[NAGDU] Fear of skateboards

[Sandra Johnson]

Hello:

I am so sorry to hear this.  In 2006, my 7 year old  golden retriever guide
Cinnamon was injured when a boy on a skateboard slammed into her.  Once her
knee recovered from the torn ACL she was very afraid of skateboards.  She
would cringe and cuddle behind me in fear.  It took a very long time but
with lots of reassurance, praise and treats she gradually did gain
confidence to guide me but she was always afraid if they were anywhere near
her.  If there were several children on skateboards she would panic and
attempt to run away from them.  , it was safer if I would let her stop sit
close to me until the skateboard had passed her.  It was especially bad when
she heard them jumping off curbs or their homemade ramps.   Just the sound
of that in the distance would cause her to shake in fear.  Unfortunately her
torn ACL never completely healed leaving her with a limp and inability to do
longer walks and difficulty with stairs.   She had been an amazing guide up
until that point and was still very healthy and eager to work.  My vet and I
were extremely angry to see a dog have to retire a few years early just
because of the little brat who was racing his skateboard on the sidewalk.
It still breaks my heart every time I think of it.  I have tears falling to
my keyboard and my fingers are shaking just typing this message.  I wish you
luck with your dog.     

Sandra Johnson

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Carmella Broome via
NAGDU
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2021 9:12 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Carmella Broome <cdbroome at att.net>
Subject: [NAGDU] Fear of skateboards

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

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