Fear/avoidance of harness

[tritonx]

Checking in with my years long source of excellent advice. Fraser is now an elderly dog of 13. He's still beautiful and in good shape and will gambol after a frisbee rolled along the ground. However, he's had a growing nervousness about having his harness put on. He loves his walks and is very excited to go out. He seems to have nervousness about things going over his head. I think he had some pain when a harness was being off and caught behind his ear. I changed the type of harness so it went round his body and could be unclipped without involving his head. He started to be upset about that harness, maybe the click of the clasp took him by surprise once and once something happens, it seems to sink in as something to avoid. So I changed to another harness that goes on like a collar but with straps that go from the collar ring under his legs. Once it clicked loudly and after that I had to reassure him while putting on the collar part and making sure it made no noise when I was pressing the clasp together. But today he completely freaked out and wouldn't let me put it on. Really upset.

So, I'm puzzling over how to deal with this. Is he going blind or deaf and feeling vulnerable? I think his eyesight is okay as he looks out the windows and will spot a cat. I've been wondering for a while if he's going deaf as he used to greet me at the door to the garage when he saw me drive in or heard the garage door. But suddenly he stopped doing that and when I went into the house, he'd be looking out the front window and not hearing me coming into the room and saying his name. His vet tried to test, but didn't get conclusive results. He's not collar trained, so didn't get his walk today as I couldn't get any of his harnesses on (I have different varieties). Has anyone else had a similar problem and found a solution?

[bizzylizzy]

That is a dilema! My dog doesn’t like having his harness put on either and is very uncooperative but we‘re not quite at your stage yet, it must be very frustrating. You seem to have already considered most of the things that come immediately to mind and the problem is once they‘ve associated it with something unpleasant, its a bit of a battle to turn it around again.
This might sound daft and a bit of a long shot but worth a mention anyway  - when we have the heating on and the air is particularly dry, we seem to get a lot of static, - I‘ve had a „shock“ when Humphrey‘s touched me and it has also happened when I‘ve been putting the harness on, which could perhaps have put him off it I suppose. Another thing is, he seems to better if I approach him with the harness from the side or behind, I think they dislike it when we loom over them head on - particularly if eyesight is failing, that might make them nervous, Humphrey‘s better if I‘m at his level.
The only other thing I can suggest is working with treats, hold the treat so he has to put his head through the harness to get it and then bribe him some more until you‘ve got it completely on, this would probably only work for aleviating a bad association though but not if the cause lies elsewhere.
Don‘t know if that helps, you‘ve obviously given it a lot of thought already but I can’t think of anything else....Hope you can sort it, best of luck!

[tritonx]

Thanks for your response, bizzylizzy. After so many years with Fraser, I've built up quite an array of harnesses, so did a rummage and found the kind they step into. (Sporn brand, not sure it they have it in the UK).  I'd stopped using it as it was too loose, but last night I fiddled with the adjustment straps to keep them from slipping, so will try it out today. He stepped into it okay last night, so hope tightening will stay in place for today's walk. There's still the potential click issue, but will continue trying to reassure while I'm pressing the clasp quietly. 

[tritonx]

Well, completely stumped. Took him to the vet yesterday and was able to get him into his step in harness though he was a little resistant. This morning he absolutely would not let me put it on him. I got him up on the sofa beside me so I wasn't looming, got him to step into the harness, but as soon as I tried to clip it over his back, he wriggled free and ran away. Got some high value treats and lured him back up on sofa and he gladly accepted treat. Then when I tried to put the harness on, he jumped off the sofa. Also was doing a high pitched bark which is not his usual style. So doggie did not get a walk again today. The vet does think he's losing hearing. Strange that this should come on relatively suddenly after years of harness wearing. Most of the advice online has to do with first introduction of harness to a dog, so haven't yet come across anything that addresses more or less sudden onset of harness resistance.

p.s. Just tried again. Asked him if he wanted to go walkies. Yes he did. Got him up on the sofa, but when I showed him the harness, he jumped off. Got one of his old step in harnesses and tried again, but as soon as I put the harness near him, he backed off and refused. Is this dog ever going to have an outside walk again. Luckily I've got a back garden, but it's not the same as his usual tour round the neighbourhood smelling the messages other dogs have left him.

[bizzylizzy]

How strange !!! Could it be that he just doesn’t want to go out? - ( weather‘s foul here at the moment, Humphrey‘s very reluctant). Sorry, haven’t any other suggestions, maybe someone else might have some thoughts....

[tritonx]

Fraser is more or less an all weather dog. Always wants to go out. In fact, after refusing the harness, he still wanted to go out the door with me and was vocal about being left behind.  To make things even more mysterious, I took him out in the car yesterday when I went to the pharmacy. I have a harness in the car, over the head kind and he let me put it on no problem. Different context and it was okay. I was over in the Elder dog forum and I wonder if he's experiencing old age mental changes. Feeling more insecure and behaviour more erratic. He's sleeping at my feet beside my desk and looking so peaceful and beautiful still. Today's attempt to take him for a walk is ahead of us, so I'll see how it goes, but I do have the impression the aversion behaviour is becoming entrenched.

[JohnMcL]

Hi,
Is it worth trying him on a slip lead around the house or straight outdoors? Just thinking it’s quick to put on with no noise?
John

[tritonx]

That’s the conclusion I came to. He refused the harness again today though he wanted to go out. Decided to try just clipping on his collar though he pulls and chokes himself. He did that a bit, but I was able to slow him down by talking to him. Once he’d had a bit of sniffing around and had pooped, I called him in to heel, or the variation of heel as much as I’ve been able to get him to do over the years. But I’ve started to work on getting a better heel with treat rewards as I don’t know at this point whether I’ll ever be able to get him into a harness again and I don’t want him pulling. I’ve always had him on a retractable lead as I regarded his walks as his doggie world time to sniff smells and follow his own interests in a generally forward direction and only used heel when I wanted more control around people and other dogs. I live in a country suburb with broad streets and not many people, so having him wander a bit is not a problem. I guess I’m now trying to teach an old dog new tricks. He’s food obsessed so I hope I’ll get the pulling under control. As of today’s walk, I had a dog walking beside me the whole time staring intently at my hand holding the treat, waiting for the reward moment. More of a glued to me rather than a nice heel trot beside me.   

[bizzylizzy]

Hi,
Is it worth trying him on a slip lead around the house or straight outdoors? Just thinking it’s quick to put on with no noise?
John

I was thinking that too - could be just association with a particular situation that spooked him, changing the place you put the harness on might just help.
I‘ve given up ever trying to get inside the head of my cocker though!   

[tritonx]

Hi,
Is it worth trying him on a slip lead around the house or straight outdoors? Just thinking it’s quick to put on with no noise?
John

I was thinking that too - could be just association with a particular situation that spooked him, changing the place you put the harness on might just help.
I‘ve given up ever trying to get inside the head of my cocker though!   

They're delicate little animals psychologically considering how sturdy they are physically. I always think of Fraser as a combo of Jack the Lad and a fainting violet.

p.s. Ah. Been looking at how to use a slip lead. Different thing altogether than having Fraser with lead clipped on collar which will end in choking when he stops paying attention to me as his previous 12 years of walks have encouraged with the retractable lead. Not just old dog, new tricks. It's old lady, new learning.