# Puppy Afraid of Drainage Grate



## tleroy (Jan 22, 2019)

When Blitz was about 9 weeks old we took a walk at night along the street. I did not notice as my kids were distracting me and leaves were covering it but he walked toward a drainage grate and his paw fell through. I beleive this traumatized him. Fast forward to today, he is 5 months old and he can go on walks in the woods no problem. Anytime we take a walk on the street if he sees a drainage grate he plants himself and refuses to go forward. I can sometimes cross the street and walk around the grate or sometimes I carry him past it but he is getting heavy so I can't continue doing this for very long. Any advice on getting him over his fear? I would like to be able to walk him down the street as well as in the woods.


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## GSDchoice (Jul 26, 2016)

My grown rescue dog was afraid of those! You would be proud of him now, he stands right at the edge and sniffs down inside them.

What I did? Nothing. The art to doing “nothing”...you act casual, kind of bored. Leash is loose and you let him make a wide circuit or cross the street if he wants. If he happened to walk up close, I would say,”wow! brave!” in a pleased tone. He kind of cured himself, at his own pace...it was gradual, but more and more I noticed that he would go right up to the edge and stick his nose down and have a sniff when we went by.

If I wanted to hurry the process along, I might try this: he is planted near grate refusing to walk. I take a tasty treat out of my pocket, show him and call to him, give gentle tug on leash, and wait. After a few minutes I bet he would gather his courage and walk by the grate to get to his owner and his treat! After several repeats ( maybe few days or a week?) I bet he will be willing to pass grates...although they may never be his favorite thing...


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

My male hates them. Anything metal in the streets. So weird. No idea why or what they feel when they go over them but it seems fairly common.

Will your puppy play tug? Play tug all the way across them. Lure him with food over them. Reward for even the smallest movement towards it. Make a game of them and work him over different surfaces.


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Our chihuahua does not like the drains in the street they are real smart. He used to plant his butt and not want to move. I just walk and we keep our distance from the drains he knows i won’t make him walk so close to them and he keeps moving. Then I slowly was able to walk him closer to where he is comfortable .


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## tleroy (Jan 22, 2019)

Thanks everone for the advice. It's good to know that Blitz is not the only dog with this fear. I will try bringing some treats on our next walk and see if I can get him to walk past while praising him.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

this can be tricky. You'll have to play around to find the best balance of encouraging exploration and making rules, like no, you cannot run into the street to avoid it. I found obedience works well. If the dog is paying attention to you or a toy or a treat they can't think about being afraid. Praise any acts of bravery, especially if you walk sorta-kinda calmly by. Sometimes some autonomy will work..loose leash and just stand around near it...but if you dog is acting frightened, try that another day. It can take a good 30 minutes for a dog to relax from something that spooks them (or so I have read).


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Whistle-past-the-graveyard........




SuperG


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

I had one quite bold dog who would not walk over these street grates of any kind. Near them, fine - cross them? nope. 



Thinking on it a bit, I wonder if part of the concern for the dogs is the "noise"? Maybe nothing we can hear but they can.


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

To me it is an indicator of an environmental stressor and a dog's nerve strength. Nerves are not black and white. A dog can be confident in many areas and then you find a ***** in their armor.


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## tleroy (Jan 22, 2019)

Chip Blasiole said:


> To me it is an indicator of an environmental stressor and a dog's nerve strength. Nerves are not black and white. A dog can be confident in many areas and then you find a ***** in their armor.


So Chip I see what you are saying. Even thogh he may be brave in other situations like loud noises and aggresion from other dogs, the drainage grate may be his "achilles heel". Would a dog with stronger nerves more easily overcome a bad memory as a puppy?


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

IMO, a pup with strong nerves would not have been bothered much by his paw going through a grate.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

I wouldn't forget that you may have influenced this, maybe even more so then his nerves, by the way you reacted and now how you've handled it. As a side note, I remember doing those ATTS temperament tests. The one piece that failed the most dogs was walking over the strange surface, usually an xpen laying down covered with plastic sheeting or a tarp. The most common advice was always was just GO and pretend it isn't there.


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## tleroy (Jan 22, 2019)

Steve Strom said:


> I wouldn't forget that you may have influenced this, maybe even more so then his nerves, by the way you reacted and now how you've handled it. As a side note, I remember doing those ATTS temperament tests. The one piece that failed the most dogs was walking over the strange surface, usually an xpen laying down covered with plastic sheeting or a tarp. The most common advice was always was just GO and pretend it isn't there.


Serious question, so if my dog plants himself do you recomend just dragging him past the grate rather that enticing with a treat? I just want to know the best way to get him over this fear. Your advice is appreciated.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

In the course of work Sabi, and all the other patrol dogs, needed to walk on, into and through some odd things. We never trained for this, we did not fuss about it, we just did it. 

One of the sites I was required to check nightly involved a ladder like stair case and a long, metal grate catwalk. There was no chance that the dogs would encounter this in daily life and yet we had no issues. And it's a good thing, a two foot width and a twenty foot drop could have been ugly.

Even Shadow, who most would agree is a mess, has no issues with things like drainage grates. She avoids them, but to me that's common sense. She does not like flashing barricades, lawn signs or glass fronts. Plastic bags blowing around are pure evil. We recently explored an old boardwalk through a marsh and she did fine even with gaps and tilting. 
I think owners inadvertently build fear by worrying. We panic about puppies legs going through the grate and they subsequently associate grates with panic.


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## Mareesey (Aug 25, 2016)

My last GSD wouldn't walk on them she would spring over them when we would try to make her test them out. We eventually got her to where she would walk across them and she liked to sniff down into them. My current dog will walk on anything.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

My guy crosses over them no problem but If the grate size is large I guide him around it. Years ago while walking I saw a another walking his beautiful husky. The husky walked across one and his rear foot slipped in. Every time the dog pulled to get his foot out, his hock got caught on the metal yelping bloody murder. It makes me cringe when I think of it.

Go slowly and I'm sure with your patience he can get over it. I think the trick is letting him know that it is safe to pass it. You may be able to practice in your own yard with similar material as the grates such as metal gates that you can lay flat, or a metal mesh fencing. I'm not sure if he will make a connection but may be worth a try.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

I wouldn't drag him. He's too focused on it right now. I'd stay away from it for a little while, then walk him in the area for a little while, play with him in that general area like Jax mentioned. I'd keep him off it and see how his over all attitude is when he's close enough to be aware of it, but not worried about walking on it. Give him some time, and then see if its not a big deal to him anymore.


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

I would look around and see if you could find a large grate that is not in a traffic area. That way, you could sit on the edge of the grate and use food to condition your dog to the grate and gradually move in closer to the center. The dog needs to be hungry and use high value food. You could also start by seeing if your dog will walk up metal stairs.


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## tleroy (Jan 22, 2019)

OK, so we have a bridge that goes over a creek that has 1/4" gaps between the boards. He sometimes hesitates there as well. I think it might be that he can see through to the moving water similar to looking down the grate. He has less fear at the bridge as I just have to pop his collar and he will hesitantly cross over. He has no issues with bridges that have no gap. I think the grates have larger gaps so thats why it is harder to get him to overcome that fear.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

tleroy said:


> So Chip I see what you are saying. Even thogh he may be brave in other situations like loud noises and aggresion from other dogs, the drainage grate may be his "achilles heel". Would a dog with stronger nerves more easily overcome a bad memory as a puppy?


maybe, My gal dog amazed me at the number of things that did not bother her. Environment was not an issue. Then the blue paint saga started. Before that fateful day, when I think her nose might have gotten zapped, she actually searched out ground marking paint to roll on. She found it interesting and a game. Then one day she had a bad experience and she blamed the blue paint she happened to be sniffing. After that any blue ground marking paint spooked her. I've done a number of different things to help her past this and she has improved a great deal. I don't think any one of the techniques alone did the trick. I think each thing I did played a part and she just had to be convinced in her own mind that blue paint won't hurt her ever again. She still may never trust it but at least she isn't spooked by it.


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

Keep in mind that dogs' sense of smell and hearing are far superior to their sense of sight so these environmental stressors are probably less related to sight regarding the grate and the blue paint. It is not clear that all dogs can even distinguish different colors.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

Chip Blasiole said:


> Keep in mind that dogs' sense of smell and hearing are far superior to their sense of sight so these environmental stressors are probably less related to sight regarding the grate and the blue paint. It is not clear that all dogs can even distinguish different colors.


Blue is a color, like yellow, that dogs seem to be able to distinguish. I have seen my gal smell the blue paint before either of us saw it, when it had been put down within a day or two. It is an amazing thing since she doesn't get concerned about orange, green or red.


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## GSDchoice (Jul 26, 2016)

I have to admit that I chuckled at my dog’s fear the other day...

My husband came home from work, and dog greeted him happily when he came into kitchen from garage. Husband put down his stuff, went to pet Rumo and they happened to be standing near the kitchen trash can. Even I heard the “snap!”...big static electricity charge. Both husband and dog jumped, and my husband commented on it.

Later we noticed that Rumo was standing “stuck” on the mat by the sink and we could not figure out why. We realized that he would not walk past the kitchen trashcan! When I called him, he turned the other way and walked a whole loop around the house to get to me, rather than pass that trashcan. I realize that he associated that place with the static electric shock and I could not help chuckling. He also would move his head away if my husband went to pet him, poor guy...

He is back to normal now, but it took about 3 days!!! 

It was a big insight into how dogs think...the shock was strongly associated with the PLACE. I didn’t even notice where it happened, until I saw that he would not pass the trashcan.


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