puppy is suddenly scared to go out at night

Question
I have a miniature poodle puppy who all of a sudden does not want to get out of the apartment at night. Before he used to jump all around us whenever we wanted to go out for a walk but now he is scared and has to be forced to go outside. Once outside he does play and poop, pee but before getting out of the building he tries to run back inside our apartment and lift again and again. He absolutely loved running and the corridor was pretty favorite to him but now  the only place he likes is home. Why is this? There is no other change in his behavior though.

Answer
Your dog has likely had some traumatic event that it associates with space outside the home.  The list is endless as to what it is. He may even be responding to something you cannot hear, such as a large dog somewhere else that your dog can hear because of dog's better hearing ability. There may be a noise out side that is benign to us but not to him. It takes detective work to find the actual cause.

Distraction therapy is usually the easiest to use to get the dog over his fear. When going out, do not focus on going out, focus on some other activity, a toy, treat, talk a lot to the dog. You can carry him out while talking to him calmly explaining there is nothing to fear.   

Go is small steps, outside the door, then the next barrier. With distractions and reassurances the dog should get over his fear in a few weeks.

regards

Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC