A fear of grass?

 When I was doing agility with Maggie, I had a problem with her fear/distrust of "different" surfaces.  She's never had anything bad happen in association with them, and she was socialized out the woohah as a pup, it's just a thing she has.

One thing I did was set up whatever it was in a doorway, and do something fun (including feeding something yummy) with the other dogs.  I made it super easy to succeed - just one step on whatever it was, at first, then increased the distance she had to stay on it to get to the other side.

So, since you can't grow grass inside (LOL), can you set up something similar?  Make it so if he chooses to take one step on the grass he gets something good, then increase it so he has to stay on longer and longer?

There's a limit to this however.  You'll get a point of no returns so be ready with a Plan B - this sort of thing just gets you started.  Probably Plan B can involve desensitization through the clicker.  But Maggie was one who sort of needed to do it when no one was looking, so the clicker just made her more flustered, until she accepted the new surface enough to engage that part of her brain. 

I just can't believe I never realized this before.  I've done his training (not agility,but obedience) outside before, just never on grass.  I'm thinking that is a good idea.  Maybe each time we go outside I can click and treat each time he steps onto the grass to do his business?? 

I also realized that I was pushing him too far.  I was trying to make him do something on a surface he just didn't like.  I need to desensitize...I don't know what I was thinking.   So, I did some simpler things in the grass today.  We did some obedience, which he loves, but he still seems to be shutting down when on the grass.  I guess slower and simpler would be best for now.

Thanks for your idea.  Any others are certainly welcome!

I hope that helps!  Remember that when you ask him to do something, you are asking him to do something AND be on the grass.  So, "being on the grass" is cause for reinforcement to begin with.  But keep celebrations very quiet - this is where the clicker helps because it's very matter of fact - "Yup, that's the thing."  If you throw a party you stop him thinking and his fear will have a chance to come back. 

Good luck! 

 Emma hated working on grass, for a while, too. We just took it really slowly. She has to work on grass at outdoor dog shows. She marked at one, once, but since then, she's been fine. Wet grass is still an issue, and I'm just praying that it's not rainy/dewey at any dog shows LOL.

 Belle will NOT walk on grass. When we go for walks and I try to move her over because of oncoming walkers or whatever she pushes me back until I let her back on the asphalt. Silly dog. Even when we bike she stays on the side walks. However I have never had the work on grass problem. I never thought about it either. Recently I have heard others talk about it so this post intrigued me.

When Teddi was young I read about the theory of 12. The thought was to get your pup on 12 different surfaces by the time they are 12 weeks old. This was being posted by a breeder and the things he was doing with his litter. I found that very interesting so even though I was not Teddi's breeder, I did that with her. I walked her on grass, snow, tarps, fake plastic grass, anything and everything different I could find. I do know Teddi does not care what she walks on, I don't know if it just Belle's personality (probably) She is a big goofy dog. 

mine dont mind grass as long as it's short and dry! you have to consider that with a smaller dog the grass isnt just on their feet but also often their belly is touching it, so that makes it more uncomfortable...

but yeah, just take it slow...

Wonder what would happen if he went outside one day and there were bits of cheese, roast beef, and chicken scattered throughout the lawn. 

Have you noticed if its the type grass the dog does not like to walk on.  Myself, I don't like walking on Zoysia and even Bent grass.

I think if you scatter, cheese, roast beef, or chicken on the lawn, you would get ants.

OK, so I was having real problems getting him to even take a treat from me in the grass.  He just will not take one.  So, we moved to the front (it's only a small strip along the sidewalk) and he's fine with it.  I am assuming it is the type of grass in our side yard, but unfortunately that is the only place we can work within a fence.  So, I'm working on talking DH into fencing a larger portion of our yard for next spring so that we can just avoid that particular section of yard when we work.