Dog will not walk on floor boards - 2008-08-31

Question

I have just recently moved house last week, and my 5 year old dog (japanese spitz) will NOT walk on the floor boards. The only area of the house that has carpet is the bedrooms, she will spend all day in those rooms to avoid walking on the boards. I have tried to train her, by putting her on the lead and walking her through the house to show her its ok, also tried food rewards.Nothing is working. Any soloutions or training tips??

Answer

Floor boards are to a dog what an ice scating ring is to us. They do not have grip on the floor boards and that makes them very uneasy. This will take time and I would build her confidence by playing with her on a small area outside the bedroom area for starters and move her more and more into the relevant area. Another suggestion would be to move her bed into the new area, and make it easy to get on for her and as she settles move the bed so she gest used to the rest of the area.