What's YOUR dog afraid of?

[Cferg]

That's how Asha is with loud noises - the chainsaw, the gas log splitter, she just trots around like nothings going on. Gunfire she startles and faces the direction, but recovers in about 3 seconds, but she's never been around continuous gunfire like a shooting range, so it's always a "surprise" sound. When hunting season is going on we can occasionally hear a shot or two from the house, and also people target shoot in the forest around us. That far away she alerts to it, but doesn't startle.

Stassi is good with chainsaws but is reactive to a gas blower. But I think that’s because my wife you used to play with her as a puppy and blow it in her face. She just excitement reactive. But maybe not because she will attack the vacuum cleaner but will let the roomba run into her while she’s laying on the floor.
IDK haha

 

[lady Dobie]

so far mine just seem more alert during storms.. i try to just be natural.. don't mention the storm while it is happening.. and so far that keeps things fairly smooth ..but now my collie she does not even like my printers sounds.. and the vacuum.. i have to put her outside.. lol

 

[cjpmpd]

Remy doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything.

My previous dogs (bully mixes) also became fearful of things like fireworks when they got older. They never used to bother my male, but during his last few 4th of July’s he had a really hard time settling down. He would pace around and pant all night (while fireworks were going off.)

My sister has a mixed breed dog that the shelter found at 4 weeks old. It’s obvious he has poor genetics and temperament… poor thing is fearful of everything.

My poor dog is afraid of EVERYTHING. But when he's outside with his squeaky balls, he's so HAPPY!

 

[cjpmpd]

Well, Happy 4th of July! It's been a hard week before & will be a week after for us as Harley has been sedated on his double dose of zoloft thanks to the 360 degrees of fireworks all around us. We had the City tear up our street in front of our house to put in new sewer main lines on Monday & hired 2 handymen to do some major work on our house on Tues & Wed. Between all the machinery sounds & strange men in our yard PLUS the firework situation, this Dobe is worn out. It is just so heartbreaking to see your dog so afraid of everything & there's nothing you can do. Im so thankful for this site just to read about other people's normal Dobe interactions.

 

[MyBuddy]

We had the City tear up our street in front of our house to put in new sewer main lines on Monday & hired 2 handymen to do some major work on our house on Tues & Wed. Between all the machinery sounds & strange men in our yard PLUS the firework situation, this Dobe is worn out.

Aw, man! That and fireworks too. That would drive a human batty! A lot for a dog! Poor guy. I hope he's feeling better soon. I'd say at least the fireworks are done, but I'll bet not. Being a long weekend there will probably be stragglers shooting off a few more. Hang in there!

 

[JanS]

We had fireworks not too far from here a couple nights ago, all night long. Both dogs barked and looked out the deck door but I think it sounded like the bear thudding up the steps and that's what I thought at first too.

 

[MichiH]

Fireworks really ticked Pepper off. She went into full attack mode and would not go potty. There was no calming her down nope.

 

[cjpmpd]

Today, Harley has hardly gone outside to play. VERY not like him. He'd want to, but when a truck or trailer would hit a bad place in the road & make a noise, he'd be at the front door. Have only given him 1 zoloft hoping it wont be as bad tonight. Last year was made worse by me trying to put a Thunder Shirt on him. He went berserk like a wild animal - biting, growling & snarling at me trying to get it off him. How I wish I could have a normal Dobe to get to enjoy the fullness of what you all seem to have. However, this is my boy and I love him. ADHD and all.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Today, Harley has hardly gone outside to play. VERY not like him. He'd want to, but when a truck or trailer would hit a bad place in the road & make a noise, he'd be at the front door. Have only given him 1 zoloft hoping it wont be as bad tonight. Last year was made worse by me trying to put a Thunder Shirt on him. He went berserk like a wild animal - biting, growling & snarling at me trying to get it off him. How I wish I could have a normal Dobe to get to enjoy the fullness of what you all seem to have. However, this is my boy and I love him. ADHD and all.

Well, don't worry. Normal Dobes have plenty of quirks and problems too.

 

[Katyusharocket]

Bug zapper light. Quirky. Didn't see it coming. Katyusha loathes the thing. I hung it not far from our back door and she wouldn't go out. so I moved it pretty far away and behind some tall flowers. She will come out but for the first week she would bolt for the door if she heard it zap. She's slowly desensitizing to it by now, but it still bothers her. Zastava and Toby are completely unbothered by it.

 

[MyBuddy]

I've been meaning to post here for a little while. I've been watching Annie since I got her for signs of fear, anxiety, timidness, or anything like that. I dealt with several fears and apprehensions with Buddy. He got over a lot of them but not without a lot of work on my part. It's not always easy to know what's going to scare your dog and create some kind of issue that's hard to live with. For you and your dog.

So this has always been kind of a big thing for me. Especially having a puppy that's impressionable. But so far she has been doing very well! Even things that did seem to startle her, she got over quickly. That's what I was looking for. Not to startle and hide in a corner or run away. We all can be startled but it's the aftermath that's important.

My husband started the air compressor in the barn once when we were walking through. Oh boy. I was so afraid of that one because Kali hates it. But Annie barely gave it a look. Fireworks didn't seem to bother her but then we had the air conditioning on and the windows were closed. My neighbor right next door was shooting them off and we were enjoying them sitting in our sunroom. I open the door to our bedroom to check on Annie and she was sound asleep!

Lawn mowers, chainsaws, weed wacker, all were dealt with nonchalance. Even my robots vacuuming the floors don't bother her. She was inquisitive! At one point wanting to touch it and I had to tell her to leave it. But that wasn't an issue either. I keep looking and keeping an eye on anything and everything to see what her reaction will be. So far I'm pleased that she seems to be fairly brave.

I have noticed a couple of times when she hears something outside and goes to the door to bark at it, she will sometimes come back to me. Making me think she's running to me for security. Putting up a good front, but then coming to me. I don't think that's too bad at this point. She is still a baby. At least she barks!

 

[Oh Little Oji]

I've been meaning to post here for a little while. I've been watching Annie since I got her for signs of fear, anxiety, timidness, or anything like that. I dealt with several fears and apprehensions with Buddy. He got over a lot of them but not without a lot of work on my part. It's not always easy to know what's going to scare your dog and create some kind of issue that's hard to live with. For you and your dog.

So this has always been kind of a big thing for me. Especially having a puppy that's impressionable. But so far she has been doing very well! Even things that did seem to startle her, she got over quickly. That's what I was looking for. Not to startle and hide in a corner or run away. We all can be startled but it's the aftermath that's important.

My husband started the air compressor in the barn once when we were walking through. Oh boy. I was so afraid of that one because Kali hates it. But Annie barely gave it a look. Fireworks didn't seem to bother her but then we had the air conditioning on and the windows were closed. My neighbor right next door was shooting them off and we were enjoying them sitting in our sunroom. I open the door to our bedroom to check on Annie and she was sound asleep!

Lawn mowers, chainsaws, weed wacker, all were dealt with nonchalance. Even my robots vacuuming the floors don't bother her. She was inquisitive! At one point wanting to touch it and I had to tell her to leave it. But that wasn't an issue either. I keep looking and keeping an eye on anything and everything to see what her reaction will be. So far I'm pleased that she seems to be fairly brave.

I have noticed a couple of times when she hears something outside and goes to the door to bark at it, she will sometimes come back to me. Making me think she's running to me for security. Putting up a good front, but then coming to me. I don't think that's too bad at this point. She is still a baby. At least she barks!

Great! Sounds like good breeding and probably good exposure / desensitization by the breeder. Or, you just got lucky.

 

[JanS]

probably good exposure / desensitization by the breeder.

She starts on that pretty early so it really helps.
The less than stellar breeder we got Boris from said she just lets them fend for themselves in the first 6 or 8 weeks and it really showed with him. She even had the vet come to her place so they had no exposure to anything during that critical time.