Need help with problem

[gus004]

I am having some issues with my 7 year old black lab. For the past 4-5 weeks, she will not walk in the grass of my yard without prodding her to do so. She will walk the perimeter of the house in the landscaping and do her duties in the mulch attached to the house. She will go into neighbors yards and wander all over the park lands, short and tall grass. I have tried to figure out what the issue is and have narrowed it down to a couple possibilities.

1) I had a problem with the neighbor kids and air soft guns in the past. Yes they were taking target practice at the dog in her kennel outside. I addressed with the parents and it stopped.

2) Wondering what the lawn service put down in the last application. Thinking maybe something new or stronger than usual and it may have reacted with her pads. She seems to tip toe quiclkly through the yard when I can get her out there.

3) I did get a new sprinkler company to service the system and they did a evaluation recently as well. I was not home at the time and they could have done something to her as well.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

[Ufatz]

Well, I would strongly suspect item #2 as the problem. Or SOMETHING scared her or startled her in your yard: has she seen snakes before? Have you had any problems with biting ants in the lawn? A dogs paws are pretty tough.

I would guess that if you can continue to get her to walk around the yard with you this problem will fade away.

Can you get her to play fetch the ball in the yard. Will she chase a frisbee. How about a pork chop?

Other than these idle thoughts I'm clueless too.

[CANOPY SAM]

Sounds like either two or three. Or perhaps a combination of the two?

Poor dog. Something is really bugging her.

Man, I woulda come UNGLUED if I knew the neighbor kids were shooting my dog with airsoft guns!!! Think I'd have been offering to line em' all up and see how they liked being shot the same way. There's NO excuse for that, no matter how little those kids are. Those airsoft pellets hit hard, and they hurt! Well, maybe I'm over-reacting a bit, but I'd still be fuming!

Give the chemical applicators a call and see what they last put on the yard. Then see if you can contact the chemical manufacturer about possible side affects with dogs, or contact with skin or feet. I know they're supposed to put up signs warning people about foot traffic on freshly sprayed grass. I can't think of what the sprinkler people would've done to affect the dog?

[gus004]

I am leaning towards number 2 as well. No snakes or ants around other than your usual sugar ants. She discovered a bee hive at the cabin this year but that was out in the woods and should not be related. I cannot even get her to retrieve a ball/frisbee/dummie in the yard. If I throw a treat out, she will tip toe out, ever so carefully pick it up and bring it back to mulched area and eat there. It has been 4 weeks since they treated the yard.

She does seem to be fine when on the park paths and hunts the edges just fine like nothing is wrong. Trip to the game farm soon once the weather cools down to make sure she still hunts is in order as well.

Thanks.

[gus004]

Trust me, when I started finding the pellets in the kennel and the dog would not come out of the dog house, UNGLUED does not even start to describe what I was thinking. I had as pleasant of a conversation with the mother of the kids that I could and her response was to let her know if it happened again. I responded by telling her if it happened again, the police would be letting her know, not me.

I am going to call the yard service and see if they changed the chemical that they were applying. They do put the sign in the yard and I do keep her off the grass as directed for at least 24 hours or until watered. They have been doing the yard for 2 years now with no past issues.

Thanks for the advise and I am still frustrated trying to figure this out.

[CANOPY SAM]

If she chemically "burned" her feet a few weeks ago, it's entirely possible she's still sensitive to any residual chemical that's still around, and/or timid about having it happen again.

Their pads are tough, but if they got soaked with chemical it could really hurt, for a long time.

[TylerS]

If her feet were sensitive, why would she still be walking in the landscape or anywhere else, for that matter? Grass is pretty darn soft.

[gus004]

I was thinking the same thing about sensitive pads. No visible scars or cracks in pads. She takes the path around the house through the rocks and mulch, which hurt me to walk through bare foot. I can only think that it is a memory thing and maybe burnt at first and she has it stuck in her mind that it is going to happen again.

Waiting for a call back from lawn service.

[walleye18]

Gotta be #2 or a combo of #2 and #3...

Speaking of air soft guns/pellets, my oldest was shot in the right eye by one in late June. He's lucky he didnt lose the eye.

Will need surgery in the future as his iris is torn, cornea was swollen too. Those things are dangerous and hurt.

My boy never knew it was coming. Was shot 30 yds away.

And yes, when i got home from a business trip, I came un-glued! The kid that did it is not allowed anywhere near our house.

[Ufatz]

I'll offer one final bit of encouragement and a bit of experience. My guess is this will pass in time. Several times over the years (50+) that I have been dealing with dogs I have come across a strange and unexplainable situation wherein a dog develops a "fear" or "aversion" to an area or an object. I once had a nice lady Lab who was terrified of Jello! Another Lab heard my new Powerstroke diesel start up first day I had it and freaked out. Took weeks before I could get him into it...then I had a helluva time keeping him OUT of it.

Just keep working with the dog and I'll bet this passes.

PS: You don't even wanna know what my reaction is to those neighbor kids!! If they were shooting at her when she was in the yard maybe THAT has something to do with it?

[fishingstar]

Could it be stray voltage? I remember when I was young we had a electrical problem the cows were very jumpy and would only stay on one side of the yard. Electrician found a bad under ground wire.

Dan

[gus004]

That is a thought, but no work done on lots around us for some time. Living in a city developement and she has no issues with the neighbors yard. I hope to hear back from the lawn service today.

Thanks for the help guys. Still working with her at heal around the yard and she is better but still not at ease when out there. I can get her to lay next to me in the grass in the shade once out there. I will keep you posted if anything changes.