Thank you for your question – it’s a good one!

My first instinct is to have her checked out by your vet in case she is just physically not able to run and play at the moment. I realize you say that she ‘ran home again’ but that is different then an extended play session. Heelers are so stoic that they do not show the typical signs of pain. In fact, I remember well reading a breed book on them and there was some line about ‘their heads are hard enough to be kicked by an enraged cow without even a flinch…’ or something along those lines. Working dogs tend to mask pain unless it is really intense so maybe this is her way of letting you know that she does not want to play. Now, I could be way off on this but as I said, that would be my first step.

Once she is given an ‘a-ok’ by your vet and you know she is sound, my next test would be to take her somewhere entirely new to her and see what she does. If she does not want to play there either, then you know it is something with the play, not the park itself. My guess is when she is in a new park, she will no longer feel frightened and will want to play. If that is the case, you then have to figure out what happened at the park near your house. Ask other dog owners’ if they had seen anything odd or if anything strange had happened between the dogs while playing.

If nothing comes of this, my suggestion would be to switch your daily exercise to a leash walk around the neighborhood and let her work through whatever it was that scared her all on her own. Time is a wonderful healer (pardon the pun). Once a few weeks or months have gone by, start walking her near the park but do not go into the fenced area. Stay calm and ignore any weird attitude on her part. Once she is used to you walking by the park, start getting a little closer. Next try stopping and watching the other dogs play in the park, letting her see how much fun they are having and that no big scary invisible monsters are terrorizing them.  Take your time with all of this reconditioning process and eventually she will get over the trauma…perceived trauma. Next try tying her up or leaving her with a friend while you go into the fenced area and see what she does. Show her its okay and eventually she will want to go in herself.

Hopefully this helps. My biggest concern is taking her to the vet soon and then trying her at another park to see whether the behavior repeats itself.

Has anyone else had similar problems with their dog? And if so, how did you get your dog over the hurdle?

Ann