suddenly fearful

Question
Our 2 and something Golden/Lab mix, Willie, has suddenly developed a fear of a very specific spot in our kitchen. It is as if there were a line drawn on the floor which he can't bring himself to cross. Our kitchen has two doors, opposite each other, each leading to different parts of the house. He will take the only alternate route to get to the other side of the house, to avoid going through the kitchen, which makes feeding him difficult since his food is at the far end - he has to cross the "line" to get to it. My two sons and I have worked with him several times to coerce him to get to his food, but once there, he refuses to leave again without us coercing him or pulling him (gently, of course). He started this last night and whatever it is has him so wigged out that his legs visibly shake when we coerce him to cross this  "line". We also have another dog, a Border Collie/Shepherd mix, a bit older than Willie as well as two cats and neither are exhibiting any signs of disturbance. There have been no changes in the household although our neighbor had two trees taken down several days ago and one of them was directly outside our kitchen window (directly in line with the "line"). What do you think is going on?

Answer
Hi Melanie,

I think you have your answer. To your other dogs it was nothing but to him it was obviously too much "growling" and he does not want to cause that growling beast any cause for concern.

Your attempts to push him past the line are well intentioned but you may want to adapt for him and gradually get him closer rather than coercing him past his comfort thresh hold. Try putting his food just outside the line-not across it. Don't rush the process, leave the bowl within his comfort zone for long enough to get him more relaxed. At least a week.

Then move it by inches at a time towards the area he is uncomfortable. Perfect cases scenario this process will be boring and anti climatic, pushed too much he will have fear and it will take longer.

Also, try walking him over to the area where the trees came down to sort of demystify the area for him a bit.