Extreme sound sensitivity - advice welcome.

skinnydipper

skinnydipper

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I would be grateful if anyone could tell me what has helped their sound sensitive dog.

The first indication of a problem was triggered by the ridiculous and totally unnecessary cacophony emanating from the local school, which I am told was because Year 11 was leaving. Horns, klaxons, whistles - you name it. I am showing my age now but whatever happened to signing your friends' autograph books? Poor dog was demented, hurtling round the house, tail between legs, barking, I thought she was going to go through a window. She was simultaneously trying to escape and chase it off.

The second incident was at 7 am on a Sunday morning. I had taken her to a community woodland adjacent to the town's bypass. Just got her out of the dog bus when about half a dozen pratts in their customised cars raced along the bypass (clearly prearranged), just as they passed us one backfired. I don't know how I held on to her as she threw herself around on the end of the lead trying to escape. She now won't get out of the vehicle there or anywhere near there - thanks arseholes.

She has transferred the fear generated that morning to the sound of the local boy racer who drives around our area in his modified purple BMW, accelerating his car excessively between the speed bumps in front of the school. There is an open area and wood between us and the road in front of the school so we are some distance away but not far enough.

Then we had the night when we were in bed asleep and somebody kindly let off a firework which sounded like a bomb.

Thunder.

Neighbour's house alarm.

and so it goes on.

It is very distressing for the dog and it is awful to witness her in such a state.

After the first incident I bought Zylkene capsules, an Adaptil plug in and spray and Pet Remedy wipes. I consulted the vet who advised getting her a thunder shirt and desensitisation CD. She is not a stupid dog and knew immediately where the sound from the CD was coming from so I am not sure how useful that is going to be.

I started giving her the Zylkene a couple of days ago because I knew we were going to get thunder this week but it did not help with the house alarm today.

I am not sure how I can prepare for random noises and I am dreading the firework season which seems to start in October and go on till January. I have had 2 dogs in the past who were frightened by gunshots and fireworks but nothing to this extent.

I don't let her off lead currently and now fear that if we ever reach that point and she is frightened by a sound, she will just take off and there will be another dog lost on Facebook.

She is a lovely, sweet natured, young Mastiff X. Exasperating in some respects, no previous training or boundaries but totally lovable.
 
Noise sensitivity, any kind of nerve issue really, is usually genetic and it is probably manifesting itself with maturity.

If it's something you know is likely to happen, then I'd make her a nice, dark, small den space (crate with a cover somewhere out of the way, cupboard under the stairs etc) where you can put her with something to chew. I'd give her something to chew generally, as it's one of the main ways that dogs relieve stress. The Starmark durafoam balls are very good for heavy chewers and they can still be squeezed like a stress ball.

You could make a positive association with noises, obviously start small and build up, by feeding her either by hand or out of the bowl while the noise is occurring, basically give her positive experiences married to the thing that worries her. She might be too stressed to eat in the beginning but I would keep at it, even if she has to get hungry. I know the ship has sailed with your dog, but even with dogs who I knew to be generally sound around noise, I would deliberately take them somewhere noisy/crowded and just stand there and feed them when they behaved neutrally. I would just do this with the dog's normal food, but a friend carries a tube of Primula in the car and calls it 'brave cheese'.

But obviously harder when the noises are random and unexpected.
I do a bit of work with dogs which are gun shy (starting pistol) and it's generally starting out at the far end of the field and rewarding neutral behaviour and then bringing them closer and closer down the field until the reaction is minimised. However when you remove the context (different venue, wind coming in a different direction, dog in car park when the gun is being fired for someone else - so, when it is unexpected) then it can all go out the window and you're back to square one.

Are there such a thing as dog earplugs?
 
Thanks very much, CC. Your advice is much appreciated.

She gets natural chews daily but I will also get her one of the balls you recommend. I try to just act calm and matter of fact. Today I closed all the windows, kept her in one room with blinds drawn and played some dog relaxation music until she eventually calmed down.

I thought I would get an easy dog for what will probably be my last dog but she is certainly not that (rueful smile).
 
Ah, where's the fun in that lol...hopefully you can help her through and teach her that nothing bad happens.

There's a dog close to where I train that goes nuts every time the crow banger goes off...so about every 15 minutes at certain times of year. In his head, I suppose he thinks his reaction makes the noise stop. A differently wired dog would think 'well it's gone off a few times now and nothing bad has happened, so I'll ignore it'.
 
Our old Labrador, Spot, hated beeps, so whenever she became upset about a beep we used to push big chunks of cotton wool in her ears. Definitely helped. Hope you find a resolution to her issues 🐾
 
I wondered if you got doggy earplugs too, or whether a smaller set of the pony sheepskin ones would work, albeit you wouldn't want to leave them in all the time 'in case'
I'm noise sensitive earplugs are bloody amazing!
 
Thanks, all.

I have found some Mutt Muffs on line but I doubt she would keep them on.

I will have a look at the ones for a pony, thank you Esther. People keep telling me I could ride her ;)
 
how long have you had her?
my collie I got aged 2 and she had barely left a house, so she was very nervous and easily spooked. but with time and also firm commands, she very quickly calmed down and is a pretty chilled dog now (at least with things she knows, she can be a bit on edge in different environments but that is understandable). if you are stressed she is stressed. but sometimes it is hard to control our own feelings.

I also used to have a reactive GSD and I could not help but tense when other dogs approached, which of course did not help him. But I found the command to look at me or leave it/ignore it, worked as he needed to know what to do.

do they take any notice of you if you command them to lie down when they are panicking? obviously they are not in a state to fully concentrate on you, but sometimes being told a clear action could help?

my friend has a very anxious agility collie and she has to go through commands to keep him concentrating and prevent him escalating when she knows he is getting stressed. it keeps him focussed.
 
pippixox said:
how long have you had her?
my collie I got aged 2 and she had barely left a house, so she was very nervous and easily spooked. but with time and also firm commands, she very quickly calmed down and is a pretty chilled dog now (at least with things she knows, she can be a bit on edge in different environments but that is understandable). if you are stressed she is stressed. but sometimes it is hard to control our own feelings.

I also used to have a reactive GSD and I could not help but tense when other dogs approached, which of course did not help him. But I found the command to look at me or leave it/ignore it, worked as he needed to know what to do.

do they take any notice of you if you command them to lie down when they are panicking? obviously they are not in a state to fully concentrate on you, but sometimes being told a clear action could help?

my friend has a very anxious agility collie and she has to go through commands to keep him concentrating and prevent him escalating when she knows he is getting stressed. it keeps him focussed.
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Thank you for your advice.

I adopted her 2 months ago. So far have house trained and taught her basic obedience - sit, down, stand, stay, finish, leave it, find it, watch me, touch, walk on a loose leash and other more trivial things like roll over and ring the bell, etc. I am teaching her to give me attention when out and about which has gone from zero (not a flicker of acknowledgement) to occasionally "checking in". She will recall enthusiastically in a freedom field where she has already sussed out her options are limited. She is very affectionate, playful and responsive at home, which is fun now that the body slamming and mouthing have extinguished (I hope).

Her hysteria to sounds is instant. To her the sound is a matter of life or death - it is not just nervousness, and her ability to listen to any commands at that time is zero.

In general, when not afraid, she is already turning to me more but she is not a needy dog generally. I have gone from having a dog who would have walked on hot coals if I had asked him to, to one who is independent and self rewarding. She is a lovely natured dog both with people, other dogs and my little cat, so well worth the effort.
 
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still incredibly early days then at least. I would stick to walks you know are hopefully quiet (of course you did not plan the car incident) and in general try and keep stress low.

its hard to bond with new dogs I think, and you can't help but panic. first week our collie howled just us going upstairs and had to sleep on me! and I was so worried I'd made a terrible mistake. dog before was reactive but he was a dream in the house and with people. so laid back. but 3 months in she was way more settled. now had her over 2 years. again, although she likes people, she had never had a leader to look to (not suggesting I am dominant in any way) and would do her own thing, now she has a bit of a free spirit, but actually always knows you are near and is just too clever so only comes when she needs to!

maybe when schools are back you can try a bit of desensitising to the noisy school kids- walking past when at playtime maybe? I'm not suggesting chucking them in the playground! but she can learn its a happy noise and get treats with it?
 
Sorry, I can't have explained things very well.

She has no problem with the school or school children, or people in general. I regularly walk her on the land behind our house when they are all going in to or out of school and she is happy to ignore or greet. If you don't live near a school you may not have heard the noise to which I referred in my first post which occurs once a year when year 11 breaks up.
 
It's early days, yes, but a dog has to be in a certain frame of mind in order to learn. If she is in a state of blind panic, she is unlikely to be able to eat treats, unlikely to process what is going on. I have once had to resort to using Xanax on a dog in order to get her into a calm enough state to learn.

Obviously the more an undesired behaviour/reaction is practiced the more ingrained it becomes. It may be worth having a chat with your vet to see what they could prescribe to help if all else fails.
 
gunnergundog said:
It's early days, yes, but a dog has to be in a certain frame of mind in order to learn. If she is in a state of blind panic, she is unlikely to be able to eat treats, unlikely to process what is going on. I have once had to resort to using Xanax on a dog in order to get her into a calm enough state to learn.

Obviously the more an undesired behaviour/reaction is practiced the more ingrained it becomes. It may be worth having a chat with your vet to see what they could prescribe to help if all else fails.
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Thank you for sharing your experience.

Sadly I do not think the desensitisation & thunder shirt are going to be enough and she is going to need something prescribed to get her through the fireworks because her stress is just going to increase.

I will consult the vet again.

Thank you.
 
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