Hello,
I have a 4 year old doggie and she has been very frightened off the fireworks over the last couple of months, she also is very reluctant to go for her daily walk in the dark and gets very panicy and drags me back home if she hears a noise or a bang while she is out.
Any advice how i can calm her and make her enjoy her walks again
thanks
Help Victoria
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ithinkican
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:39 am
- Location: Oregon
I recently wrote an article about teaching a dog to not be gun-shy. I think the same principal would work to help your dog. I'll post a link to the article below (I hope this is okay!).
Because its fireworks your dog has issues with don't use a gun for the training- use firecrackers or other loud noise. The point is to desensitize the dog in a nonthreatening way. I think the method in my article adheres to Victoria's standards
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... tml?cat=53
Because its fireworks your dog has issues with don't use a gun for the training- use firecrackers or other loud noise. The point is to desensitize the dog in a nonthreatening way. I think the method in my article adheres to Victoria's standards
http://www.associatedcontent.com/articl ... tml?cat=53
If a dog is already noise-sensitive, the method described in this article will make things worse not better. Even for a working-bred gundog, this would often be too much too soon. It is also very difficult in some areas to find places where it is legal to shoot a gun, or someone who has the necessary licensing to use one.
"Flooding" which is the proper name for the method you suggest is pretty bad for most dogs, and can give rise to very bad consequences - it will also make many dogs irretrievably noise-phobic.
Chelsea, I feel your pain: I too have had dogs that were firework-phobic, though fine with thunder and firearms. All you can do is try to arrange your walks during daylight, and make her feel as safe as pssible at home with a DAP diffuser, TV or music on, and your company. It is possible to de-sensitise a dog that has not yet felt the fear, but once it is in them, all you can do is provide a safe environment for them to express their fear in.
Try to avoid drugs, as often the dog is still afraid but can't express the fear. There are some herbal preparations eg Bach Rock Rose which help some dogs, and do no harm, so you could try this.
"Flooding" which is the proper name for the method you suggest is pretty bad for most dogs, and can give rise to very bad consequences - it will also make many dogs irretrievably noise-phobic.
Chelsea, I feel your pain: I too have had dogs that were firework-phobic, though fine with thunder and firearms. All you can do is try to arrange your walks during daylight, and make her feel as safe as pssible at home with a DAP diffuser, TV or music on, and your company. It is possible to de-sensitise a dog that has not yet felt the fear, but once it is in them, all you can do is provide a safe environment for them to express their fear in.
Try to avoid drugs, as often the dog is still afraid but can't express the fear. There are some herbal preparations eg Bach Rock Rose which help some dogs, and do no harm, so you could try this.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS
Sorry, ithinkican - as someone WITH sound phobic dogs, I can assure you that method would not work.... no way would my dogs be interested in retrieving after the first firecracker.
They are now good enough that they will sit quietly and take treats from me during fireworks/thunderstorms.... but flooding them like that would be unbelieveably dangerous!
Flooding, even in human beings who have had the process explained and have agreed to go through it, is not very effective and can make things a lot worse.
Desensitizing is different and can be achieved using prerecorded sounds played extremely quietly, the sound are then associated with treats or play or fuss, whichever the dog prefers.
Trying to associate the sounds with some part of the dogs normal daily activity though such as a meal, or a game such as 'retrieve'.... can back fire badly and result in the dog being fearful of meals in a bowl, or retrieving things!
With my dogs when its firework season I make sure to have pocketsfulls of treats and good stuff, and we pair the 'wheebangs' (which i make a joke of, and get excited as if they are a GOOD thing) with the 'sweeties'.
This does work better because I have more than one dog, so theres an element of competition but if you can get silly and excited enough I have seen a lot of improvements made even in a single dog.
They are now good enough that they will sit quietly and take treats from me during fireworks/thunderstorms.... but flooding them like that would be unbelieveably dangerous!
Flooding, even in human beings who have had the process explained and have agreed to go through it, is not very effective and can make things a lot worse.
Desensitizing is different and can be achieved using prerecorded sounds played extremely quietly, the sound are then associated with treats or play or fuss, whichever the dog prefers.
Trying to associate the sounds with some part of the dogs normal daily activity though such as a meal, or a game such as 'retrieve'.... can back fire badly and result in the dog being fearful of meals in a bowl, or retrieving things!
With my dogs when its firework season I make sure to have pocketsfulls of treats and good stuff, and we pair the 'wheebangs' (which i make a joke of, and get excited as if they are a GOOD thing) with the 'sweeties'.
This does work better because I have more than one dog, so theres an element of competition but if you can get silly and excited enough I have seen a lot of improvements made even in a single dog.
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ithinkican
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:39 am
- Location: Oregon
. I thought that method would be a good way to desensitize, but I totally defer to the more experienced folks on here.