[NAGDU] Fear of skateboards

[Carmella Broome]

My  guide dog was startled by a skateboarder  one morning and has  become increasingly  anxious when she  sees  people  riding (or even carrying) skateboards. There  are a group of guys who  come to the  parking lot of a building across the street from where we live  to skateboard  every  Sat. and Sun.  They have been doing this for years and she has seen them riding around and jumping  plenty of times. Now, she  gets  nervous and distracted when she sees them or if we encounter other skateboarders while on walks. We live near a university so  this happens more  often than it might  otherwise.  My husband and I are trying to  get her comfortable with them again, at a distance and using treats.  She is really weirded out, though. I would appreciate anyone's advice on how you might approach this or hearing about experiences with your dogs and skateboards. I don't know how common this might be.  Its always amazing how  years of  neutral (or even positive) experiences  with something can seemingly be wiped out by one negative experience.  My dog was somewhat sensitive to   things that looked weird to her when I  first got her.  She seemed to   get past that fora few years.  This started to happen again  during the past year. She just turned eight.  I'm worried that this is going to start happening more often with more things.                 

Thanks,
Carmella