Strange Behavior,

[BustopherJones]

Maybe I have the only insane Border Collie in the world (although from other posts on this board, I'm doubt that). Annie is a loving, sociable dog who gets and gives a great deal of love and attention. But she has a strange character trait that I am trying to figure out. Annie is always in the immediate vicinity of whoever happens to be home except when DW starts to cook dinner. My wife turns on the stove, and Annie heads for parts unknown and hides. If I try to coax her to come out, she just sulks and refuses to move. Now, DW may not be a gourmet chef, but her cooking can't be that bad! Once dinner is served, Annie comes out of hiding, and everything is fine. Has anyone else ever experienced this (or similar) behavior? I wonder whether Annie can detect (hear or feel) the harmonics set up by the current in the electric stove, and is spooked by them. (I know that dogs are believed to be able to sense underground harmonics before earthqukes, and in some parts of the world are actually relied upon as early warning earthquke predictors.) Any ideas?

[airbear]

Wick leaves the vicinity if someone is at the stove. She is deathly afraid of the exhaust fan, and even if it's not on, there is always a chance that you might turn it on and SUCK OUT HER SOUL (caps are Wick's emphasis).

[sweet_ceana]

Do you have a gas stove? If so maybe she doesn't like the smell of the gas.

[MrSnappy]

I have a friend and her border collie is deathly afraid of clothes. Especially laundry, and laundry being folded, but also of clothes being removed from one's person. Which is good for lots of "Well no kidding, I'd be scared to see you naked too" jokes, but is still a bizarre clothing phobia.

 

My dogs are all fine with the stove. In fact, I sometimes have to chase them away from it whilst cooking. I don't want anyone to burn any noses.

 

RDM

[mbc1963]

My old childhood dog used to go running if my mother started frying anything - because frying sometimes led to the smoke detectors going off, and that was too much to bear!

 

I suspect it's got something to do with a smell created when you cook: gas, as someone mentioned, or a smoky odor, or maybe the sound of the fan.

 

Mary

[ziggzmom]

Maybe I have the only insane Border Collie in the world (although from other posts on this board, I'm doubt that). Annie is a loving, sociable dog who gets and gives a great deal of love and attention. But she has a strange character trait that I am trying to figure out. Annie is always in the immediate vicinity of whoever happens to be home except when DW starts to cook dinner. My wife turns on the stove, and Annie heads for parts unknown and hides. If I try to coax her to come out, she just sulks and refuses to move. Now, DW may not be a gourmet chef, but her cooking can't be that bad! Once dinner is served, Annie comes out of hiding, and everything is fine. Has anyone else ever experienced this (or similar) behavior? I wonder whether Annie can detect (hear or feel) the harmonics set up by the current in the electric stove, and is spooked by them. (I know that dogs are believed to be able to sense underground harmonics before earthqukes, and in some parts of the world are actually relied upon as early warning earthquke predictors.) Any ideas?

 

Hi,

 

At the place I train, one of the dogs gets really anxious and won't work in a couple areas of the building. Only these areas....The owner finally figured out that the electrical 'something or the other'(my words, not hers-LOL) runs right under the floor in the places that the dog can't work. It doesn't seem to be a problem for any of the other dogs, just this one.

 

Janet

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

I am sure she's not insane, maybe a little weird. But that's ok. I have never witnessed anything like this...Daisy will actually sick her head inside the stove if I don't boot her out of the kitchen...but here are my thoughts. 1) If the stove is gas, I will bet she doesn't like the smell or 2) If it's electric, maybe she can hear it. Sometimes if it's really quiet in my house I can hear the power bar my t.v. is plugged into and when we go for a walk along a power line, you can sure hear the buzz of electricity!

[MrSnappy]

Sometimes if it's really quiet in my house I can hear the power bar my t.v. is plugged into

 

Hah! You know that sudden crackling noise the tv sometimes makes, like a sort of popping?

 

My cat was sleeping on the tv console, and the tv made that sound, and she shot like 4 feet straight up in the air and took off like something was after her. Funniest thing I had seen in a long time. She totally doesn't sleep there anymore

 

RDM

[diane allen]

RDM, I do believe we've "compared" weird reactions to odd noises before, but here goes.

Lucy doesn't mind my cooking - as long as it's not the microwave. When I put chicken in there, even with no skin, it sometimes makes that 'poppin' noise. She does NOT like that sound. So, just in case, whenever anything goes into the microwave, she skeedaddles away - you know, just in case. Silly girl.

 

diane

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Hah! You know that sudden crackling noise the tv sometimes makes, like a sort of popping?

 

My cat was sleeping on the tv console, and the tv made that sound, and she shot like 4 feet straight up in the air and took off like something was after her. Funniest thing I had seen in a long time. She totally doesn't sleep there anymore

 

RDM

 

I would have wet my pants! poor cat.

[JohnLloydJones]

Senneca doesn't much like it when I go into the kitchen. She doesn't like the whirring of kitchen gadgets, especially the coffee roaster, which has a very loud fan and a tendency to set off the smoke detector. Another thing is that I ignore her while I'm busy, so that could also be a reason to go and sulk? She's mostly OK with my wife, who doesn't use kitchen gadgets much and is much more likely to succumb to begging stares.

[M.L.]

Willow does not like to be near the stove. She does not like the sight of steam. A steaming bowl of soup will send her running upstairs and she will not come back down until it is gone. So, anything steaming on the stove top frightens her. She won't go near the stove even if nothing is cooking.

[urge to herd]

At our house, one or more of the resident critters will leave the room at:

The Dreaded Flapping of the Clean Laundry

The Monster Sucking Machine aka the vacuum cleaner - in this instance, we have four who leave the room and one (Sami) who LOVES it!

The Grinding Machine, that we mostly use for grinding coffee beans, but could easily grind unwary dogs or cats

The Flat Thing That Lives in the Closet that Mom puts pieces of clothing on and pushes them around with

The Hot Thing that lives in the Closet with the Flat Thing. (ironing board and iron)

The Outside Sucking Machine (shop vac)

And, (strangest of all to the humans,) the Dreaded Lotion Bottle, the picking up of which is guaranteed to send felines scurrying to a safe distance. Then, when the DLB is out of sight, they return and lick the lotion off our skin.

 

Never a dull moment.

 

Ruth n the BC3

[Kate@JIm]

Well your weird dog can team up with ours. We have exactly the same problem. When anyone cooks on our electric stove our border collie runs to the bathroom and hides. He is especially sensitive to the oven. We make our dogs food and bake treats for him, ( he knows it's for him) makes no difference, he hides till the oven is off, then comes to check out the smells and food. He actually RUNS to the bathroom when the oven goes on. So far I just let him be, I figure he's not under foot, so I don't make a deal of it. Our other border collies hang out in the kitchen waiting for a handout. I just have the one oddball...

 

I never thought of harmonics current? This dog is very sound sensitive.

 

At least our dogs aren't alone in their weirdnness...

[afrancis]

Skye runs away while giving sideways glances when:

a plastic bag makes an appearance

the vacuum cleaner is turned on

furniture is moved

dishes are rattled

and most recently, when a plate with a morsel of bagel and cheese is presented on the floor in front of her she looks at it like it may jump up and thwack her in the face. This is a result of the said plate once, after being placed in front of her nose on the couch, took a precipitous fall onto the floor. Now you can never trust those plates again!

Could be that the stove once tried to eat Annie ...

Ailsa

[haleigh]

Joy has a huge issue with vacuums, my stereo (with my music at the volume I usually listen to it at, it's a surprise ANY one will go by it!), the server room, and the bar in the basement. I know why she's scared of vacuums, but I'm baffled why she's scared of the other things.

 

Oh, and she's scared of her tunnel when it's packed away in my closet. If I go in my closet to grab a shirt or something thats next to it, she tucks her tail and runs away. If I actally take it out, her ears and tail go up and she starts her little happy dance...

[Krambambuli]

Maybe it's the clanging of pots and utensils when you cook? Or did Annie ever get too close to the oven door when it was really hot? Or get stepped on by the cook by accident? Or maybe she's jealous of the attention the stove gets! Certainly it's not your wife's cooking skills!!!

 

As far as being able to sense currents in the air or coming from the stove: I don't know about the dogs, but during the last storm here, I went out with Sky before it was supposed to hit, and there was a LOT of lightning everywhere. I swear I heard the air crackle around us. Normaly I would not choose to go out in such weather, but they had just announced a tornado warning, too, and Sky had "to go", badly, so we made a quick dash. Luckily no tornado, and the storm mostly by-passed us, too. But my heart was beating a bit faster than usual when I was outside! Oddly (because she is noise sensitive), Sky seemed oblivious to it all.

 

 

Andrea

[PSmitty]

I have a dog that I swear is scared of most everything (except sheep and food, maybe?), but he is not scared of the stove. I'm very relieved that this might mean he's not a total weirdo.

[sandyleew]

I have a friend and her border collie is deathly afraid of clothes. Especially laundry, and laundry being folded, but also of clothes being removed from one's person. Which is good for lots of "Well no kidding, I'd be scared to see you naked too" jokes, but is still a bizarre clothing phobia

 

Brew is also terrified of clothes in all the same instances that you mentioned. I thought he was the only one.

[LovaBelle]

I had posted a while ago about Jake and his apparent fear of frying bacon - meaning the sizzling of the bacon, not that he's scared to cook it. Anyway, bacon cooked on the stove in a pan is the only thing I've witnessed him being afraid of (it doesn't bother him if I cook it in the micro) in the 1.2 years that we've had him. I orginally thought it was the sound, but I've cooked other food on the stove that sizzle and pop and it does not seem to bother him. His reaction to the frying bacon is so sad, I refuse to cook it that way anymore. He tries every means to get as far away from the kitchen as possible. His first choice would be to escape out the front door, but he will just sit there and shake. It is so sad.

 

Oh wait! He didn't like the surround sound when we first hooked the new one up at Christmas time. He runs from speaker to speaker and will leave the room if it's a particularly noisey movie, but for the most part I think he's just trying to figure out why all those sounds are suddenly in the livingroom. He just doesn't react like he does to the bacon.

 

These animals can be so quirky. I gave up trying to figure out why and just try to do what I can to make him comfortable in his new home. In his case, we know little about his background but what we do know was not at all an acceptable way of living.

[bc4pack]

I have one that leaves if you reach for a flyswatter or the vacuum...

His mama you have to bop on the butt with said vacuum to get her to move....

[Tea]

Cap freaks when we cook, roast Mutton. Does he think...'Oh My Gosh...one of my sheep is dead!')

 

Gunny refuses to leave the milking ewe gate unless I close it. I must close it first. She doesn't want any chance of them escaping, I guess.

[bc4ever]

Boy, we've really been lucky so far. Scooter isn't afraid of anything! He seems puzzled when I play the stereo, especially if there are any vocals on the CD's, but other than that--nothing! Of course, I understand this could change at a moment's notice! He's really laid back for a BC!

[bc4ever]

Ahh yes...forgot about the flyswatter. He goes nuts when we get it out--not fear--just ready for the hunt!

[DTrain]

Our dog Dave seems to doing fine with scary things growing up. But he does not like the floor sucking machine, he runs like heck when he hears the little sound a digital camera makes when it comes on. But our favorite is the talking food machine. Wherever we stop at a drive-thru to order something Dave jumps up at the window and barks like crazy when the person in the talking food machine begins to speak. The hair stands up on his neck and he is dead serious.