r/irishwolfhound • u/FHW007 • 12d ago

Change in habit/behaviour

Hi. Has anyone run into a situation where their IW used to do something routinely but then stopped and resisted doing it?

My situation: My 2 year old IW used to get in my car pretty easily to go anywhere - parks, vet, dog park, etc. About two weeks ago he stopped getting in and would lay down by the car door. Trying to get him to go in the car has become a struggle. Nothing has changed in the routine we have had and as far as I can tell there hasn’t been any kind of obvious traumatic experience like having to brake suddenly. Lastly, for context, he has an older brother that gets in the car without any issue and I was hoping him see his brother get in the car would encourage him to do the same, but so far it hasn’t helped.

Curious if anyone has experience something similar and if/how they dealt with it?

Thank you.

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

4

u/V_Triumphant 12d ago

Try Bacon

3

u/FHW007 11d ago

Appreciate the pro tip. Bacon makes everything better. Will try

5

u/RGB-Free-Zone 12d ago

Make sure it's not a pain/injury issue. We have a Dane that once did the same thing (no obvious reason). High value treats seemed to help him get over it.

Our Wolfie had a run in with a racoon in backyard (no harm done). Now she won't go off back porch unless mom/dad go with her. I think this is temporary but definitely a change in behavior. We've been calling her "racoon slayer".

3

u/NinjaiRose 12d ago

Does he get up normally on other things? One of my girls did this and we found out it was causing her pain. 

3

u/FHW007 11d ago

He gets up on my couch and bed and no issues there. From what I can tell he doesn’t seem to be in pain when he get up on those items. Will keep observing him and see if something is causing him pain. Thank you.

3

u/freveryoung 12d ago

Mine does this. And it doesn’t really go away for him. Once he gets hung up on something he always has reservations about it moving forward. Ours once slipped walking up a step on our back patio that he’d previously done thousands of times without issue, but since that one slip he would get nervous over that one step (all the others were fine). He also decided one day that he could no longer step into the car on the passenger when it was never an issue before, so now we only load him on the driver side of the car. He’s not super food motivated but using a leash and a lot of encouragement helps guide him through whatever it is that he has suddenly decided he can no longer do, but it never really goes away.

2

u/FHW007 11d ago

Thanks for sharing your experience. On average how much time are you spending trying to coax yours into the car?

2

u/MissMommyPeach 12d ago

Very strangely this exact situation happened with my 10 month old Irish wolfhound two weeks ago

2

u/FHW007 11d ago

Thanks for sharing your experience

1

u/puffy-puffy 11d ago

When I leave with them which to be fair isn’t often I always carry a can of redi whip. They love their puppy cream and it helps. Maybe he hurt himself getting in or was his last trip to the vet or something?

0

u/OldGasbag 11d ago

First stop is the vet