Living Close To An Airport With A Sound Sensitive Hound

[jetcitywoman]

Does anybody here live very close to an airport, or military base or other things with routine loud noises, and have a noise-sensitive dog? Can the dog be trained to get used to the noises?

 

We're fostering with intent to adopt a very lovely and wonderful young greyhound, but we live within 2 miles of a major international airport. The plane noise doesn't bother us at all. But it bothers him. On overcast days, the plane noise seems to echo and roll and rumble between the cloud layer and the ground and he reacts just like it's thunder. He'll go outside to potty and run back inside in fear. Then he'll refuse to go out and potty in the house.

 

On clear sunny days it's less noisy but he can still hear the planes. He'll jump off the couch in high alert and go from window to window looking for the scary thing.

 

He's thunderphobic as well. We can deal with that because it's only a few days each summer. But the airport noise... pretty regular! I'm wondering if keeping him would be bad for him. He'd basically be on high alert almost every day, which is a lot of stress to deal with on a regular basis. Unless we can somehow teach him that the airplane noises aren't harmful? But how? Thoughts?

[greysmom]

More experienced trainers wil hopefully chime in but I would think that counterconditioning - like for thunder phobia - *might* work. I have major doubts though as I was never able to do it with my sound-phobic spook. She might have been on a different level than this dog. Part of my issue was that she would not accept any "good yummy treat" while she was in the midst of a freak out, so counter conditioning was difficult. The other half was that I couldn't control when the stimulus would happen so I couldn't anticipate the freak out phase.

 

You may be able to break the cycle using anti anxiety meds as a way to keep him calm enough to accept counter conditioning. Even under medication, sounds would make my girl scared.

 

If you can't discover a way around this quickly, you may need to consider that yours is not the home for him. There will be a dog for you and a home for him that will be a better fit.

 

Good luck.

[jetcitywoman]

I'm thinking that it's in his best interest to go to a home that's not close to the airport like we are. I'm okay with that because we know him well enough now that we can give him a glowing reference. He's an awesome dog in every way but this. I'm not so selfish as to make him endure daily fear to live with us, though.

 

I think I'm sort of asking more if my thoughts on this are wrong. We would LOVE to keep him, but I would love more to see him happy.

[4My2Greys]

I'm thinking that it's in his best interest to go to a home that's not close to the airport like we are. I'm okay with that because we know him well enough now that we can give him a glowing reference. He's an awesome dog in every way but this. I'm not so selfish as to make him endure daily fear to live with us, though.

I think this is the best decision for the dog and most unselfish one on your part. Thank you for putting him ahead of what you would have liked.

[GeorgeofNE]

I agree. There is another great home out there for this boy. You're wonderful to do what's best for HIM! Thank you!

[cleptogrey]

you maybe try desensitization with yummy food discraction. I did this with sensitive annie who had a horrific experience getting spooked by a Porta John cleaning truck rumbling by at an antique show. It was 6 ft. Away from our booth and she slipped harness and spooked. It was a horrific incident,we nearly lost her. After that she freaked when a bus,truck,big car passed us on walks.

 

I walked her(harnesslead.com ) is what I use now. On walks I carefully listened,used marshmallows as a reward and calmly pet her as something large or noisy barreled past us. This meant that I walked her solo (I do have another one ). Improvement has been steady. She still jumps but doesn't freak out.

 

The planes have somewhat of a schedule. Can you start desensitization in the house? Keep him on lead in the yard and pet,reward, pet,

 

Some training of this sort will be an asset in his future.

Edited December 22, 2016 by cleptogrey

[Jerilyn]

I live about 1.5 miles from an airport, and while not a super busy one, I'm about a block off the main flight path and there are planes coming and going all day. Lila is worried by thunder and fireworks but has never given the planes a glance unless it is somthing weird like fighter jets or a blimp.

How long have you had him? You know how you don't even notice the planes anymore, I wonder if he would eventually get to that point?

[cleptogrey]

have you tried to desensitize yet? i just wanted to comment that i was out walking, it was dark. con-ed was busy with some emergency trucks- engines running, generators, lights and they were throwing cones down from the truck. we just walked right past them! yes, with spooky annie. i moved over to the far edge of the side walk, did some calm talking and petting and she just moved on. we turned the corner and a fuel truck came barreling down the road. i'm surprised that there wasn't a bus on the road as well. YES, it will work...he sounds sweet, marshmallows and hot dog bits do wonders!