Acting weird around decorations....

 Bugsy aka Mr Nosy Butt notices every change on his walk, he hasn't had any issues with Halloween but when we had a rare (really really rare) snow and some kids made a snowman he was crazy for it.  He was stalking it and clearly concerned for our welfare so I let him sniff it and check it out and then he could care less.

Soooooooo may be  Apollo just needs to get up close to it and take it in with his nose.  Keep stroking him under his chin as you approach it, others say to lift the tail and stroke it underneath both can help increase confidence.  Show him that you are AOK with it too.

Go on Apollo you can do it!!

Since it's temporary I wouldn't sweat it.Offer something yummy when passing.On the other hand,maybe Apollo watched Jeepers Creepers and knows something you don't

Tena

DE-BUNK it.  When next go go on your walk talk all excitedly about "Let's go see the Smith's new scarecrow!!!  Is he still THERE?  Let's go see -- it'll be FUN!"

 Take treats you know are irresistible.  FROM **YOUR** hand.

You see it and say with a big huge smile "WOW -- LOOKIT!! It's still there -- how KEWEL!!!"

Don't rush him, but keep your attitude light.  You get there and say "Here -- what a good quiet boy!" and then step closer and say "Wow -- he doesn't move -- but his jacket flaps HERE (shove food in mouth)" but just walk slowly and get closer and encourage him to sniff and evaluate.  YOU touch it and let him sniff and see what flaps, does it make noise, wassup????

You set the tone -- "Wow -- he looks scarey but he's not!" Offer a treat to the scarecrow -- nope, not gonna take it -- YOU have it!

Approach it happily but cautiously -- do this with anything 'new' and weird on walks. 

It's a super good thing to seek out the weird and unusual -- Mrs. Schmuckatella hung out laundry and it's flapping and making noise?  ASK HER if you can get just a bit closer so he can check it out. 

But if you approach things and honestly appear interested yourself, the dog will trust your lead and you can de-bunk new things and build confidence in him at the same time.

 David and I both love little animated toys -- and when a dog first comes to us they are always greeted with more than a little fear.  But by de-bunking them and showing the dog what they do they become no problem.

 I have a little dog on a rocking 'sled' -- and he plays "Jingle Bells".  Long ago when we were going to get Tink and hadn't decided on a name yet I was talking about here on here.  Then when we decided on the name "Tinkerbell" I commented that each of my dogs has their own "song" so I was gonna have to get Disney-fied and FIND a song for her.

Janet.Michel came up with singing "Tinkerbell" to "Jingle Bells".  WHAT SHE STARTED!!!

Tinker-bell, Tinker-bell, Tinker ALL the Way!!!

Oh What fun it is to have PUGGY KISSES all tha DAyyyyyyy

Tinker-bell, Tinker-bell, Tinker ALL the Way!!!

Oh What fun it is to have PUGGY ...KISS-ESSSS all tha DA-a-a-a-a-a-a-ayyyyyyy" (big finish of course)

And of course I sing to the little rocking sled dog. 

TINK THINKS THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOO KEWEL.  See, everbuddy's got their own song -- but SHE has a TOY that knows HER SONG.  It's too funny for words.

And yeah -- this was a dog who was terrified to walk past the cockatiel when she came home with us. 

Our trainer will, during puppy classes, often bring out weird stuff as distractions.  An open umbrella rolling on the ground, various weird toys, a cow in a homespun dress that covers her vacuum cleaner -- ANYTHING that flaps, flutters, makes noise or looks imposing. 

But learning HOW to lead them on an investigation of a new thing opens all sorts of new doors for training.

We have several neighbors who have those inflateable type Halloween decorations, some of them sway and have stuff moving around inside.  Rex was pretty worried the first time he saw one.  I walked him up to it and he sniffed around and now when we walk past he glances and we move on.  It helped that the other two dogs didn't react one way or another.  It's a good opportunity for Apollo to learn not to fear strange things although maybe he is the smarter one for being afraid of it!! LOL 

Oh... I thought about the Jeepers Creepers movie too!! I mean, I don't like scarecrows after that  

But I think this is a great oportunity for you to teach Apollo that somethings aren't as bad as they look. Callie's comments are, as usual, helpful even for the ones with no problems! Now I want to walk around with Thor to see everybody's decorations!

Let us know how itworks for Apollo.

I don't know. People say dogs can sense ghosts and evil....

mudpuppy

People say dogs can sense ghosts and evil....

LOL...true, very true.

My dogs seem to be leary of new things they see from time to time...its normal.  If possible, I'll just walk up to whatever they are reacting to...touch it, look at the dog and tell him/her its no big deal).  Then I invite them to go touch it too...that seems to do the trick.

Thank you for the great advice! I will defiantly bring some high value treats and bring him over to investigate it on our next walk.

It's so weird because he's never been scared of anything like this before. Those huge inflatable decorations- even the ones that move- don't bother him. The other decorations, like skeltons hanging from their front porch that sway in the wind, don't bother him. This scarecrow, about 7-8 ft tall and doesn't move, really gets him! What a baby...

We moved to our house a couple of years ago around Halloween and Sally saw her first huge inflatable yard decorations.  She was terrified of them.  Eventually what finally worked was me taking her on the leash and walking up to, talking about, and touching the inflatable things.  I would approach it and go on and on about what a nice inflatable Frankenstein it was and would touch it--not looking at Sally at all.  Finally she go curious and slowly edged up and sniffed it, saw it was not going to eat her, and was cool with it... 

I taught Beau a "Check it out!" command.  If he is ever a little unsure about something new or strange, I lead him up to it and point or tap it with my fingers and tell him to "check it out!"  He knows when I say this that it is OK and won't hurt him, and he will go up to it and sniff.  If I have treats on me, I'll give him one for being so brave ;), but if not I just act excited and tell him GOOD boy!  He's always fine around the object/thing afterward.

BlackLabbie

Thank you for the great advice! I will defiantly bring some high value treats and bring him over to investigate it on our next walk.

It's so weird because he's never been scared of anything like this before. Those huge inflatable decorations- even the ones that move- don't bother him. The other decorations, like skeltons hanging from their front porch that sway in the wind, don't bother him. This scarecrow, about 7-8 ft tall and doesn't move, really gets him! What a baby...

Is it a purchased scarecrow or is it one they made?  If it's home made with human scents on the clothing that would be what's got him freaked -- looked human, smelled human, but not alive.

calliecritturs

Is it a purchased scarecrow or is it one they made?  If it's home made with human scents on the clothing that would be what's got him freaked -- looked human, smelled human, but not alive.

It's homemade. I never thought of that- looks and smells human, but not alive! That could defiantly be whats throwing him off!

Ack! I don't blame him for being scared!  I wouldn't go near it either!!  I HATE HATE homemade scarecrows!!  There is one on a road just out of town, that BF will sometimes drive by sloooowly just to freak me out!  It wears a hockey jersey, and helmet, and has a dolls head in the helmet!  GAH!

 About Apollo, Maddie is very very fearful of things, so i try to make it a game for her, the things she is scared of, and it seems to work for her.  For instance, she is scared of the hairdryer, so I will point it back and forth at her, and bounce around, and then she starts bouncing around too, and realizes it's okay.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying bounce around with the scarecrow, that would just look....odd? lol but you can very light heartedly go up and pretend like it's a game?

Teddi got all afraid of a stuffed monster in a chair in front of someone's house. She started barking and tried to run away. So I trained her in their yard. We got close and if she started to back away I asked a command of her. Eventually she got up to it, sniffed and walked away.  She can be sensitive to this too. 

On Halloween evening either DH or I will take her for a walk while the trick or treaters are out. I want her out with the people and the costumes. We also have a neighbor a couple blocks away who goes hog nuts. He dresses up, his neighbors dress up, they do not try to scare the children, they acutally talk to the children and make them realize this is all for fun. Any way, I plan to take Teddi down there, seeing Frankenstein walking around after dark, might just make her a bit scared. I will have plenty of treats and encouragement. 

This is Teddi's first real Halloween with us. We got her in December in 2006, and last year she was post op so we drugged her and left her in her crate. This year I think would be fun. I can't decide if I should put Max's princess costume on her. Teddi is DEFINITELY not a princess, but I don't have time or money to find her a devil costume.