Misha is terrified of her little doggie jacket. I have a couple for when it's cold. She is a small dog and shivers any time the temps are below 60F.
Unfortunately, she is terrified of her doggie jacket. I've been trying to get her used to it for almost two years. Well, we have made some progress. She now accepts it when I put it on her (meaning, she doesn't attack me). But, she immediately walks crazy around the house. She rubs against furniture to try to shed it. She does fine on our walks, but the minute we are back in the house the routine starts again.
It surprises me. She had to wear a cone after an injury. She wore it for two weeks without a problem. I would think a jacket would be less traumatizing.
Anyway, I decided to see if I can get her past her fear. This week, I have decided to put it on her every day and leave it for a couple of hours. Normally, I take it off when we return from our walk. But, I want to see if she can adjust to it. It would be so much better for her so she could stay warm in the Winter.
We have done two days. She either walks around the house or she stands paralyzed as if the jacket has trapped her legs (it hasn't). I'm going to try to persevere. I'm not sure who will win in the end. LOL
Has anyone else gone through this? Were you able to get your dog to get over its fear of the doggie jacket?
I wonder if warming up the jacket before putting it on her would help and/or putting the jacket in her bed, so that she might be more familiar with it. You might have to watch that she doesn't chew it up. Or giving her a treat every time you put on her jacket.
My female dachshund loves to dress up - go figure. And my male dachshund doesn't fight his jacket. They are both short hair and need to wear jackets in the winter when I take them for walks. And they both love to go for walks.
Anyways, hope you can find a positive solution to this issue.
Molly, I might try the warming up tip. It's so weird because she has been wearing one on cold days when we take our walks for well over a year. She tolerates it long enough for the walk. But, then it drives her nuts otherwise.
I do give her a treat for putting it on. It's the only way she will do it calmly. Sometimes after she gives me a big hug as if to say "please don't leave me alone with the jacket."
My brother's Yorkie is the same way as your dachshund. He not only wears jackets, but hoodies and little pants sometimes. He even has pajamas.
You could try conditioning Misha to associate the jacket with something good like her favorite toy or playtime. Is she toy driven or food driven? Either way, if one isn't as effective, you could always go for the other.
Speaking of, have you tried entering Misha in a mini-agility courses?It seems that when she's doing something physical, her attention is focused to that activity. It makes getting accustomed to something foreign a lot easier.
Haopee, she is food driven. I don't think she'd do anything for a toy. I do give her a treat after she puts the jacket on. She seems to get through that part okay now. But, the minute I let her free, she goes crazy.
I've pulled back a little. The sessions were starting to traumatize her, so I've gone back to jackets for walks but not around the house. I think I need a new strategy. I thought after a week she would start to accept the jacket. It seems it's only made her more stressed out about them. In fact, a couple of days, she was hiding on my mom's lap when I called her to go for the walk. She was beginning to associate walking with jackets and trying to avoid both.
To answer your question, no, I've never did any mini-agility courses with Misha. That might be something to explore.
I wonder if she's associating the jacket with being outside on her walks and feels that it shouldn't be there when she's inside. If the jacket is an outdoor one it may feel uncomfortable when she tries to lay down or relax or it could even be the noise it makes that she doesn't like. I'm wondering whether it would be worth buying her a different one for indoors. There are some really great soft fabric dog coats which are made especially for indoors and these may feel a lot more comfortable for her.
However if she really hates her coat I would consider forgetting about it whilst you are in the house. If she gets cold you could leave her a few blankets so that she can burrow under them or even one of those triangular cat beds which she could get into.
The ideas given above about how to get a dog to like its jacket are good. Here's another one. Try putting the jacket into her bed. Maybe this way the jacket will lose its status as a foreign object. Actually this is only a random idea since I have never put any jackets on any of my dogs. The weather here is hot enough already without any extra clothes.
Thanks for the ideas. I will give them a try to see if anything works. She seems to be over the fear of putting on the jacket. That took two years. It's the whole "wearing" part that traumatizes her now. Right now, I'm putting it on for walks only so that she can feel comfortable with that again.
Louise, I'm not sure if that is the case. She was terrified of the jackets right from the start. One purple jacket really terrified her. She would look back at it and I got the feeling that she thought it was chasing her. I only tried that one for a week before I stuffed it in the back of the drawer. Now she has one that is thin brown corduroy with soft material lining, one quilted one, and then one that has soft fleece on the inside. Each is soft, though naturally, the fleece jacket is softer.
My brother's dog will wear a sweatsuit. I have to get the crazy, freaked out dog. LOL
