Samoyed with fear of the salt water beach - 2009-02-24

Question

We live on the beach and we always walk our 3 yr old Samoyed twice a day. Three weeks ago she smelt, heard, or felt something that scared her and since then she will only visit the open beach under duress. I must point out the river beach is no problem so it is not the water or the sand. The only thing is at that time there were a lot of bluebottles present. We Have tried treats to entice her, acting normally whilst walking her on the lead , offering encouragement or trying to get her to play with her mates, no success. Her tail stays down, she tries to escape to the dunes, this is dangerous as the main road is just behind. We don't want to give up our beachside lifestyle, what do we do?

Answer

You are right she has obviously been really scared or hurt by something and her walking close to the waterline may well be the bluebottles..... I would check her over to make sure that she is OK. Suggest that you try a long leash or a rope (5m+), give her some freedom and walk ahead and do a very positive recall, and see if you get her going. Big rewards if that works. Another option is take her in the car and drive to another beach area that does not have the ‘stigma’ and see what can be achieved there and eventually when she is happy there bring her back to her usual area. Regretfully it only takes one bad experience for a dog to have a mindset about something.