strange westie behavior..

Question
Hi, I have a 5 year old male westie, Bentley. He has always been kind of a baby about a lot of silly things, he won't climb stairs, he hates 3 ring binders, doesn't like when the fan is on, etc. Recently he has decided he's afraid of our hardwood floor. This is a big problem because our whole downstairs is wood floor with area rugs in each room. For the past week he has been standing on the area rugs howling and barking for us to come pick him up or play with him on the carpet. I think he might have slipped one day when no one was home and now he doesn't want to walk on the floor again. We've been trying to reward him with carrots when he does walk on the floor but hes very hesitant and he always runs to the nearest carpet. I feel so bad for him because hes normally a very happy, playful dog and this new phobia is totally changing his personality! He barely wants to play anymore! Please help!!!!

Answer
You're probably right in that he may have slipped on the floor; when a dog has a bad experience with an object, the object becomes the "bad thing."  A fear of slippery floors is not uncommon at all.

There are two suggestions I can make; one is that you buy cheap NON SLIP area rugs and/or runners and put them down so he has a path to maneuver on; you can gradually space the rugs farther apart and/or remove them as time goes by and he gradually forgets his fear of the floor.  However, if he should slip again at some point, that will reinforce his belief that the floor is to be feared.

The other suggestion is, and this can be used on conjunction with the rugs, is to purchase a product for his paws to make them less slippery, such as the one below:

http://www.showdogstore.com/bio-groom-show-foot.aspx

Also make sure that any hair between his toes is kept trimmed so that his paw pads make good contact with the floor surface.  Long hair can cause the paws to become slippery.