do i have to?
Kaiju does not like to go outside. Every time I approach him with his harness/collar and leash, he runs away from the door. Then he protests by sitting down or sometimes laying down, and not moving. After all the trouble, once he is near the door, he gives me this sad look.
He is a “shy” dog. He is afraid of people approaching him. He is afraid of any random objects on the side walks. He freaks out and starts pulling away frantically at any sudden noises, especially metallic noises or rolling bags. When he sees a toddler ahead, he stops and refuses to move. All those things we cannot avoid, living where we live. His tail is half-way down or all the way down 80% of the time while we are out, which is too bad because the tail is one of the cutest features of Shiba Inus that he should be showing off. He does not bark. He doesn’t attack. He just wants to run away and hide.
He was a reserved dog to begin with. And it got worse after the injury and the following recovery phase. He spent his 5th and 6th months in his life mostly indoors. He probably missed a lot of good opportunities for socialization. Now in his 7th month, he is afraid of just about anything new. It breaks my heart to think of the stress he must experience at every walk (twice a day).
We’ve been focusing on socializing recently, trying to make up for those lost months, but maybe we need to give it a rest for a while and focus more on the fun?
