So our 8 month old is afraid of Storm drains. There is a storm drain on every corner of our city blocks so it is quite difficult to avoid them. He seems to only have issues with the ones with the metal grates. It seems to be getting worse now. He now will drag us to the middle of the parallel street to avoid the drains. I'm not sure how to remedy this. Everytime we come across a storm drain that he's afraid of I turn him in a circle and let him approach the drain on the side sniffing it the whole way to the drain. most of the time on a loose lead, if anything a slight tug. Eventually he sniffs his way onto the drain briefly stands on it and I wait for him to continue on but as he inches closer i praise him immensely. I've realized if i start walking away like normal he bolts. Everyday though he seems to get back to his old habits. Any ideas how to help this?

Thanks in advance.

okay i dont know how helpful this is, But Kiba had the same problem. Shes still a little suspicous of them when we walk by but she used to swing really wide or completely stop walkign when we would come near one- lol. It kind of cracks me up that she still suspects the evil storm drain my suck her down or something. Idk.

Anyhow, I didn’t do anything special to get her over the fear really. I just stay calm and used treats to get her past them. If I walked past it without getting worried and then stood on the opposite end of it with a treat she seemed to be wary, but the temptation of the treat overcame the fear of going past them. Also I didn’t give much leash slack so she couldn’t have a chance to pull out into the street. Just general posative encouragment worked too. Like when she would stop walking and pull backwards I would act all goofy and funy and she seemed distracted enough to move past them. good luck!

I don't have a lot of advice for the dog, Bode had a slight fear of them but just got over them on his own.

But I do have a story: I am such a bad cousin. When my little cousin was around 5, we were babysitting him and I took him for a walk in our neighborhood. He wouldn't walk on the storm drain. I coaxed him onto it, saying it was perfectly safe. Then as soon as he was standing on it, I grabbed him and yelled "Ah!". Poor kid. I would not recommend doing this with your puppy

Odd....my first husky was fearful of them as well! She just always swung wide and was never really petrified with fear. Sorry this is no help...

Luka isnt afraid of storm drains but is afraid of old ford trucks....im guessing a bad experience in his past.

He is getting over it though, what i do, is when we walk by one i walk slowly and keep my hand on his side letting him know im there and telling him its ok. I make sure he can feel my hand and hear my voice and each time he is better and better, and now will go past them without any trouble at all sometimes.

My girls always cautiously inspect them when we walk close to one but they're not overly frightened of them. Sorry i'm no help...

I just took Maya out on my bike and we were about to pass a storm drain. Maya immediately stopped and started backing away and laid down as far from it as possible. Glad i have good brakes on my bike. She's fine with any other storm drain but apparently she's scared of just this one. It's the one right next to my house, i walked her around it after that to make sure it was the storm drain she was scared of and it was. It made me think of this thread so i figured i'd share it

Ezio used to be TERRIFIED of them too! How weird. I just started casually walking toward them more and more and when he'd go stiff, or get low to the ground, I'd say, "It's ok, it's ok." Now he's still cautious of them, but he doesn't pull to run away anymore. The first time Ezio saw a pumpkin he had the same reaction!