Scary Noises

[MattB]

In 2014 we adopted Charlie. He seemed fairly fearless initially and the firework season came with little problem. Then we got Daisy, terrified of everything right in the middle of firework season. It was like the pair of them got worse together. However after the fireworks stopped Daisy seemed to forget about then but Charlie became jumpy with other similar sounding noises. We can't open fizzy drinks or beer in the house because the hiss it makes sends Charlie running to hide. We have a clay pigeon shoot in the area on a Sunday and we have problems getting Charlie out of the house, this soon turns into acting fearful of anything that could be called a bang - a car door slamming in the distance or a lorry going over a bump.

 

It doesn't seem like Charlie is getting any better, probably getting worse if anything. After he's been scared it can take a couple of days for him to fully relax on walks.

 

I just wondered if anyone has any ideas to help us make progress in the right direction.

[EddiesMom15]

Have you tried an Adaptil collar?

[XTRAWLD]

I've been there. In fact, I'm still there. Ry hates compressor like sounds, heaven forbid I use my Tassimo machine or we go outside and he sees a big garbage truck or bus.

 

Only once did immersion work with him (he's due actually this Summer I intende to try again) but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are incredibly patient and have a lot of time.

 

I bought him a Thundershirt but it doesn't seem to help, but has on other dogs. You could try that?

[FiveRoooooers]

Every summer one of our neighbors runs a corn cannon seven days a week, 7a-7p, blasting every 10-12 minutes to supposedly scare away the crows and geese from his corn. It freaked out poor Foster Sweet. What I did was when the blast went off I'd sing in a silly happy voice "Dopey nayyy-bors" over and over and offer her a high-value treat. Eventually when she heard the blast she'd come trotting over to me, looking for a treat.

[MattB]

Thanks very much that has given me a few things to try. I saw some dog earmuffs - I wondered if these would help on a noisy day!!

 

 

Every summer one of our neighbors runs a corn cannon seven days a week, 7a-7p, blasting every 10-12 minutes to supposedly scare away the crows and geese from his corn. It freaked out poor Foster Sweet. What I did was when the blast went off I'd sing in a silly happy voice "Dopey nayyy-bors" over and over and offer her a high-value treat. Eventually when she heard the blast she'd come trotting over to me, looking for a treat.

 

FR - I like this idea - the problem is when Charlie is stressed he completely 'zones out' and has no interest in food at all. Did you have to get over this hurdle?

[FiveRoooooers]

FR - I like this idea - the problem is when Charlie is stressed he completely 'zones out' and has no interest in food at all. Did you have to get over this hurdle?

Yep, Sweet started out totally ignoring me or running away because she was so unnerved. I'd shove a treat in her mouth and keep singing the silliness to distract her. It didn't take long for her to prefer high-value treats over a stupid corn cannon (don't get me started).

[Mercsmom]

Yep, Sweet started out totally ignoring me or running away because she was so unnerved. I'd shove a treat in her mouth and keep singing the silliness to distract her. It didn't take long for her to prefer high-value treats over a stupid corn cannon (don't get me started).

 

 

That means there's hope. It seems when Mercury gets scared he's oblivious to everything. I'm now wondering if a mouthful of bacon might have some effect. Pavlov, afteral, injected meat powder directly into the dog's mouth, when a light came on (yes, a lightbulb preceded the bell).

[NeylasMom]

 

 

That means there's hope. It seems when Mercury gets scared he's oblivious to everything. I'm now wondering if a mouthful of bacon might have some effect. Pavlov, afteral, injected meat powder directly into the dog's mouth, when a light came on (yes, a lightbulb preceded the bell).

There are two parts to behavior mod - the counter-conditioning (associating the scary thing with something good by following the scary thing immediately with the presentation of the good thing, in this case the presentation of some VERY high value food immediately after the noise) and desensitization. This is starting at a distance, volume, etc. of the stimulus (scary thing) that is far enough, low enough, etc. that the dog notices it but doesn't totally lose his ** (technical term ) and can still eat. In situations like this it's of course hard to control the level of stimulus, which is what makes it so challenging. Trying to get to the furthest/quietest part of the house is a good start and yes, sometimes you do start by just shoving the food in the dogs mouth. You might also try white noise machines to further dampen the sound. When all of those fail, medication is often enlisted.

 

To the OP, you might try a natural calming remedy to take the edge off since he seems to have generalized to a variety of noises, which makes the CC&D process trickier. I like Composure (you can easily do double the dose on the bag) as a first start and/or DAP. There's no harm in starting both and if he improves, you remove only one and see what happens. If there's no improvement with either of those, then I would try l-theanine, 100 mg 2x/day or 200 mg in the morning once a day. You can get all of this stuff on Amazon.

[racindog]

Every summer one of our neighbors runs a corn cannon seven days a week, 7a-7p, blasting every 10-12 minutes to supposedly scare away the crows and geese from his corn. It freaked out poor Foster Sweet. What I did was when the blast went off I'd sing in a silly happy voice "Dopey nayyy-bors" over and over and offer her a high-value treat. Eventually when she heard the blast she'd come trotting over to me, looking for a treat.

BRILLIANT!

[MattB]

Thanks all for your suggestions.

 

Neylasmom that's a really clear explanation of CC&D thank you for your as-always wise words.