Some dogs are braver than others, but even a highly confident dog may be afraid of something. Your dog does not necessarily have to be a generally timid and fearful dog to develop a specific phobia. The fireworks this past weekend may have revealed to you that your dog has a noise phobia, but there are a number of other common sources of fear in dogs.
Seeing our canine companions tremble in fear is tough. What's a loving owner to do? Fortunately, Amy Bender, our very own dog training expert is here to offer valuable advice to dog owners. First of all, learn how to identify the signs of fear in your dog. The sooner you see that your dog is afraid, the sooner you can address it. Next, develop and understanding of the causes of fear in dogs. This can help you get to the heart of your dog's fear (or fears).
If you are able to catch your dog exhibiting mild fearful behavior, you will have a better chance of resolving it. However, even dogs with extreme fear can be helped. In the latter case, it is often best to call in an expert. Start with your veterinarian, who can rule out health problems that may have caused or contributed to your dog's fear. Next, consider consulting an animal behaviorist or professional dog trainer. Often, desensitization therapies and behavior modification can help your dog get over his fears. Depending on severity, medication may be recommended in conjunction. Above all, never give up hope!
Is your dog afraid of something? Vote in the poll and tell us more about your experiences.
Comments
My three year old dog, Molly, is afraid of two things. She is terrified of thunder storms. She trembles and pants heavily. She is also afraid of the dark. She will not go outside at night.
My lab/pit mix Baxter is afraid of a particular large conch shell we have. When the open end is viewable he will bark and obsess over it. Because of the coloring I believe it appears to be bearing teeth to him. The other conch shells do not bother him at all.
One of my dogs is terrified out of his mind of being in his crate. The other was extremely fearful of pretty much everything when we first brought her home. We’ve been successful in getting rid a lot of her phobias, but she still has some lingering fears when it comes to loud noises and some men.
My dog is afraid by the noise of the vacuum cleaner, each day he just run in the kitchen when he hears it. I had a second dog with him and, after some time, he was scared too. I don’t know if my first dog gave him his phobia or maybe I have a scary vacuum cleaner! :]
My dog is afraid of thunder storms. I tried rubbing her down with dryer sheets to prevent static electricity in her hair, but she’s still afraid.
My dog(s) are afraid of the mop-yes, the mop that I use to clean the kitchen floor. They have always been afraid of the mop, and have never, ever been teased or threatened with a mop or any other pole like cleaning tool. I have 6 dogs, all rescues and of the 6, 3 are terrified of the mop. The others? 2 like to pounce on the mop and attack it; one ignores and steps around it.
Our German Shepherd mix is afraid of motorcyles and loud pick-up trucks. Our neighbor has both. Abby would not go outside for fear that one of them would come out of the “opening” garage door. When we would go out with her to assure her that all was well, she would take off running if the door started opening. When inside, she barks continuously when she hears them or any other. We have exposed her to them up close when not running and she will walk up to them. However, she still continues to show her fear on an everyday basis.
My dog is afraid of large trucks — if one drives by us when we’re walking on the sidewalk, he tries to run away. He is also afraid of water, will do anything to avoid a puddle and refuses to go outside in any rainstorm. My sister’s dog is deathly afraid of the heating/cooling vents in their house.
I posted above but thought about some other things that have happened over the years. My chow/lab mix was wary of the woodstove insert in the fireplace. We never used it and no one ever bang on it or anything like that either. But, when Gus walked by it he would keep his eye on it and even look back at it as if he was expecting it to do something. Kind of spooky!
In addition to loud noises (or even just “scary” noises like the wind), Chiqui is afraid of sprinklers. She used to be afraid of a lot of different things, but has improved tremendously.
Our German Shepard Dog is afraid of an open freezer door on the refrigerator. Though normally feerless, the opening of the freezer door sends her out of the room and looking for shelter, ie. the shower, her kennel.
my pit mix is afraid of storms, he hides under the bed and is really afraid of fireworks .
My border collie cross is afraid of quite a few things. The biggest was white vinyl floors, still afraid of those. She is also afraid of white tile floors. I think it is a fear of slipping. To overcome some of her fears, I got involved in Agility with her and a lot of her fears disappeared except for white flooring and thunderstorms.
We got our Lab from the pound, and you get a pretty good picture of his previous life from the things that bother him: men, motorcycles, diesel engines, boats on trailers… He didn’t understand staircases when we first got him, and he was very cautious around strangers… After a year and a half, he’s grown much more confident, but he’s still careful around new people (especially men) so they have to ignore him till he comes to check them out. He usually runs toward loud noises (barking) like fireworks instead of running away! And if I’m concerned about something, he gets concerned too, so I have to remain calm unless it’s real trouble!
JT – that’s so weird about the slick floors. I ALSO used to have a BC mix, and she was also terrified of slick floors. Luckily that was the same year that the Dog Whisperer started on TV, and one of the first episodes was about a Great Dane afraid of linoleum. In general, I think that Cesar Milan is awful to dogs (the equivalent of the old west, where they would tie a frisky horse to a pole until they broke its spirit). But this was a good episode, and it totally worked for Gracie. We just stood up straight and marched very quickly and forcefully across the floor. The only time it would fail is if we (or someone else) “asked” her to come across the floor. Classic example – at the vet’s office: if the vet tech just took her and quickly took her back to the exam rooms, no problem. If they looked at her sweetly and tried to coax her to come along, she’d start skittering backwards and flattening herself out (we call that the 500-lb dog trick).
Dan, I have known quite a few BC owners and a lot of their dogs have different phobias but the biggest is the slippery floor. My dog is the same as yours if you try calling her she won’t walk across them but if you ignore her, here she comes really cautious but still comes. Now that she is older and having depth perception issues, she also has a problem with stairs, she will bark (even in the middle of the night) so that I can stand at the top of the stairs so she can come up them. She is getting better, I can now call her from the bedroom at night and she will come up the stairs by herself.
We have 4 Shih-Tzus and all 4 are afraid of thunder. It has become so bad that even if it’s just a cloudy day or raining, the 2 oldest, 7 yrs. & 6yrs. walk around with their tails down, just waiting for the loud clap of thunder. When it finally happens, they shake and pant constantly. The youngest who is almost 6 yrs, hides under the sofa. The only girl in the group used to search out a dark area to hide, now she likes to sit by us. Wouldn’t you know we live in the lightening capital of the U.S….I just got a tranquilizer for the oldest. Hope it helps him.
My city has transformers installed under the sidewalk and my dog is affraid when we walk over them. Even several meters from the opening. Normally, he’s very courageous. I dont know if he smells something, hears something or feels the static energy coming out of the sidewalk.
Hi, I was hoping you could help. We have a 5 year old Labrador X. We have recently done some home inprovements and moved the hot water system outside. Now each time we turn the water on our dog Kola runs away and hides and we have to really call her to get her to come back.Do you have any tips to stop her doing this. Thanks
My dog Bella has developed a phobia of our refrigerator. We bought it one year ago and several months ago it began making a clicking noise. Whirlpool claims this is “normal” noise. Bella is so freaked out by the refrigerator she does not sleep at night and paces and whimpers and stares at it…it is exhausting for Bella and for us….can you help?
My German Pincher is very afraid of the heating system in our house. As soon as we put the heat on he starts to tremble and hide. Once he worked into a seizure like state in which his eye bulged out and he lost control of one side of his body. We live in FL and rarely need head but once and a while it is needed so what can we do to help him?
We have a 5 year old male Laborador Retriever. He is afraid of walking across a slate tile floor. He has always been an outside dog since we rescued him but we are trying to socialize him to the house. His fear of the tile floor is making it a bit difficult. We have been using positive reinforcement such as treats and praise to try to get him over it. It doesn’t seem like it is working though.
Any ideas?
Our Lab/bird dog mix, we think was abused. She gets freaked out if you get near her tail, and has yelped and tried to bite if we actually touched it. (she is a very docile dog, old and sweet. She is afraid of going thru any doors, and will not bark, ever. We are trying to teach her to speak, it may be a long road. She has serious separation anxiety and has been known to claw thru my wall (by the door I exited thru) if not kenneled. She is always kenneled now even if we leave for a short time. She must be a worrier, because she needs to be told, often, to stop pacing!!
My dog is afraid of, get this, fart noises. I think it started when we would blow on her tummy and then if we ever made a fake fart noise she would sniff her butt, so we thought it was funny and our whole family started doing it. Eventually, she started running away anytime someone made the noise. Maybe she’s just ashamed. Ha.
I have a Australian Shepard Blue lacy cross. She is about one year old, but she has a phobia of baths. We got her from a friend, lived out in the country, but I thought she’d grow out of it. She isn’t afraid of the bathroom but as soon as we put her in the bath, she start trembling and she tries to throw up. As soon as she gets out though, she’s fine. . It isn’t too bad if I sit in there with her, but I don’t know how to help her.. Any Ideas?
My dog gets so scared when you blow at her! She’s extremely scared of the metal food bowl because of the sounds it makes when she eats from it (we have to use a paper plate) she’s very afraid of black dogs. btdubs it’s a shihtzu-bichon.
ever since he got sick drinking and eating he is totally afraid to eat or drink. I took him to the vet and his xrays and blood results came out ok. He barely eats and drinks water. He is soo skinny its scary