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hello all - newbie to the board who wants to access your collective bc wisdom! my bc is a rescue who we got at 15 months, she's now about to turn 3. we're training in agility (2nd dog), but won't be out running till next year probably (i really want some control on her before we hit the ring). in addition to an obsessive desire to go in circles - ONLY to the right - she is also very sound phobic. i'm working on desensitizing her, but would love to hear ideas from others. thanks, jennifer

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm lucky, Tess is not afraid of noises. However, she is afraid of ALL new things unless they are squeaky toys.

 

I found out that our next obedience class will have hula hoops used as a place to mark where in the obstacle course to have the dog lay down. I bought a hula hoop and now my dog is mortified of this new monster. We are 3 days in and now she will eat a treat from the middle of it when it is on the floor. She will not go through it, though.

 

With Tess, when something is scary, I use something familiar like throwing the tennis ball to make it less scary. My goal, just like with my horse (another weenie about everything), is to make the point that even if you go near this object (or in your case, hear this noise) you will not die and nothing will eat you.

 

So if there is a favorite toy or treat that you can use, use that to reward calm behavior when the scary noise is happening. If you can tape the noise and play it softer than usual and reward for calm behavior and then gradually work up to full strength of the noise, that might help, too.

 

I myself do not respond well to loud noises :rolleyes: so it is a real challenge to get my horse to not freak out when *I* have freaked out. He is 18 now and much calmer than when he was 4 and I was just starting to ride him. (:

 

Allie & Tess

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what kind of sounds is she scared of?

I have a 10 months old who was/is afraid of everything except thunderstorm (weird isn't it)

 

I tried everything to desenstise her and still working on it. One thing that worked was to find something that she absolutely couldn't say No to. For her, treat wasn't alluring enough. She is obsessed with balls so I would use my other dog and play with balls as I make the sound she hates. Clickers, vacume cleaner, dryer, whistle... so far so good.

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I did all the desensitization stuff - nothing worked. If a gun goes off (very unlikely!), or a truck backfires, just as she's starting to run a course - she may or may not run. But even though she is petrified of thunder, once she's running - she's all about agility!

 

For getting dogs to go "through" things - I used a bike tire on the ground. NOTHING would get any of my 3 to go thru that nasty thing - until I put it in the doorway, when they were really excited about going OUT! I gradually raised it, gradually moved it away from the doorway - voila! They all love tires now!

 

Re circles - most dogs have a preferable turn side; many are to the right (because so many of us are righthanded??). PRACTICE turning to the left - or you'll regret it when you try to go left and get spins! Again, something More Fun Than Anything will get that result.

 

Best of luck!

 

diane

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