[Molly Brown]

My shepherd?, Dalmatian? mix is 10 years old and has always been a timid dog. She has recently taken to Scrambling and walking on her tensed-up claws on certain areas of our wood floor. She resembles a cartoon character trying to go fast. She only does this on a few areas, not the whole floor, even though the floor is identical throughout the house. We now have to hold her collar and walk her very slowly, stopping when she "claws up" and continuing when she relaxes. We get her to the kitchen for feeding and when she is done she will stand at the threshold to the living room in an agitated state as if the floor in front of her is "lava", until we go and get her. Our kitchen has stone tile and she walks just fine on that. She has no trouble walking and running and playing fetch in the backyard! But, when we come back into the house, she will often lunge to her dog bed and then scramble into the bedroom to lay down. Anybody have any ideas? Her claws are kept clipped and well groomed.

 

[Gnostic Dog]

I am sorry I have no ideas but wanted to say my daughters pitty/pointer x does this. However, we think we know the reason. Her SO is a contractor and often takes the dog to work, and he isn't allowed to walk on newly installed/finished wood floors, so when he visits us he gets nervous about walking on our floors, he will also walk normally on our kitchen tiles. When he first arrives we put down some towels for him to walk on, he does eventually walk normally though.

 

[dibbythedog]

Put mats down to make a path for her across the wooden floors.

 

[Grabby]

She may have slipped in those areas and now is scared of them. Maybe there is a reflection from a light source that frightens her. Whatever the reason, I agree with putting down some non skid rugs or mats in those areas for her.