sudden fear in my dog

Question
My adopted 11 year old border collie-cross has been in the family most of his life.  He is a big low-energy but smart dog and is in good health except that he is starting to show age-related slow down. Just recently he developed a sudden fear of crossing a familiar foot bridge over a creek--a bridge that he normally crossed every day of his life. The fear he displays when we try to get him to cross the little bridge is major. We tired using treats to get him to cross the bridge without any results.  Do you have any idea what has happened?

Answer

Hi George,

Perhaps something scared him when he was on the bridge, or it may be that his eyesight isn't as good as it used to be, making him wary to do certain things he never had a problem with.

Dogs can become "location-phobic", for medical reasons (such as failing eyesight) or from emotional fear based causes. Rather than continuing to try and coax your dog across the bridge, walk him on a different route that doesn't require you crossing this bridge. In a couple of weeks, try walking over the bridge again, and see if your dog has gotten over whatever the problem was. You should also have your vet check your dog's eyes to confirm or rule out a problem. Some vision loss, or the development of cataracts are fairly common conditions in mature dogs. Vision problems usually develop very slowly in dogs, they adjust to their decreasing eyesight so well, that many people don't realize that their dog is even having a problem.

I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,

Patti