Need some ideas for curing an aggravating behavior
by
You guys know Rex pretty well, so you know he was unsocialized during a fear period and so has some strong reactions to some things. He's been petrified of thunder ever since my genius neighbor shot arial bombs the 4th of July (Rex was 10 mo.)from the boulevard in front of my house, of such magnitude that I thought my picture window would shatter. I always make sure he is in when there is a thunderstorm, no matter how slight. I ran errands Sun. (sunny day) and a freak storm blew up and the guys were outdoors. I of course, wasn't home yet. It was a big one - horrible thunder, pouring rain. Got home as fast as I could, but too late. He now will NOT go outside without my having to stand outside the back door, grab a handful of ruff/loose skin/collar on each side and physically force him out the door. It is about 6-8' to the gate too, so I have to almost drag him there. He'll back out of his collar unless I have my handsfull of hair, skin and collar. Doesn't matter how bad he has too pee, he'll cross his legs forever if necessary! This is wearing on my nerves, and I feel like a big meanie for dragging him out. Any ideas?
