Greyhound behaving oddly

[Pothole]

We've had Eric for 6 months and a bit now and he seemed to be settling in really well until a week or so ago. He's gone from a timid scaredycat, walking around with his tail tucked in and not socialising with other dogs to a much more confident, happy looking soul. Waggy tail or at least held high when we walk him, still not good at coming back when let off the lead but doesn't run off and lets us catch up...recently, though he seems to have become scared or the step into the kitchen, where his bowls are.
It started with him being a bit reluctant to eat before going for a walk (but keenly leaping on his breakfast/dinner once we got back) but has now developed into not going into the kitchen without a lot of encouragement. We actually have to close all exit dors and push him towards the step before he'll go down into the kitchen. The step is about 8 inches down from the office, next to the dining room where he lives (where his cage and bed are) from laminate onto tiles. We were thinking he's maybe scared of slipping as he has done so a couple of times, not hurting himself but losing grip and scrabbling a bit. we've put door mats down in both rooms to give him some grip but he's really reluctant - won't even come down for a Schmacko, which is previously unheard of?

Sorry for the big block of text...any ideas?

(he's still happy to go for walks and doesn't show any other signs of being uncomfortable in the house)

[Front bottom]

Could be the fact that he has slipped there a couple of times, hard to say.

The only time I've experienced similar behaviour was when we had an upstairs door randomly slam shut very heavily for no apparent reason (no open windows etc).

Our dog wouldn't go upstairs afterwards (possibly the noise scared him).

[ctdctd]

Pothole said:

It started with him being a bit reluctant to eat before going for a walk (but keenly leaping on his breakfast/dinner once we got back

How soon are you feeding him before a walk? You should leave an hour or so between feeding and exercise.
Maybe he's associating food with a sore tum tum?

[bexVN]

The slipping will be key.

I have had dogs at the vets where I have needed to put blankets on the floor for them to walk on because they wouldn't walk on the floor itself.

Fred in a different room and see how he gets on (assume he has raised bowls) and definitely never feed pre walk (or leave at least one hour gap) as this increases the risk of bloat. Feeding post walk makes more sense.

Fingers crossed that will sort his worries out

[Pothole]

Interesting info about pre-walk feeding. We've got a bit out of routine recently but Eric seems to have started dictating that he eats after his walk where it was previously before...perhaps he has experienced bloat and that's what's prompted his change.

Today, I've tried a new tack to get him down the step. When we got back from the walk I tried to go straight into the kitchen but he'd have none of it, put his food out and left it for a bit, then clipped the lead to his house collar (he got up as soon as I picked the lead up) and just walked him calmly down the step and up to his bowl. Chow down, job done. This evening I knew Mrs P was gonna walk him later on after I'd left for work (lovely night shift) so I tried the same tack. Just clipped lead to house collar and walked him down. He came back up on his own both times...

^^yes he does have raised bowls. I don't really want to bring them further into the house as they're currently near the back door - his access to the doggy loo garden...