A fear of slippery floors: What happens when a service dog is too afraid to perform its duties?

What do you do when a service dog is crippled by fear and can’t do her job? That scenario played out in a recent case report in the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association (JAAHA).

The report describes a 3-year-old golden retriever, who was trained to help her handler, a 16-year-old girl, by interrupting the girl’s panic attacks. The dog would do this by putting her paws up on the shoulders of the girl, or by leading her to a quiet spot and lying on top of her to calm her down.

However, at two years old, the dog began showing fear when presented with tile floors or other shiny, slippery surfaces. Since the girl needed her dog in a school setting, which had many tile floors, this fear prevented her from performing her job.

Did this canine hero have to retire, or was she able to overcome the slippery slope of her phobia?

To find out, read the full article “Treatment of Nonsocial Environmental Fear in a Service Dog Using Fluoxetine and Behavior Modification,” in the latest issue of JAAHA, available at jaaha.org.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed, and topics discussed, in any NEWStat column or article are intended to inform, educate, or entertain, and do not represent an official position by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) or its Board of Directors.