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Fireworks, Thunder, and other noises


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Hi

Haven't posted in quite a while. Sadie was 2 years old on the 15th. I love her to pieces. She is such a good dog. We still have a few issues but nothing major. I am actually thinking about picking up dog frisbee (with tricks and stuff) because I don't really need equipment, except myself, my dog and frisbees. There is a beautiful open safe space to train not 2 minutes away. I do still plan on picking up agility, but I don't have a yard and no dog school near me that offers classes (the next one is 1 1/2 hours away).

So on to my actual post:
Our first Silvester (2020) was ok. she was curious about the noise and suspicious but she was chilling on the couch with me and looking out the winter.

up until silvester 2021 she was not scared of thunder, and she did react to loud noises as in she looked up and in the direction but that was basically it. if she was asleep most times she wouldn't even wake up.

On december 31st of 2021 Sadie ran away because she got startled by firecrackers and slipped out of her collar (please don't rake me over the coals on this one. Please keep in mind that 1. this is my first dog, she had no problem last year and I actually went sooner than I normally would have to prevent exactly this. I did not see this comming or had any kind of experience for this 2. No, i will not have her in only a collar for the whole of december an djanuary at least. 3. nothing you can or will say will be as bad as what I am blaming myself with) YOU GUYS CHIP YOUR ANIMALS!!!!!!!!! Since Sadie slipped out of her collar her dog tag did nothing for either of us

Since then she is afraid of fireworks, especially firecrackers, thunder (there was a thunder storm directly above us. she climbed underneath my blanket - has never done that before - and shivered away), if the windows are open and there is a draft (one of my windows slammed shut once in a draft) or when the windows are open and there is wind blowing/ a storm and the leaves are rustling loudly. Sometimes also when something loud is happening outside.
Except for fireworks and firecrackers the thunder storm was the most scared I have seen her. With everything else and any "normal" thundering she mainly retreats into the bathroom, occaisonally into the shower tray. There she lays down and continues napping - she is not panting, barking, pacing or anything. She just gets up, goes into the bathroom, maybe looks around a bit and then naps. She is reluctant to come out though it is possible to persuade her - she will interact, eat, play and get affection but will return into the bathroom after.
Closed windows definately make the whole situation better - she is only slightly suspicious of loud wind or noises and just looks and eventually goes back to napping or veeeeery casually and unhurridly goes into the bathroom. Thunder is reguarded with slightly more than suspicion.

My question now is 1. what can I do in regards to silvester? If there is a chance to do this without medication I would prefere that, but I am not above using medication if it will improve my dogs quality of life. 2. what can I do in regards to the other things? Most of them developed over the summer when I had the windows open.

tl;dr:
since silvester 2021 sadie is now actively afraid of fireworls, fire crackers and loud thunder storms or ones that are directly above us.
If there is a draft or loud wind blowing outside she will go to the bathroom and sleep there

1. what can I do in regards to silvester and thunder storms?

2. what can I do in regards to everything else that make her decide to go into the bathroom?

 

P.S. she also retreated into the bathroom when it was too hot for her since there are tiles and it is the coolest room in my appartment. what stood out to me was she would actively get up with any of the above mentioned stimuli and walk into the bathroom where before she was happy napping somewhere else

Thank you so much in advance for taking the time to read and comment.
Tnak you for the advise cou can and are willing to give

Kiki & Sadie

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Very nice looking dog.

What is a silvester?

You could try a thunder shirt. It helps some dogs. What I have found, though is that there is nothing I can do to make the fear go away. I try to be home when there will be a thunderstorm (although this is not always possible) and I am always home if there will be fireworks. I cuddle up with the dog and talk to him or her and just hang out with the dog and this does seem to help over time. Now when there's noise, the one dog I have who has always been afraid of it will just come straight to me, curl up next to me and seems to be greatly calmed by just being next to me and petted. He is not anywhere near as frightened by it as he used to be.

From what you describe your dog is not as afraid of the noise as my dog used to be.

 

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D'Elle, I think Silvester was a hurricane or another very loud natural weather thing.

Waffletastic, I used to go to the vet for a tranquilizer for my guy at 4th of July and New Years. Not necessary any more, he's almost 14 and pretty deaf. Slept right through the 4th this year and will probably do the same for New Year's Eve.

I can't remember the name of the drug my vet prescribed, I got 3 or or so pills and they got cut in half, I think.

R&G

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Oh, new year's. Yes , that can be as loud as the 4th of July.

I stay home and hang out with the dogs. I think they are much calmer just knowing I am there. You could try putting on music on that night. I haven't tried this. 

Of course music won't work for thunderstorms because most dog, or at least mine, knows it's coming long before it starts. Even if he couldn't hear it, he'd still be scared because I think it is the atmospheric pressure that he senses, and of course he would feel the thunder in his bones the same as I do. I think the same would be true of fireworks close by, although music might mask the sound if it is farther away.  

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I have a question,

What is your dog saying to you when it is fearful / afraid of a noise?

Comfort me? help me? secure me? drug me? love me? What exactly do people take out of a dogs fear of noises?

* when i am startled or spooked by a noise what do i do? turn around and look for what startled me. Dogs on the other hand, can get startled and have no idea where to look. This is where you need to step in and show them to look to you.

"its all good!" and move on.

My dogs learn to read me and re act off of me....I am my dogs rock, if i am not bothered than she isn't either.

Our life is fully off leash, in the city. The sound pollution is staggering and relentless. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/23/2022 at 6:16 AM, Nuance said:

 

I have a question,

What is your dog saying to you when it is fearful / afraid of a noise?

Comfort me? help me? secure me? drug me? love me? What exactly do people take out of a dogs fear of noises?

* when i am startled or spooked by a noise what do i do? turn around and look for what startled me. Dogs on the other hand, can get startled and have no idea where to look. This is where you need to step in and show them to look to you.

"its all good!" and move on.

My dogs learn to read me and re act off of me....I am my dogs rock, if i am not bothered than she isn't either.

Our life is fully off leash, in the city. The sound pollution is staggering and relentless. 

 

Then I suspect you have never had the misfortune to share your life with a dog who is phobic of noise. When your 24kg border collie wakes you in the middle of night by sitting on your head due to a bad thunder storm, he doesn’t want to hear it’s all good. He wants the storm to stop. This is a dog that confidently travels on ferries, is not scared of escalators or elevators, goes anywhere and everywhere but fireworks and thunder are in a different league. 
This is another of your rather unhelpful and rather judgemental posts

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I thought I had responded to this, however, it was something in another thread that I discussed my thunder-phobic dogs.  Don't know if it will help, but here is what I said (sorry that this is a repeat of a post, but just in case you didn't read it)....

I have had four thunder-phobic dogs in my lifetime.  The first one was a German Shepherd that was that way from the day we got her as a puppy. 

Two were a BC mix and a BC, who were both second-hand dogs and both were running free in their early life.  So I can assume that being out on their own during thunder storms could possibly have caused it (or they could have just been sound-sensitive from birth.) 

The fourth was also a second-hand BC that I got at 1 1/2 years of age.  Thunder, gun-shots, fireworks -- nothing bothered her.  She would eat, train, and sleep during it all.  She was totally NOT sound sensitive --- UNTIL SHE WAS!  One day she, just out of nowhere, exhibited fear and that was the end.  No amount of counter-conditioning erased it.  I could ease it...but it still was there.  Now, the most logical explanation for this is that being around those dogs led her to develop it.  Maybe. But she was around those dogs for YEARS (like 7-8 years) before she developed it.    

I have used the Thundershirt.  It did not seem to make a big difference, but it did seem to take the edge off.

Now fast-forward to 3 years ago and I get two new puppies.  And believe me, it is on my mind that I do not want another thunder-phobic dog.   So, first storm and first boom, I yell "Boom boom! Cookie" and they come running to get fed.  Every clap of thunder.  They are Border Collies...doesn't take long for that lesson to be learned.  Now when we get a storm and it thunders, they high-tail it over for a treat.

So my take is that these phobias can crop up anytime.  You can try to counter-condition, but my thought is once they have it, they have it until they are old and become deaf.  I have known a couple dogs that were really bad (climbing in cabinets and ripping doors off) until they became deaf and their owners were actually grateful for that.  My training partner and her husband spent every 4th of July in their bedroom with the windows closed, window ac on, tv on, and a fan (white noise machine) going -- and that blocked it out.  I'm sorry you are going through this.  I know..... it rips your heart out. 

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As @beachdogz said, they're fine until they aren't! Sorry to read this @waffletastics, there are many options available, however, finding one that works best is all trial and error, not something any of us wants to go through though many of us have. Way back I had a little male, wasn't bothered, then he was. His safety spot happened to be in the truck in his crate. Living in Florida this was a daily excursion in the summer. No other crate would do. It sounds like you are in an apartment, so this won't help you there.  White noise, a place to decompress, counter-condition training to make the noise a not so big of a deal. It takes time. Depending on how bad she gets, don't discount meds to help her through this. As an aside, the phobic boy I had, he taught me tons. I also learned to be phobic, it took me years to get over the jolt when I heard a storm coming. So, don't allow your behavior and or reaction to feed her, hard, but you need to remain her stability. Good luck!

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So true that sometimes one is fine until that changes. I have observed the same thing in people, and certainly could name a number of things in myself that changed without any particular reason I could determine. Sometimes those changes are for the better, too. I was very afraid at one time to be on a roof, would freeze and be unable to move, and then suddenly one day I was not afraid, and nothing had happened externally or consciously to make the change. Now I love to get on roofs.

I always liked this one brand of something and hated the taste of this other brand. Between one day and the next, that switched. I returned several to the store thinking they were a bad batch before realizing nothing had changed except my personal taste. I tried the brand I had always hated and thought it was fine. Go figure. 

Sometimes a dog will be fine for years about one thing and suddenly not fine and that dog has not been under the influence of any person or circumstance you don't know about. One dog I had suddenly developed anxiety when I was gone and started tearing up things in the house, and this was a dog who had never in his 10 years even picked up anything that was not his. Sometimes we never know why; sometimes we can fix it and sometimes not.

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One experience:  I had a BC from 8 weeks on.  He was never bothered by loud noises, even though another dog in the household was (a LOT!).  When he was about 10 yr old, he started reacting.  I just happened to notice that he noticed some noises he'd never noticed before.  As *I* aged, my hearing decreased - but I heard DIFFERENT sounds.  I was convinced that the dog's hearing had changed too - not decreased at all (he could still hear a squirrel chirp 1/2 mile away, not to mention the crackly treat package), but sounds just sounded different.  I never tried to "train" him out of it, though the next dog in the house (who was about 4 yr old at the time) definitely picked it up from him.  I'm hoping that #3 now will not - without much actual hope.

 

 

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