Weird dog behavior re hardwood floors

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

This is a pretty recent phenomenon. We’ve had this little dog (Snert, most likely a Yorkie/Pom mix) for about 6 years and this was never a problem before, but recently, he’s had a reluctance, at times (but not always), to walk over the hardwood floors. If he’s already ON the hardwood floor, no problem, but if he’s on one of the rugs, he’ll go to the edge of the rug, stick a front paw on the wood, retreat and then run back and forth along the edge of the rug, reminiscent of a horse reluctant to go through a puddle.

This dog follows me everywhere, and he seems to think it’s especially important that he accompany me whenever I go into the bathroom. There are two area rugs in our bedroom, but there’s a big patch of wood floor just in front of the bathroom door. This morning he was jumping from the corner of one rug to the other and looked just a little frantic at not being able to follow me into the bathroom. I mention this only to illustrate that he was pretty highly motivated but just would not step onto the wood.

Another very strange incident was just this past week when I was back in the spare room and he wouldn’t come onto the wood floor of the back hallway from the wood floor of the front room hallway. Yes, they are slightly different colors. Weird!

And yet he routinely plays fetch and runs off the living room rug onto the wood floor of the dining room to chase his toys.

Occasionally, I have heard him really scramble as he goes from rug to wood … think about a cartoon character trying to run on ice, feet moving wildly but not going anywhere.

Now that I’ve written all this out, I’m thinking that maybe he slips occasionally, but it frightens him enough so that when he remembers that the floor may be slippery, he won’t go on it, but that most of the time he goes on and off the wood without thinking about it.

Dog psychologists, weigh in!

[Simkie]

How long are his toenails? If they’re not kept short with regular trims, I would start there. Long toenails = a lot more scrambling on the hardwood, IME, and there may also be a weird sensory issue if they’re long and hitting the wood. If you can hear him click when he walks on the wood, they’re too long.

[Romany]

Did you use something different to clean the floors recently? Maybe they’re getting slipperyer over time?

[Preposterous_Ponies]

It could be that his feet are hurting him. The rugs are soft and cushy, the hardwood not so much. I would do his nails and give his paws a thorough examination. It could also be some arthritis or something, that makes the hard surface more uncomfortable. He might be okay with the floors when playing fetch (too excited to notice the pain) but when he is relaxed he has time to think about the pain.

Maybe get him some sneakers?

[RobinL]

My Corgi goes through bouts of this. She will slip/scramble and then be leery of going back on the floor in certain places. We actually just bought a rug for our empty living room so she has a go-between from the family room to the bedroom, although the hall isn’t carpeted either. I think it comes with age as our 2-3 year old happily careens around on the wood…

[twotrudoc]

Buck is like a tough little shameless mustang and will whip around, slide, and outright bite it and get up nothin’ doin’. Dulce is a complete princess and will “decide” she is stuck on the rugs occasionally. I usually let her work it out on her own, which she does. Eventually. With much sad eyed drama.

However, if there is 30’ of wood floor between her and a piece of cheddar there are no longer issues with the wood floor.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

Ha ha … these stories make me feel better.

I did think about his nails. Yes, they click. I’m embarrassed to admit I have not been able to cut this dog’s nails myself. His feet are so tiny, and he wiggles so much. I take him to my vet for a trim, and they never cut them as short as I used to keep all my other dogs’ nails. I have one of those grinders, though, and I can usually manage to get a teeny bit done at a time, so I’ll have to get busy with that, and see if it makes a difference.

I have also wondered about arthritis or some other type of pain issue as occasionally he is out romping around on the grass and for no apparent reason, yips and runs like he’s stepped on something sharp. And a few weeks ago he slipped on the kitchen tile and yipped a little.

Ha ha … off to google doggie sneakers!

[candysgirl]

If the toenails are touching the ground, it can start to distort the toes and cause pain when they get long enough. The quicks (vein in the nail) will grow out to the length of the nail and you can’t get them as short over time. You can remedy this one of two ways. Next time the dog is knocked out for something, a dental or whatever, have them cut the nails really short. The other way is to Dremel them and expose the quick without cutting into it. Every time you expose it like that, the exposed part dries up and recedes a little. Over a period of months you can get the nails back to the length they should be.

PetSmart does walkin nail trims. It’s $9 in my area if you just want them clipped. Clipped and filed its $20. If you go every couple weeks and they can just file them it’s $12. All you need to take is current rabies paperwork.

I would bet it’s a combination of things at work here. I would guess it’s probably partially the long toenails. It also can be age. It hurts more when they’re older to slip and slide around.

[candysgirl]

Also, they make little non slip pads you basically glue to the bottoms of their feet. I have clients (I’m a groomer) that have used them and said they worked well.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=candysgirl;7885342]
If the toenails are touching the ground, it can start to distort the toes and cause pain when they get long enough. The quicks (vein in the nail) will grow out to the length of the nail and you can’t get them as short over time. You can remedy this one of two ways. Next time the dog is knocked out for something, a dental or whatever, have them cut the nails really short. The other way is to Dremel them and expose the quick without cutting into it. Every time you expose it like that, the exposed part dries up and recedes a little. Over a period of months you can get the nails back to the length they should be.

PetSmart does walkin nail trims. It’s $9 in my area if you just want them clipped. Clipped and filed its $20. If you go every couple weeks and they can just file them it’s $12. All you need to take is current rabies paperwork.

I would bet it’s a combination of things at work here. I would guess it’s probably partially the long toenails. It also can be age. It hurts more when they’re older to slip and slide around.[/QUOTE]

Yes, this exactly.

Long toenails can cause distortion of the feet, pain and lack of balance. Also, if the dog has long hair on its feet, it can make it even more likely to slip. I have this issue with my almost 14 year old that isn’t as strong as he used to be - even a little extra hair between his pads can make it more likely to slip.

I would not buy boots as a “fix” until you address the grooming of the nails and feet. It’s possible you may still want to consider boots after that, but long nails are painful even on carpet, they are just not as slippery. Definitely invest in a dremel, and maybe even a small folding grooming table with a noose so you can get better at doing it yourself.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

I was just kidding about the sneakers. Can’t imagine my dog would tolerate them anyway.

I used to show dogs and always kept nails very, very short, but my dogs were trained to it from an early age. This one I got as an adult, and I have not been able to train him to hold still for the nail clipping. I can use the nail grinder because I can do it even if he’s wiggling without fear of chopping off too much.

Having said all that, his toenails are not really that long. The two middle front ones do touch the floor when he walks but they’re not nearly long enough to distort his foot.

He does have furry feet, though.

[S1969]

@Miss Anne Thrope;7886282

I was just kidding about the sneakers. Can’t imagine my dog would tolerate them anyway.

In the right circumstances there is nothing wrong with this idea - like I mentioned, my old guy is just not as stable as he used to be, so booties or stick on pads on his hind feet is probably something we will consider eventually. But, he’s almost 14…so there is a difference. And, as he has gotten older, he has gotten weirdly anxious about his nails being trimmed. I do them anyway, but I have to use a table with a noose to do it alone. My younger guy will stand on the table willingly and get trimmed, but not the old man.

I think your dog probably slipped, and it’s making him anxious about future issues. One other possibility - although he’s young, is a vision issue. Just keep an eye on that in case it seems like stepping from one type of surface to the other looks weird to him (especially if you don’t see nails or hair being the cause).

[Bicoastal]

This is really common in elderly pets who are less physically able to stand on slick surfaces. The more they scramble, the more they slip which reinforces “this is dangerous must scramble.”

I was thinking maybe vision then I got to your sentence describing the hesitation between two different shades of flooring. Vision! Maybe his eyesight has diminished.

I believe there are now boots or socks specifically designed to provide traction on slick surfaces. I think the traction spots are on the bottom, toe, and top of the foot. Most folks find it easiest to add a bunch of throw rugs along the dog’s routes.

[wendy]

It’s probably not the nails. He’s probably afraid of slipping and falling down because of a physical issue. Just throw down more rugs.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

I think you guys are probably right that there’s anxiety created by hurting something somewhere when he’s slipped previously.

He’s 8 or 9 this year (not sure because he was adopted as a young adult, nothing more specific about age), and he’s little and energetic so I don’t think of him as being elderly.

But he did recently have an incident where he was out playing with a toy, threw it up in the air, yelped, and then seemed to be very body sore for several days. He was given a course of prednisone and seemed to completely recover, but I think it illustrates that he’s really not such a spring chicken anymore.

More rugs … yep, I think that’s what we need to do.

[S1969]

Yoga mats are cheap and washable, and really non-slip. A good friend highly recommends for older pets.

[Miss_Anne_Thrope]

[QUOTE=S1969;7887778]
Yoga mats are cheap and washable, and really non-slip. A good friend highly recommends for older pets.[/QUOTE]

Brilliant! I’ve got a yoga mat that I’ve put on the floor when one of the bedroom rugs was being washed. And down in my basement, I’ve got some of those interlocking foam-like tiles that I think are meant for kids to play on. I use them for yoga (well, I used to use them for yoga), and I think they would be perfect, too!