Our three year old yellow lab, out of nowhere, suddenly became afraid to cross the catwalk (no cat jokes, way too easy) to our bedroom where she likes to sleep. You can’t get her to cross the transition from carpet to hardwood at the threshold of the door, and while, if you drag her across she doesn’t whine or seem too upset, it is obvious she would rather not. Even food won’t get her to leave the room by herself. Any idea why this might have suddenly happened and more importantly, what is the best way to retrain her out of her fear.
She probably had an incident on something similar, or is not feeling well. Is there anything similar she could have fallen from or something while you were not home? A traumatic incident could cause a fear like this.
Another possibility is that she is not feeling well - has she acted normal except for this? When our dog got sick she would not do things she normally would. She would not always come when we would call her, she didn’t want to go outside,etc. If a dog is not feeling good, it will affect their attitude.
If it is indeed fear, just try to gradually get your dog to do it again. start with a step or two, then graduate to walking the whole thing, with a big reward at the end. If I were you I would wait maybe a week or so, and see what she does. Time will be the biggest healer.
No, no trauma that we know of. Maybe time will do it. And yes, she seems to feel fine otherwise. Acts perfectly normal. The acid test will come tonight when she shadows my wife once it gets dark since she knows she is going for a walk. If she won’t cross the catwalk to follow her, we will know something is really up.
It might be some kind of inner ear condition or field of vision problem, either of which can cause a kind of vertigo.
Although I don’t remember the problem when I was younger, I can no longer stand at a precipice or cross an expanse with no guardrails. If, however, there is a railing at the precipice, I have no problem leaning against it and over it, etc. Likewise, I do not have to hold on to a guardrail - I just have to be able to see it in my field of vision to negate the off-balance feeling.
Try rigging a visual cue parallel to the catwalk below your dog’s line of sight (if you already have a guardrail, it may be too high to be of use to the dog). A wide ribbon might do the trick. If your dog is then able to cross the catwalk like before, you can bet it’s something to do with what I mentioned above.
Perhaps the hardwood floor suddenly feels slippery to your dog? Laying down a rubber-backed rug might get her to move across.
If she slipped and fell, that could do it. When my dog was a pup, she loved baths until she slipped and fell into the tub. After that, she had to be dragged into the bathroom. It took my husband a long time to coax her back into at least tolerating being in the tub.
I agree with brachyrhynchos’ suggestion: try laying a small rug across the spot and see if that does the trick. My dog is extremely cautious of hardwood and other non-carpeted surfaces. We had to lay a “path” of rugs through the new house just so she could get around.
I also wonder if she slipped and fell on the hardwood floor (I’m not really clear on what you mean by ‘catwalk’). My mom & dad’s last house had a carpeted front room, then a kitchen covered with laminate flooring, then a carpeted family room. They only way to get from the front of the house to the family room was over this laminate flooring. Their elderly miniature Schnauzer hated the laminate flooring (which was installed when she was already a pretty old dog; originally the floor was vinyl). She didn’t like the way her claws ‘clicked’ on it, and if she moved too fast she slipped or skittered a bit. It finally got to the point where Mom or Dad had to carry her across the laminate. Mom called me in tears one day – she had gone to bed early one night and, when my dad came to bed, he forgot to bring Trudy. Next morning, they found her lying at the very edge of the laminate, waiting patiently to be carried to her bed… It was the first night in 14 years Trudy hadn’t spent in her little bed next to their big one. 
But Trudy was an old dog, not particularly healthy nor particularly adaptable. By the time the laminate flooring was installed it was far too late to train her to get used to it. You ought to have better luck with a young healthy dog.
Hey…saw this problem on the dog whisperer. Ceaser put a leash on the dog and brought him back and forth through the area he was afraid of until he was comfortable. Basically said does not matter what created the issue…but that you must tell the dog there is nothing to be afraid of and support him to get over it. I am having the same problem now with my 8 month old pomeranian. she suddenly is afraid to walk across the kitchen. She gets “stuck”. Sometimes under the table. Sometimes in her crate. The door is open but she is afraid to come out and cries. I cannot determina any reason for this new fearful behavior…so I am leaving a leash on her and when she gets stuck I am guiding her through it. Will let you know how we make out
Yup, I’d check this. Years ago, our B.J., who was only a few years old at the time, came barreling into the kitchen, where the floor had just been freshly waxed. Slip-slide-boom, he crashed into the wall. After that he was afraid of bare floors. He would tiptoe through on whatever pieces of lint, scrap paper, whatever, that he could find to “balance” on to get across the dreaded floor. Or if there was a rug “bridge” he was also fine.
Try putting down some throw rugs and see if that helps.
I would hope that after six years, they’ve already solved the problem.
Sheee-it. Got me.
Oh my god your house is haunted! Your dog senses it! Get out now, while you still can…
Actually, it’s probably too late. Stay. With your death the curse will end, hopefully
And then you can become a ghost and scare those idiots on the Discovery Channel.