Tales from the Crate - Shiny Floors are Scary! by Karilyn Bentley #crazydog #dogproblems

The KrakenThe Kraken wants you to know that shiny floors are scary.

Scary shiny floors

Yep, you probably were unaware of that fact, weren't you? We were unaware until we moved in May of this year exactly how neurotic our baby girl (aka The Kraken) really was. Sure, we realized she was obsessed over ball-ball, frisbee and any other toy that can be thrown, retrieving it and demanding it be thrown again and again, until our arms fell off. We knew she refused to do the Teeter in Agility class (holy cow, it moves! What is the world coming to??), but we never realized the extent of her problems until we moved. Our new house has shiny laminate floors. Shiny laminate floors are scarier than the Teeter. Which is a bit of a problem seeing how The Kraken has to overcome her fear every day and walk on the flooring.

It's not going so well.

So, The Hubster and me did what any self-respecting owner of a neurotic dog would do, we Googled how to solve the problem. The top two videos were of The Dog Whisperer and a YouTube video of a trainer in a house with a shiny-floor-terrified dog. Who knew shiny floors were such an issue in the canine world? At any rate, we watched these videos, decided it was pretty easy and set about training The Kraken.

What happens in the videos: The trainer puts the dog on a leash, starts walking the dog on flooring it likes (carpet or outside), takes a running/fast walking start, leads the dog to the shiny floor and poof! the dog walks on the floor after a couple of tries. Looks easy.

Here's what happened: We put The Kraken on a leash in the carpeted bedroom where she frolics and plays like normal. We lead her to the bedroom door where the laminate starts. We step onto the floor only to almost fall on our faces since she has stopped in the middle of the bedroom, nails poked through the carpet, securing herself to the floor. She is not moving even if a hurricane blew through the room. She gives us a look like we are addled if we think she's taking one step out that door. Ignoring that look (along with the one that tells us of an extremely hot place we can visit), we pick ourselves up off the floor, circle around and try again. This time she's on to us and as soon as we aim for the bedroom door she has once again attached herself to the carpet. After a few more tries of this, we decide she can just be afraid of the floors.

End result: She still sits at the bedroom door and whines, as if that will help the floors change into carpet. BUT, she no longer requires us to walk beside her. She can now creep along the wall to safer flooring materials. Sometimes she will come in the kitchen and sometimes she suddenly becomes afraid of it (can't figure this one out). She had a setback when we got the puppy, but just this week seems to be doing better, but still won't go into the kitchen. It seems that time is wearing down her neurosis. Sort of. Will she ever learn the dog door (which is located in the pantry off the kitchen)? Good question. Check back later.

In the meantime, Demon Kissed, the second book in my Demon Huntress urban fantasy series is reduced price at Amazon. If you haven't had a chance to read it, check it out! And check out Demon Lore, the first book in the series, too! The third is coming out next year!

Until then, Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!!
Karilyn
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