The dog is afraid of any sounds on the street. The dog is afraid of loud noises. What to do? Fright experienced as a puppy

We consider dogs not only four-legged friends, but also protectors who, in case of danger, will always attack the enemy. But what if your pet hides behind its owner or runs away at the slightest loud sound? Of course, this pet behavior is confusing. And we need to fight this somehow. But first you need to find out why the dog is afraid of loud noises?

Reasons for fear of loud noises

Everyone knows that dogs have excellent hearing. They hear what a person is simply unable to hear. Therefore, any loud sounds are very unpleasant for our four-legged friends. But there are various factors that can contribute to the development of phobias in animals.

Most often, dogs become afraid of loud noises for the following reasons:

• Innate fear. If your pet has never been in stressful situations before, but, as a puppy, is already beginning to react inappropriately to any loud noises, then the cause of his phobia may be genetics. The fear of loud noises may be inherited from his mother or father.
• Unbalanced psyche. Dogs, like humans, have their own character and individual mental characteristics. For example, some breeds typically react to noise by being wary, while hunting breeds are excited when a gun fires. If your pet is a service dog, but runs away when a loud stimulus appears, then this may indicate an imbalance in his psyche.
• Experienced shock. Very often, dogs begin to be afraid of loud sounds after the holidays, which are accompanied by fireworks and explosions of firecrackers. Additionally, this phobia can develop if the animal develops an association between a loud sound and a traumatic event. For example, if a firecracker was thrown under a dog's paws, it exploded and injured the animal.

How to overcome fear?

It is no secret that the behavior of our animals directly depends on our attitude towards them. Therefore, if a dog develops fear, first of all the person needs to learn how to behave correctly.

The behavior of the owner when the animal is frightened:

• If the pet simply froze when a loud sound appeared, then the owner should calmly stroke it, take it aside and, if possible, try to distract it from the fright with the help of its favorite toy.
• If the dog refuses to walk, the owner should move away from it as far as possible, and it is important that the animal is on a leash. You need to create the appearance of great interest in some subject so that the dog also becomes interested. After that, you can call her over. The main thing is that your pet relaxes.
• If a dog panics when a loud sound appears, its owner must remain calm. You need to pull your pet as close to you as possible and command “Nearby” in a stern but calm voice. Then the animal must be taken as far as possible from the danger zone.
• Under no circumstances should you feel sorry for the dog, hug or show sympathy in any way. Otherwise, she may develop a connection between panic and the owner's attention.
• You need to work out at least one command to which your pet will respond 100% in any situation.

Ways to deal with fear

All of the above tips help to pacify and calm the animal. But in order to overcome the fear of loud sounds, you need to develop the correct behavior in your dog. Regular training will help you with this.

If you have a small puppy, then you need to gradually accustom him to loud sounds. There is no need to walk your pet in noisy places with a lot of people and vehicles. It is better to choose quiet places for walks. Exposure to loud sounds should be done at home, for example by turning on a hairdryer for a short time. Be sure to praise your puppy when he calms down on his own. Once he gets used to the sound, you can introduce him to other loud stimuli.

If the dog is an adult, then you can use the following techniques:

• "Balloons". Your assistant should inflate the balloon and move away from you at a distance of 30-50 meters. The dog must be on a leash. If she panicked when the ball burst, then you need to increase the distance a little and calm the animal. This technique should be practiced by gradually decreasing the distance until your pet no longer reacts to the loud sound. The final stage of this method is a fun game with balls. Your pet can play with the balls by bursting them with his teeth.
• "Firecrackers." This method is tougher. Therefore, it should only be used after you have trained your dog to use balloons. To do this, you will again need the help of another person. It is better to explode firecrackers somewhere around the corner of the house at a fairly large distance from the animal in order to slightly muffle the loud sound. You should not approach your pet closer than 15-20 meters.

In order to overcome any fear you need patience. Help your beloved pets live a full life. We hope that our article will help you with this.

In the previous article, we looked at the issue of preventing (preventing) a dog’s fear of loud sounds (gunshots, firecrackers exploding, etc.). The conversation was about.

In six days, with two training sessions, firing an average of 5 shots per session, I trained the Jagdterrier Schwartz to shoot.

Now the shot means a signal for him to receive food.

It took me about 60 shots to get this result.

Now, let's say you get a dog that is already afraid of loud noises.

Once I found in a book (I don’t remember the author) advice on how to wean a dog from being afraid of loud noise. He writes that it is necessary to place a kennel with a dog near the roaring thresher. The dog simply will have no choice but to get used to this environmental factor - the noise of the thresher.

Indeed, I have more than once heard stories about birds building their nests and sitting down to hatch their chicks in working agricultural machinery (winnowers, threshers, etc.). But the bird has the opportunity to choose where to build its nest.

While tying a timid dog near a noise source, in my opinion, is cruel.

Fortunately, “thresher machines” have disappeared from our lives, so even with all our desire, we cannot take the author’s advice.

In addition, progress does not stand still and we can solve the problem with the help of modern humane teaching methods.

So how can you stop your dog from being afraid of loud noises?

The first condition for the success of the planned event is the establishment of a trusting relationship between the owner and the dog.

If she doesn't trust you, then the chances are zero.

It is for these purposes that the course was created, after completing which, I create with my four-legged student (a pack), in which he acquires the status of a Subordinate individual, and the trainer becomes a Leader (leader).

In the process of training, the dog develops an ethical sense (at the resting place, when feeding, when passing through doors, when encountering foreign objects, etc.) and thus the basis for conflicts between the trainer (owner) and the dog disappears.

From now on, the owner’s requirements become clear to the dog and it willingly obeys them.

From this moment on, the dog begins to trust me limitlessly and is ready to learn everything that I offer it.

Usually, this preliminary training takes about one month, during which I teach the dog the tasks listed above twice a day (morning and evening, during feeding).

Once the team, ranks and harmonious, trusting relationships have been created, you can move on to any other training task - in our particular case - teaching the dog not to be afraid of shots.

As in the previous example, I take the child's toy gun, stop all other training and focus on solving this problem.

Let me remind you that the dog receives food only during these activities (twice a day - morning and evening - with two feedings a day).

Training scheme:

1. I take the dog on a leash, give the command Walk and walk in a circle (in the apartment or on the street)
2. Hiding the pistol behind my back, I fire “blank shots” (without caps)
3. I take out the food and give it to the dog

Repeat this procedure three to five times, each time monitoring the dog’s psychological state.

As soon as she refuses food, stop training and feeding, postponing training (and feeding) until the next lesson.

As soon as the dog stops paying attention to the clicks of the gun, you can move on to the next stage.

Make it more difficult by inserting the primers and shooting, first holding the gun behind your back and then in front of the dog.

If the dog willingly eats the food and does not react to shots, go outside, replacing the toy gun with a starter gun (which shoots caps) and repeat all over again.

Finally, as described in the previous article, start reinforcing not every shot, but, for example, every second, fifth, etc.

Increase the number of shots to ten in one session with the dog.

I wish you success!

Take action and you will teach your dog to be afraid of loud noises!

P.S. After a month of training with the timid English bulldog Joni, he began to calmly go outside, surprising the guards at the house.

Residents of the entrance came up and asked: “Is this really our Joni? What did you do with him? He’s no longer afraid to go outside!”

The family was musical, there was a powerful synthesizer in the living room, and I suggested that the owners use it to select sounds similar to gunshots and firecracker explosions, using them to teach the dog not to be afraid.

My last training was preparing a dog for a show.

After two weeks of classes, Joni went to a specialized exhibition, where he behaved calmly and confidently, receiving his moment of fame (and a gold medal for exterior).

P.S. Therefore, if your dog is afraid of shots, firecrackers and fireworks, do not despair.

Proceed according to the scheme:

1. Take the Basic Training course
2. Teach her not to be afraid of gunfire

Good luck in achieving harmony in your relationship with your pet!

The male is 4.5 years old, and around the age of 1.5 he developed fear of gunshots, explosions of firecrackers, etc. I learned to be afraid, as I understand it, from an older boxer friend. We have a military training ground nearby, they bang quite often, so the problem cannot be solved. Lately I’ve also become terrified of thunderstorms; in general, my fears get worse with age. if I catch a shot on the street, we fly home as fast as we can; if I manage to stop him right away, then he just rushes home, next to me, but very quickly. If I don’t have time to stop him, I fly like a balloon on a leash. at home we hide under the table, in the bathroom or somewhere else, we hid ourselves somewhere, we breathe quickly, drool flows from our bluish tongue, in general, it’s not good for a dog. I give valerian, but it doesn’t help much. Before the New Year we start drinking it 2 weeks before, on New Year’s Eve this year I gave half of phenazepam, it seemed to be better. We are afraid to walk in the dark during the New Year holidays, and we can’t even get him outside during the day. in general, this is atas. I understand that it will only get worse over the years, and I worry about my heart. how to fight? How can I help you? Share who has encountered this.

I have the same problem with chocolate girl. Now she is 6 years old. The fear appeared when she was one and a half years old, when during the New Year holidays I went for a walk with her in the evening and we passed by a group of teenagers. They threw firecrackers at our feet. Since then the dog has been afraid of firecrackers. Then came the fear of thunderstorms. Now she is afraid even of the sound of carpets being beaten out (you know, when they hang a carpet on the street and beat the dust out of it).

I've read a lot about how to teach a dog not to be afraid of loud noises, for example by rewarding him with a treat for being a little bold. But whatever... she refuses to eat, she is not interested in any positive reinforcement. They say that you need to reproduce the sound of thunder and gunshots in the recording so that the dog gets used to it, but in the recording it’s just not afraid.

If we are at home, she hides in the bathroom, if on the street, she rushes home as fast as she can. And now on New Year's or holidays, when they shoot firecrackers, she has strange attacks: she sleeps, then jumps up as if in fright, her eyes are bulging, her tail is between her legs, she is shaking all over and cannot get to her feet. It's like losing orientation. I went to the veterinarians, I thought it was epilepsy, but the doctors said it was a heart problem. But I think it’s still due to nerves. I've given up trying to get her used to loud noises, I'm just protecting my dog. When they start shooting, I just open the bathroom door and turn up the volume of the TV in the room, close the windows and it seems to me that she can’t hear the shooting outside. I feel very sorry for my girl at this moment.

They tried to teach him to shoot, but during a thunderstorm he doesn’t even want to play at home, he cries and hides. We tried recording the sounds of gunfire and thunderstorms on a cassette tape and constantly playing it at home, but it doesn’t help, it doesn’t respond to the sound in the recording. what to do? We don’t have dog handlers or trainers, and there’s no one to go to for classes.

what to do when a dog is hysterical - should you feel sorry or not pay attention? Which year we celebrate the New Year at home, without going anywhere, we are afraid to leave him alone.

We have also been celebrating the New Year at home for 4 years now because of the dog. It's not that I feel sorry for her, I try to calm her down or distract her. I'm talking to her. I'm really bad at it. But I'm not giving up trying yet.

We went to a dog handler - it didn’t help. The dog has a diploma in OKD with an “excellent” rating, but he is afraid of shots and that’s all.

Modified June 29, 2009 by RACHEL

One of the most common reasons for pets to run away is fear. The number of “losses” reaches its peak during major holidays, when mass celebrations are held, ending with fireworks. Rolls of thunder and bright domes frighten the four-legged animals so much that they do not hear commands and run without looking back, and a panicked escape rarely ends in an independent return home. What to do if your dog is afraid of loud noises? Should I leave everything as it is or still make an attempt to overcome the phobia?

Working on correcting your pet's behavior is much easier if you understand what the fear is based on. Fear of loud noises may have the following reasons:

• Idiopathic or congenital- in fact, a reason that cannot be established. Perhaps the fear was inherited by the dog or the puppy was scared in its “puppy age.”

• Mental imbalance– usually, hunting dogs are delighted when they see a gun or hear it. This reaction is inherent in the puppy’s gene pool and this is normal. A service dog, alert when hearing noise, a guard dog, takes a defensive position. The conclusion is this: if a purely service dog panics when hearing loud sounds, we can talk about a weak nervous system.

• Negative experience– even a brave and balanced pet will be scared if a burning firecracker is quietly thrown under its paws. If a dog was shot, this also becomes a stress that accompanies the four-legged person throughout his life. Animals taken from war zones are most often terrified of explosions.

Precautionary measures

Let's say you're lucky and you buy a dog that is afraid of loud noises for inexplicable reasons. What to do next? You can act pragmatically and exchange the puppy as a commodity in the supermarket, or you can choose in favor of the baby and work on eradicating fears.

Read also: How to wean a dog from sleeping on the bed with its owner - 5 simple methods

Considering your pet's weak point, you should take the following precautions:

• Buy an address token– even if your ward runs away, the token will attract the attention of others. Be sure to include your phone number on the tag so that people who find the dog can contact you as soon as possible.

• Don't let your pet off the leash unless necessary.– there are many unexpected dangers on the street for a dog with a phobia. Vehicles making unexpectedly loud noises, metal doors slamming, teenagers playing with pyrotechnics - all this is the “big picture” for you and a source of fear for your pet.

• Educate your ward– for dogs with phobias there is a general recommendation: practice one of the commands 100%. Let it be “Stand” or “Sit”, it’s not that important, the main thing is that your stop command is heard and executed in any conditions.

• Work on suppressing fear, we will consider the methods below.

Important! Remember that only you are responsible for the dog's safety! An escaped ward may get hit by a car, get caught, or get into a fight. Don't neglect safety measures!

Suppressing fear

So, you've decided to teach your dog not to be afraid of loud noises and don't know where to start. Advice - start with yourself. The fact is that most owners react incorrectly to their pet's phobia by encouraging panic. For example, you are walking with your ward on a leash, a firecracker explodes in the distance, the dog begins to whine and rush around, you rush to your ward and begin to calm him down. By lisping over your pet, you express your feelings, you are worried, you are scared... the dog concludes that it is not in vain that it is afraid. In addition, the tailed one learns that your increased attention can be achieved by raising panic. As a result, you reassure your ward and continue on your way, but in fact, you strengthen the foundations of fear and teach your pet to manipulate you.

Read also: How and what to feed a Labrador Retriever: healthy eating rules

Owner behavior tactics when a dog is scared

The correct reaction to the fright of the ward is complete, even cold, calm. Nothing special happened, you are not afraid and there is no reason to panic. Subsequent actions depend on the degree of fear:

• The dog froze, laid back its ears and tucked its tail - we calmly pat the dog on the head, take it to the side, take out a ball (preferably with a squeaker) or another favorite toy, and distract the dog with a game. The “maneuver” can be completed when the patient has relaxed and returned to normal.

• The dog fell to the ground and refuses to walk - we move away from the ward as far as possible (it is advisable to walk on a long leash), sit down on the ground, pretend to be intensely interested with blades of grass or sticks, you can reinforce interest with your favorite toy. As soon as the ward begins to rise, we call him with the command “Come to me”, if necessary, pull him up on a leash, and distract him with a game.

• The dog is panicking, trying to escape from the collar, jumping, showing panic aggression - in this case, you should behave as calmly as possible, but not harshly towards the pet. We intercept the ward by the withers and croup (by the skin), with a sharp turn we place it at the left leg, with a jerk of the leash we give the command “Near” (loudly and firmly, but not shouting). We immediately start moving, the dog should move alongside, and if necessary, support the leash. We move away to a sufficiently large distance from the place of fear, practice several commands, for example, “Sit”, “Lie down”, “Stand”. We praise vigorously and be sure to reward the pet for the completed command. The phrases: “Calm down” and “Don’t be afraid” should not be heard! As soon as you see the dog’s enthusiasm, transfer the training of commands into a game. Is your pet relaxed? Great! You have overcome a panic attack.

Most four-legged friends associate a collar and leash with a pleasant procedure - a walk on the street. However, animals do not always perceive going outside positively – this can happen to a small puppy or an adult dog. An attentive owner should understand the reasons for this behavior and help the pet overcome its fear on the street. Our article will tell you what to do if your dog is afraid to walk.

Read in this article

Reasons why a dog is afraid to walk

First of all, seeing the animal’s reluctance and fear of a street walk, the owner must rule out physical illness. Experienced dog breeders and dog handlers include stress, illiterate training, and mental problems in the animal as the reasons for a dog’s negative attitude toward walking.

At the puppy's

The owner may encounter the problem of a dog’s fear of the street even in puppyhood. Responsible breeders give the animal to a new home only when they reach two months of age and, as a rule, advise the new owner about the timing of revaccination and the time of visiting the street.

Early weaning from the mother and premature separation from their furry brothers and sisters reduce the baby’s level of socialization. It is difficult for such a pet to adapt to constantly changing environmental conditions. Fear during a walk is often experienced by young puppies, who were kept in an enclosure or in cages by would-be breeders as puppies.

Due to inexperience, the newly-made owners strive to introduce the new family member to the territory of a country house or dacha as early as possible. You can't do this. The fragile psyche of the baby and the stress of moving to a new place lead to the puppy developing fear.

On the street, your pet's sensitive nose picks up many unfamiliar smells. The noise of a passing car, the screams of children, or a person on a bicycle can cause panic and extreme stress in a child. Mentally unbalanced individuals react especially nervously to extraneous sounds and stimuli.

In an adult dog

In some cases, the owner may be faced with a reluctance to take an adult dog out for a walk. This situation never arises without reason and is due to the following common reasons:

• On the last walk, some unpleasant situation occurred with the animal - a car scared it, the dog almost fell under the wheels of a vehicle, or for the first time encountered a noisy and large bulldozer, construction machine, etc.
• Aggressive actions of a person towards a relative - beating another dog, catching stray animals - could also cause severe fear in an adult pet.
• Pets of miniature breeds are often subject to aggressive actions from their larger relatives. Memories associated with the animal receiving mechanical or psycho-emotional trauma lead to the development of a negative reaction to the upcoming walk in the fresh air.
• Weather conditions may be to blame for your dog's reluctance to go outside. Bad weather, heat, severe frost, gusts of wind are perceived by many pets without enthusiasm. Representatives of short-haired breeds and miniature decorative dogs are especially capricious in this matter.
• The reason why an adult dog is afraid to walk outside may be disorders in the musculoskeletal system. The development of hip joints, subluxations, incipient arthrosis, and arthritis, as a rule, in the initial stages are not always accompanied by a pronounced clinical picture.

The animal experiences discomfort and even pain when walking for a long time or walking on asphalt sidewalks. Due to developing problems of the musculoskeletal system, an adult dog is reluctant to accept an invitation to the next promenade.

• Owners of elderly pets often face the problem of not only the lack of joy at the sight of a leash, but also the obvious reluctance of the old dog to leave the apartment. As dogs age, they lose their sense of smell and hearing, and their vision deteriorates. Such helplessness causes animals to feel confused and sometimes disorientated in an ever-changing urban environment.

The bulk of owners' calls to a veterinary specialist regarding fear of walking occurs during the New Year holidays. Explosions of firecrackers, fireworks, fireworks and other festive cannonades are common causes of fear in pets.

From a shelter animal

Most often, the owner faces the problem of inadequate perception of walking down the street if the animal is adopted from a shelter.

Such individuals, as a rule, were kept for a long time in enclosures and cages and had minimal contact with humans. Long-term isolation of animals is accompanied by a low level of socialization, which is often manifested by a fear of everything new.

The specificity of shelters is such that there are no opportunities for daily or even weekly walking. Dogs are forced to spend their entire lives for months and years in cramped enclosures or cages.

Volunteers helping the shelter note that walking makes a strong impression on many animals: animals are afraid of literally everything - a flying bird, a group of people, unfamiliar objects. The sound and sight of a passing car, a cyclist, or a person on skis can cause panic in shelter dogs.

Such animals often suffer from various types of mental disorders. This is due to negative factors that occurred in the pet’s life: the death of the previous owner, changes in living and feeding conditions, harsh attitude of strangers. Lack of attention, care and love leads to the fact that a dog from a shelter negatively perceives any changes in the environment.

Once in a new home, an animal may be reluctant to go outside, as it will be afraid that it will be abandoned, abandoned, or taken to an unpleasant place.

If only in the evening

In some cases, an attentive owner may notice that the dog is afraid to walk when it gets dark outside. Veterinary experts believe that the cause of this phenomenon may be visual impairment. If there is a lack of vitamin A in the pet's diet, the dog develops night blindness.

The disease manifests itself in the fact that in the dark the animal has difficulty distinguishing the outlines of objects. Considering that dogs are not distinguished by acute vision, the pathology significantly complicates the pet’s orientation in the evening.

The cause of the phobia may be bright headlights that blind the animal while walking. Representatives of miniature breeds are frightened in the dark by rustling plastic bags, sounds of passing vehicles, footsteps of passers-by and other environmental irritants due to the specifics of their temperament and the mental characteristics of small animals.

To learn how to wean a puppy from being afraid of the street, watch this video:

How to help your dog overcome his fear of the street

The owner needs to teach his four-legged friend to react adequately to changing environmental conditions during a walk from puppyhood. Miniature dog breeds, for example, toy terriers, chihuahuas, should be walked only in your arms until they reach 4-6 months of age.

Larger breeds should be taught to walk on a collar and leash no earlier than 4 months of age. Walking in your arms gives your baby confidence and calmness. The young animal feels safe, trusts its owner and gradually gets used to the unfamiliar world around it, without experiencing psycho-emotional stress.

If an adult pet has problems with walking due to the sudden negative impact of some environmental factor (explosion of firecrackers, threat of being run over by a vehicle, etc.), the owner’s tactics should be aimed at developing positive emotions. For this purpose, experienced dog breeders recommend using elements of training.

Dogs, as predators, even domesticated ones, have a highly developed food addiction. The consumption of food and water is associated in the animal with well-being and safety. This phenomenon is widely used by dog ​​handlers not only for training, but also for the purpose of correcting the dog’s behavior.

Seeing the animal’s reluctance to leave the premises for a walk, the owner should skip one feeding. The next meal should be timed to coincide with the planned walk and the dog should be fed outside.

If the owner notices that the pet is tense and afraid during a walk, under no circumstances should he be encouraged or reassured at this time. Illiterate actions will lead to the fact that the animal will develop the wrong motivation. The best way out is to ignore the manifestation of fear.

You can also distract your pet with a game that is familiar to him or give him his favorite toy. You should not forcibly take your dog to a new, unfamiliar place. After waiting until the dog gets comfortable and begins to explore the territory with curiosity, without fear, it should be rewarded with its favorite treat.

Advanced cases most often occur when the animal is severely shaken or when the dog is taken from a shelter. Such individuals sometimes flatly refuse to leave the house. In this case, dog handlers recommend skipping feeding and giving the next portion to the dog at the front door.

The next stage is receiving food on the landing. There is no need to rush to go outside. It is necessary to wait for the dog’s positive reaction and only then proceed to the next stage. In some cases, regular classes with a specialist in the field of zoopsychology are necessary.

If your dog is afraid to go outside at dusk, it is advisable to move the walk to daylight hours or use a powerful flashlight. If the reason for the reluctance to exercise is illness, old age, or malaise of the pet, the owner needs to adapt to the needs of the animal and not try to break it.