in the car? We are in Houston, TX if anyone wants to recommend a local behavior specialist that has results. Anyone got Cesar Milan's phone number? Any help, tips, articles, anything is appreciated.
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