Great Dane afraid of Hardwood Floors

Have you tried clicker training?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCtrtbdXkVw

This is a video of a mule being clicker trained to overcome his fear of the wash stall. The principle is the same for any species - rat, dog, chicken, goldfish, cat, horse....  Might this help?

 What about this video of a professional helping a Great Dane afraid of shiny floors?

Link 

espencer

 What about this video of a professional helping a Great Dane afraid of shiny floors?

Link 

Espence why dont you just SAY Cesar Millan.  We all know you are the CM Link King!

One of my foster pups was placed in a home that gave up on him after 2 months.  When he had to have an abcessed tooth removed (and the nueter since he was under anyway) we had to literally pick him up and carry him across the shiney tile floor to take him home.  He had shown some fear of hard floors, (they had ceramic tile between him and the door to potty) but once we moved into THIS house, with a lot of hardwood, he just refused to go anyplace.  We started in the livingroom with blankets and rugs all over so he would feel safe walking about and getting out to potty, put a runner in the hallway which he would sometimes venture to use.  It's been a year and a half and we are now rug free, other than the standard places, other than in that longish, darkish hallway.  For that, I bought a much longer runner and now he strolls down the hall instead of gathering his courage and dashing down it.

I'm afraid all I have to offer is time....and lots of rugs.

Chuffy

espencer

 What about this video of a professional helping a Great Dane afraid of shiny floors?

Link 

Espence why dont you just SAY Cesar Millan.  We all know you are the CM Link King!

I'm sorry, i'm was used  to not be able to say his name "outside the special forum" that now i cant help it 

espencer

I'm sorry, i'm was used  to not be able to say his name "outside the special forum" that now i cant help it 

  LOL, I just joined before the big change. You really could not say his name outside of the special forum?

  I saw the episode with the hard floor and the Great Dane. It has been awhile but as I recall the dog recovered 100% from his fear of shiny floors.

 Actually, it was more like you couldn't say other names within the special section...

I'm not a fan of the CM method of dealing with this, as most members here know.  If you want to know why, see this explanation: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1242 

Well they went back one year after to do a follow up and everything looks great, the dog walks on shiny floors every day and the owner herself says both are 100% happy, if you dont like the technique you dont have to do it but i dont see the reason for disaccreditation, so Anne why not instead  just give your own insight of how would you deal with the problem and let the op decide what method fits the better?

Before you try clicker training or "leadership" training with your Dane, I hope that you'll ensure that there is nothing wrong with him structurally. Just check to be sure. My shy dog was afraid of my new Pergo but with good reason: any "slip" he took meant, for him, a great deal of pain due to his bad hips and elbows.

I am sure there is nothing physically wrong but our dogs are very smart and they figure out what they need to do rather quickly. It's safe to trust him here while you get him checked out (eyes too).

This is NOT going to turn into a sniping contest.  It ends now.

I would not, and I repeat I would not recommend the flooding tecnique on a fearful Great Dane.  So many risks because their size and other breed traits.  I''ve had similar experiences as you with both stairs and most recently the shiney linoleum kitchen flood.  My GD, Petro slipped on a Milkbone and that initiated the fear.  It was not hard to overcome because I knew the source of the fear.  I encourage the dog to step on the floor and I had a big help.  The dog had to pee but in order to do that, Petro had to go outside and in order to do that, Petro had to walk across the floor.  Two times did it and Petro is no longer afraid.  Petro worked things out for himself with some encouragement from me.  No forced flooding was involved.

Here is the discussion on CM's episode The Shiney Floor.  IMO, he got it wrong this time.

http://community.dog.com/forums/t/28598.aspx?PageIndex=1

Now, for what I wanted to say on a personal level........

Tyler is flat out terrified of shiney floors, and even bare floors.  I know the reason and the history and had I tried to force the issue, it would have simply made him more fearful.

I could watch this boy gather his courage to make a dash across the floor.....the more frightened he was, the faster he moved and thus increased his liklihood of falling on the floor, just reinforcing his fear.  He wanted SO badly to do what I asked him to do, but the terror of those floors almost paralyzed him.

So, ok, now I'll be accused of humanizing my dogs, but.......my terror of snakes is just as danged irrational as his of floors.  Probably more so because I've never actually had a horrible experience with snakes....other than seeing them and having the spit scared out of me.  He HAS fallen, and fallen numerous times, primarily in the horrible home that I sent him too.  *I* misjudged, *I* made a dreadful placement error, and now it's MY job to fix that mistake in the most kind and humane manner I can find.

To do that, at the very least I will START with using rugs to make him feel more secure.  That's the ONLY first step I'm willing to take.  And it has worked wonderfully.  He has come to trust that I will make sure it's safe for him to move about.  And, as I said, other than the rugs at the entrance doors to minimize mess in the house, the ONLY rug I have in the house is in the hallway which is longish and can be dark.  The boy who would once stand at the end of the hall trying to get enough courage to race down that scarey hallway to come to the bedroom, now STROLLS and even lays in the same hallway.

When we go someplace he will now look to me for reassurance that it's ok to proceed at a normal pace, instead of planting his feet and refusing to go, or overcoming his terror and racing over the suspect area and perhaps falling again.

To me, it's about doing what is best for my dog, because I know them better than any other person in this world ever will.  Regardless of who they are, or what methods they use.

To the OP, I strongly suggest going slow and easy with this.  Once a fear starts, irrational or not, it's really tough for them to overcome it, and time, patience, and again, a lot of rugs will help to slowly desensitize your dog to those floors.

Excuse me OP and Mods for going off topic but I have very strong feeling about the risk in flooding a fearful Great Dane.  The Admin agreed that the CM Video Links would carry a huge warning about trying methods and techniques in the videos.  Below is the disclaimer.  comment deleted.

Disclaimer:
 
You might like to try different methods according with your preferences, personality and beliefs; please do not attempt these techniques yourself without consulting a professional

I have very strong feelings about flooding ANY fearful dog.  That's my personal position.

I am not aware of the agreement regarding the disclaimer, but I was out of the loop for a bit so don't necessary know everything that's going on.

That said, it is my position AS A MODERATOR, that the posted disclaimer is not unfair in any way and seems in fact to be something that CM himself would say, as he does in his TV show.  For now, it will stay.  As always, my decision is open to review from Admin, and of course I do listen to the opinions of other mods.

To prevent this thread from becoming disruptive and unhelpful, I would ask that we REMAIN ON TOPIC and try to help the OP in a postive manner without jabs regarding who is the better trainer or whatever.  Be aware that I will be watching to insure that this thread does stay on topic.