Why is my dog scared to go outside?
My boyfriend and I just adopted a 6 year old mixed breed - they think boxer/Great Dane? We are having a lot of difficulty getting him to go outside - it seems to be mainly at night. Yesterday during the day he was very responsive when called, followed us around and willingly went outside to use the bathroom. Last night, we tried to take him out and he got super shaky and scared. So we let it ride for a few hours and my boyfriend tried again - he went straight into the bathroom to hide and wouldn’t come out. Then, he finally came out and went to the door so my boyfriend took him out and he hid underneath our stairs for a good 10 minutes. His foster family did tell us he get anxious going outside and that they would just pick him up and put him out there for a walk and he’d be fine. But I don’t think this is right to do because it associates a negative interaction with the outdoors. He is on 100mg of trazodone daily, we gave him half a pill yesterday morning and he was fine all day - we gave him another half last night after 12 hours but it didn’t seem to do much other then make him tired. It’s been a good 15 hours since he’s peed and pooped and I can’t get him off the bathroom floor. He is not food driven, we’ve tried treats and all that - he’ll eat cheese but I can’t entice him with it. He is also not responsive to toys and doesn’t get excited when you say all the things dogs love like car rides, walks, etc. Does anyone have any suggestions? I realize we are new to him and it’s a new environment but I’m concerned about this behavior. Thanks in advance.
If you haven't already, I would have him check out by your local Veterinarian. Sometimes older dogs can have a hard time seeing at night which in turn can make them scared to outside.