Noise Phobia

[1sheepdoggal]

I have a little one and a half yr old BC Stella, that has never in her life given a rats petutie about noises, coming from the sky, much less any place else. Matter of fact, she seems most interested in where sounds are coming from, and will investigate instead of run or hide. She hears planes, and looks to the sky and watches them go by without the least amount of fear, only interest.

We have had some pretty loud and close thunder here for the past few days, but nothing she hasnt heard thoughout her lifetime. All the sudden she has developed a fear of the thunder, and either climbs up me, wont leave my side, or runs to her crate for cover when she hears it. I dont understand this sudden developement from a dog that has never had a problem with it in the past. It is bewildering and baffling, and I wish she could tell me why this has all the sudden developed, as I see it as a very bad problem. Yesterday when we were out training, the sky turned dark, and thunder rolled, but no rain. As soon as she heard the thunder, she ran to my side clinging, trying to crawl up me and refused to leave. This is a problem for a dog that needs to be out working rain or shine, especially if we ever want to be competitive on less than a sunny day. Had she been this way from puppyhood, I could understand it and label it. But being as this is a recent development of the past few days, I cant understand it. Each day the thunder has been rolling, it has gotten succesivly worse and her reactions are getting stronger and stronger, despite my ignoring them and expecting her to cowboy up and get on with life. As far as I know, and I have had her since she was 9 weeks old, she has had no bad experiences and is usually in her crate inside if I think it will be a day that the weather may not be condusive to leaving them out in the kennels. In the past, we have been coming back from a walk and gotten caught in a storm or two, and she seemed to enjoy the experience. Does anyone have any ideas about why this has all the sudden developed? Has anyone else had a seemingly non noise phobic dog all the sudden freak out about a little bit of thunder? I would think at her age, she is beyond the puppy fear period that some go through. Interested in hearing what some of you all's experiences have been with dogs with a simalar reaction?

[Dixie_Girl]

My muttley Cheyenne, had rode with me in the truck through all sorts of weather, including thunder storms, and never gave them a notice. Then about the age of 7, we were visiting my brother, here in SC, and we stayed in the truck at night. Well, a big thunder storm came through and she just about fell apart. She was shaking, her heart was racing, she was drooling, and nothing could comfort her. She still is so fearful of thunder, she usually hides in the bathtub, and there is no consoling her. My theory is that when the thunder first came that day, she was alone in the truck, and it just hit her the wrong way and now she reacts the same all the time now. It's still a mystery, but that's all I could come up with.

[Liz P]

That's pretty typical of how noise phobia develops. I used to own and often pet sit thunder phobic dogs. Some of them will keep working because they are so focused while others insist on hiding. If I can get them to do something I try to play extra special games during storms to take their mind off of it. I pet sit one BC who, according to his owner, hides in his crate and shakes during storms. When I am taking care of him we play games and he only hides if the storm is right overhead and very loud.

 

I've noticed that pups who actively investigate loud noises and seem excited about them as opposed to ignoring them are more likely to become noise phobic as adults. I don't have any research on that, it's just a trend I am seeing.

[2 Devils]

My bc is thunder phobic and it happened overnight when she was about a year old. Your description sounds exactly like what Tempe did. So for a few weeks if I was home and a storm started coming through the area I would start playing with her and training.

 

We played ball, tug, learned tricks, etc... she is storm thunderphobic not to the point she was at the beginning. She is crated during the day so if a storm starts up she can't get into trouble. She is perfectly content to be in her crate during a storm without shaking and shivering. If I am home and it is a particularly loud storm, I will revert back to playing games and training. During a storm she will just pant heavily but still just lies down wherever and does not need to be in my skin.

[juliepoudrier]

Darci,

I think Stella's age is fairly typical. Twist was around that age when I saw her react to gunshots for the first time. I bet Melanie would love a DNA sample, etc., from her if you haven't already done so. Since she's involved in a canine behavioral genetics study looking at hearing acuity and noise phobia, she could probably answer your question better than most!

 

J.

[1sheepdoggal]

Ok, well that was fun....

Since you all suggested to play and distract while the thunder rolled, I thought we'd go out side and toss the ball, and try to get her to go round the sheep a bit. Her attempts be a team player and humor me during this time of stress were admirable, but only half hearted. Go out, come back, go out, come back. It started to rain, a little and then a lot, forcing us to come inside. I tried then playing with her with her tug toy, her most fav thing in the world to play with, and she showed no interest in playing at all with her beloved toy, only wanting to hide under my legs, which can get pretty dicey when your trying to get out of your wet britches. Its raining pretty hard right now, and the thunder is pretty loud and very close and she is hiding some where in the house. I wont coddle her, as I cant see where that would do anything but enhance her fear. I havent seen any drooling, or excessive panting, or crazy darting eyes, no trying to unearth the couch to get under or behind it. But she is definitly not happy with the weather over the corse of the past few days.

She has just slunk into the room and layed down beside my feet. Doesnt seem to have any real desire to touch me, (climb up on me) but simply to be close. I gaurentee if I walked out of the room, she'd be ahead of me. The thunder is still pretty pevelant overhead, and the rain has gotten a bit stronger, so I am trying to just act like it aint no thang. Still, poor little gal, I can see she's pretty scared. No interest in treats either. I reckon I could just put her in her crate, but as long as she isnt being destructive or putting herslf in danger, I would just as soon allow her to do what ever makes her the most comfortable. Wondering though, if this will become more and more progressive as we head into spring time storms.

[Lenajo]

Noise phobia does seem to worsen with age. As Liz noted, the pups who are aware of sound more, usually react more later imo. Your pup, imo, was already starting this when she noticed the noises enough to continue to look.

 

That said, I've had really good like with letting my homeopathic vet treat this as soon as it gets started. It appears the earlier it's address, the better and more solid the cure.

[1sheepdoggal]

How are you treating it?

When Ive noticed her in the past, looking at something, it seemed as if she was just more courious, than intense about the noise. Like a passing mild interest that was of really of no consequence to her at the time. As an owner of BC's for many years, its just some thing ya watch for and observe given the breeds propensity for noise phobias to begin with. Guess thats why this has disturbed me so much, as I hadnt really seen any signs that you could really say had lead up to this, or that I can refer back to as in I should have seen this coming. Its all just become an issue in the past 3 or 4 days. Im going to be heartbroken if this continues or becomes worse, I have hopes for this dog that I cannot see us reaching if this is to become a life time issue.

[FoxgloveBC]

My Sheltie does not have noise phobia, but he has developed something similar recently and he is a year and a half old. He now has a problem with kids being noisy, bikes, and people with darker complexions. He was mildly interested like you described in the said things that are now issues. He now barks at his fears. What has worked with this since I have not really come up with a conclusion, is to give him either a warning "Yoshiiiii" before they reach him or give him work..like sits to downs to sits, etc etc. It typically will take his attention away from his fear and concentrate on me instead. Of course, it looks like this would not work right away, but might take quite a bit of time to work through it. If I dont do either of that though, he tends to always bark which in turn makes people think he wants to bite them *sigh*

 

Maybe during storms when he shows less stress or fear to try rewarding him? I know that you are saying he is not interested in treats or toys or anything, but there has got to be something to help work little by little. In worse case scenarios, I know some people give their dogs some anxiety meds before a big storm hits. We had a golden retriever when I was little who was very afraid of storms (she was an outside dog though) and 13 years later still was scared of them. I hope you find a way to work through it!

[Liz P]

My dogs who were completely bomb proof as far as noises go for their entire lives didn't show any interest in loud noises as pups. They didn't even bother to investigate them. I've had noise phobic dogs who, as pups, would go check out loud noises but showed no fear of them until they were older than a year. Because noise phobia may not show up until the dog is older, sometimes 6 or 8+ yrs, you can have younger dogs producing pups and passing it on before they even show signs themselves. I think a lot of people don't realize that a "noise aware" dog can turn into a noise phobic dog.

 

If she doesn't want to go outside during storms don't make her. Act like nothing is wrong, be very happy, play games. Because she is on the younger side I would definitely be concerned it could get worse and would speak with an experienced vet behaviorist about it.

[1sheepdoggal]

Awe shoot, this sucks. I really was hoping I would get some feed back as in, this too shall come to pass. So far, it seems as if the storms are all that concern her. My son broke a glass and it busted and shattered all over the kitchen floor last night and she was out in the house, and it didnt bother her in the least, except to come in and investigate to see if anything need to be licked up. I guess now, the only thing left to do is to try to find a Dr. that can help us.

Any good reading material you all can suggest to help me help her at home until I can find a homeopathic vet in or around this one horse town?

[Lenajo]

My homeopathic vet works with a lot of clients by phone from all over the country. The treatment is specific to each dog, so knowing what works for me won't help you.

 

The problem may pass too - is she coming into heat soon? That can put them into total wacky mode.

[1sheepdoggal]

Naw, no heat. She just came out of her first one about 2 1/2 months ago.

She accually seemed to mature quite a bit since then too.

[1sheepdoggal]

Darn, I just thought of some thing. Do you think that she will pass this phobia on to my other dogs through the form of pheramones as they are all crated in the same room? Wonder if I should move her crate into another room so her fear is not picked up on by the other collies.

[mbernard2424]

Naw, no heat. She just came out of her first one about 2 1/2 months ago.

She accually seemed to mature quite a bit since then too.

 

Melatonin may work. Of course you need to know a storm is coming and give it to her in time.

 

I wrote you privately about the homeopath I use in GA. It isn't cheap using one.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

Ben was much older, and it seems to be less severe overall. Last year I said, "Heck with it," to all the people who say, don't comfort your dog when it acts scared during thunderstorms, because we had some real lu-lus and *I* was scared! I didn't go so far as to talk baby talk and pet him, but I let him climb up on the bed and I put my arm around him. He's 12, what am I going to do, spoil him for life? Oh, no, he'll never be a real working dog now!

 

Oddly, it did seem to help. Now all he does is come up on the bed for a second, get a quick hug, and then go curl up on the floor. In the past, I've had to drug him! Part of it is Ben's personality though. I believe he now thinks his "job" during thunderstorms is to comfort me!

 

Keep up with the "everything's normal" routine. This too shall not pass I'm afraid, but you can at least stave off its getting too bad, usually, by giving them something else to think about during storms.

[Liz P]

Darn, I just thought of some thing. Do you think that she will pass this phobia on to my other dogs through the form of pheramones as they are all crated in the same room? Wonder if I should move her crate into another room so her fear is not picked up on by the other collies.

 

No. I had a dog who was so bad he had to be drugged, and even then sometimes he would shake and drool. My other dogs never got upset about that. If they are already afraid of storms it might make them more upset, but if they are fine I wouldn't worry. If she does have a favorite room she might prefer her crate to be in there during storms.

[juliepoudrier]

Darn, I just thought of some thing. Do you think that she will pass this phobia on to my other dogs through the form of pheramones as they are all crated in the same room? Wonder if I should move her crate into another room so her fear is not picked up on by the other collies.

My thunderphobes have not affected my non-thunderphobes as far as I can tell. Twist isn't particularly thunderphobic, but she doesn't like gunshots (it doesn't affect her work, though). As far as I know, none of her pups have developed noise phobias, but they're young yet, so I guess it's possible they might. But they certainly seem unaffected by Kat's bad reactions to thunder, for example.

 

J.

[1sheepdoggal]

Well, thats good to know, that her fear wont effect the other dogs, as she seems to be the only one effected by them......at this time.

 

Becca, last night she did crawl up on the couch with me and snuggled close while we were watching a movie and I allowed that and petted her without really thinking from time to time while she was there, and there was a storm going on then too, so I reckon when she seeks it, she gets some comfort just in being close when its her idea.

Right now, the storm has subsided though she continues to stick to me like glue, following me around from room to room as I do some chores in the house.

I just keep an upbeat tone when I speak to her and keep trying to interest her in paying more attention to what Im doing, rather than her fear that another storm will soon be coming. Poor thing. I really dont like seeing her like this. She is generally a very happy and care free dog. What a transformation.

[SoloRiver]

Noise phobia usually becomes apparent at or after the age of social maturity and it does seem to have a genetic component. Typically noise phobic dogs are sensitive to explosive or percussion type noises like thunder, gunshots, and fireworks. One of the hallmarks of a phobia (as opposed to a normal learned fear) is that continued exposure to the sounds results in sensitization, instead of desensitization, and so the dogs usually get worse over time. For this reason, treating early is better, rather than waiting for it to get worse (which it usually will). That way you can get your foot in the door with counterconditioning measures (which is what you're trying to do with the ball playing, etc.) before the dog has had a chance to practice being terrified over and over again.

 

Information on treating storm phobias is here:

 

http://www.dvmnews.com/dvm/article/article...l.jsp?id=136493

 

Solo was noise phobic when I got him (16 months) and his phobia was rapidly worsening with time. We lived in the Mid-Atlantic region then with its severe thunderstorms. He was prescribed Xanax and I gave it to him every time the forecast suggested a possible storm for a few months. Over time his anxiety reactions (attempts to hide in very small spaces, escape, drooling, panting, pacing, dilated pupils, trembling so hard you could see him shaking from 50 yards away) decreased as he learned that storms didn't necessarily cause abject panic. I tapered off the Xanax for storms, although he would still get some for really bad ones. The end result was a dog who could lie there quietly during a storm, not thrilled about it, but not trying to stuff himself into two-gallon pails either. Now that we live on the west coast, storms are not an issue.

 

Solo does not appear altered on Xanax except to be slightly more charming (as I've said before, he becomes easygoing and a bit vivacious, the way some people do after a glass of wine). He is not "slow" or "druggy" and the most profound effect is that he is not terrified by things that would usually terrify him.

 

Some vets will not prescribe benzodiazepines because humans like to abuse them. Some vets will try to give you acepromazine for your phobic dog. Do NOT give acepromazine, and find another vet who will work with you. And don't raid the dog's stash, please.

[Lenajo]

what would you postulate regarding dogs with progressivly worsening phobias to stroms starting in adolesence, but no fear of loud noises, fireworks, or gunfire?

[Little Bo Boop]

An interesting bit of info. Not too terribly long ago we had a discussion on our Texas board about dogs, sheepdogs specifically, having preferred sides. Several of us maintained that dogs do indeed have preferred sides, most animals, including humans, do. Of the dogs I've started, and seen started, they all seemed to have a preferred side. We had one member who maintained that dogs don't have a preferred side, and that they are basically ambidextrous Anyway, I did a little research and interestingly enough, there have been quite a number of studies on this, and it seems that dogs are indeed left or right pawed ;-) the really interesting thing though is this, dogs that were ambidextrous had a very high incidence of of being noise phobic, so much so that, that is one of the tests performed on dogs going into police or military work. So who all has a ambidextrous noise phobic dog ;-)

 

Betty

[ItsADogsLyfe]

I have two noise-phobic dogs. Seth and Meg. I first noticed it in Seth when was was about 1 1/2 yrs old. I was working him in an arena and another woman was about 100 yards or more away working her dog in a separate area. You couldn't see her, but she cracked a whip and Seth left his sheep and went to the gate. It became a problem for a while but as he grew up and matured he stopped leaving his sheep. Now at the age of 8 he will not quit working with noises. He isn't bothered as much with thunder as he is with guns, whips, fireworks and people cursing..LOL Meg is bothered by noises and she does not ride well in the car. She did fine until age 2 when all of a sudden she just freaked out while I was driving. Shaked, drooled, kept trying to get down under my feet, which were on the gas pedal at the time! I now have to crate her in the back of the truck and she still drools, but she does feel fairly secure in her kennel. I just drove straight through from So Ca to Idaho (about 18 hours) and she did ok on that drive. She is bothered by some noise in my backyard. So much so she will jump the fence and my neighbor saw her one day and she ran across the street and hid on the neighbors porch. I don't let her out unsupervised anymore but even while I am watching her she will keep eyeing the part of the fence where she jumps out. I can tell her to "go potty" and she will and then I just bring her in. She and Seth are both bothered by noises in the neighborhood here, but I'm not sure if its the train which goes through about every couple hours or so or if its other noises. Seth and Meg are siblings..same parents different litters. Their father was also noise phobic. My other two, Mike and Reign, are not bothered by noises at all. We had a bad thunder/hail storm a couple weeks ago and Reign stood out in it throwing his frisbee at me, completely oblivious to the noise of the hail hitting my metal roof and of the extremely close and booming thunder. Seth was inside, but kept trying to be brave and come out with us..but I don't think it was the thunder bothering him as much as the clink of the marble size hail on the metal roof. Neither of my noise-phobic dogs showed signs of it before they were a year old. Neither of my other two have picked up on the phobia by being in close proximity to Seth and Meg. And as an aside, I had Meg in my sister's yard (she has about an acre fenced) and Meg had no problem being out all day with my sister's dogs. Seth had a problem, but it wasn't caused by noises as much as he can just be an A**hole with other dogs. Although this time it wasn't him doing anything as much as it was my sister's dogs not liking him.

[1sheepdoggal]

This is begining to sound like classic thunder phobia according to everyones elses experiences with thier personal dogs. I am glad to hear that in those that are working, that it hasnt effected thier work, as that is a major concern among others at this point. Im not so sure I want to utilize meds at this point, as I dont see her having any panic issues, though that could change I would imagine. There is a product Ive used in my kennel in the past called Comfort Zone, and Ive had positive reactions with clients dogs that supposedly had issues and did well during thier stay, but I had it plugged in from the time they got in there, running constantly. When it got low, Id just replace it with a new one, and had little or no, that I can recall problems with any dogs loosing it in the kennel over the span of 5 yrs, that I operated the kennel. So I may just get a few of those, and plug them in and see how it goes before seeking costly alternitives. Thanks you all for the info and your experiences. I hope to get Miss Stella back to her old self soon.

Has anyoneelse tried the Comfort Zone and had the same positive effects with phobic dogs?

[sjones]

My BC Annie, from pup on was concerned about storms, but never had any real problems until we had one nasty lightening storm. Lightening fried the phone, I saw a few sparks and it scared me. When we took the phone off the wall, the jack was black. Annie was in the room with me, so poor girl must have thought that lightening strike was meant for her. After that she would find any small space she could to crawl into, the tub, closets; poor girl was so frantic to find a safe place.

I now make sure and crate her during storms, and throw a blanket over the crate, which seems to comfort her some. I make sure if we are outside, I get her in before a storm hits or she will run and hide, usually in the shed. One time she headed to the neighbors; thankfully went through the fields and not on the busy highway. I find the crate has been the best for her, but each dog is different.

 

Samantha