Fear,Stress, anxiety

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Postby rockermom » February 16th, 2009, 1:54 pm

appreciate any ideas.
This would be a long story to explain the whole thing and why he has this fear so I am going to try to make it short.
We have high water pressure causes our pipes to hammer. Worst hammer noise is when the lawn sprinkler system changes zones. This scares Rocky while in the house. I think because he has associated it with the back yard sprinkler comming on. He hates water and probably had been out there at one time when they came on.
If something goes on with the plumbing then the hammer noise will intermitently make a clunk noise not nearly as loud but this happenend when toilet broke a few months ago making Rocky hide in a back room and tremble.
Now over the past few days for some reason the pipes are intermitently clunking. It mostly scares Rocky at night. Now the best would be to fix the problem. But dont think it will be an easy fix. So now
I am trying to desenstize him.
Now picture he is terrified of this noise. He is trembling. and has panted on a few occasions. He rarely pants unless it is really hot out.
Here is what I have been doing.
during the day today every time I here the noise and I see him look to be nervous I have been giving him a piece of chicken to reward him before he gets the chance to go hide. It seems to help as he apears to be less fearful and move about the house with less fear. (tail not tucked).
Today I brought his crate back up to the living area. Not feeling this is the best idea. But felt it better for him so he has a safe zone instead of hiding in a corner.
But I may put it back downstairs where it has been for the past year.
Any ideas on how to help him cope. i have to work on this because last night while my husband was going out to smoke a cigarette Rocky snuck past him to go hide under a bush. luckily this was out back so he could not go too far.
Thanks
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Postby rockermom » February 16th, 2009, 2:31 pm

Oh just wanted to add.
he is not getting locked in crate just using it as a safe zone
And I tried having my son slightly tap on pipes while I played games and rewarded Rocky for it.
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Postby TinaMartin » February 16th, 2009, 3:01 pm

Can you get a recording of it and work on obedience with it playing at low volume in the background? Over time as he gets use to it slowly increase the volume?
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Postby rockermom » February 16th, 2009, 4:18 pm

I thought of trying that. Like you would do with thunder. Which guessing by the way he is acting thunder is going to be a problem this spring/summer season. Now of course the sound has stopped and it is a hard sound to duplicate. I'm guessing it will start at midnight again. Murphy's law.
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Postby TinaMartin » February 16th, 2009, 4:39 pm

Of course it only happens when its a pain in the rear.
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Postby DemoDick » February 16th, 2009, 4:56 pm

Michelle has been through this with Ruby and the old dryer. Unfortunately, the only thing that worked was getting rid of it.

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Postby maberi » February 16th, 2009, 5:06 pm

DemoDick wrote:Michelle has been through this with Ruby and the old dryer. Unfortunately, the only thing that worked was getting rid of it.

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Are you sure that wasn't so she could get that purty blue one she has now?
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Postby katiek0417 » February 16th, 2009, 5:22 pm

If my dogs have a fear of something, I like to use either obedience, then reward them for the obedience or use play time (to keep their mind off of it).

I like the idea of taping the sound, then using it in the background as you do obedience, or as you play with him...
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Postby DemoDick » February 16th, 2009, 5:25 pm

maberi wrote:
DemoDick wrote:Michelle has been through this with Ruby and the old dryer. Unfortunately, the only thing that worked was getting rid of it.

Demo Dick



Are you sure that wasn't so she could get that purty blue one she has now?


I'm sure. I try not to let her touch anything laundry related. It works out, because she hates doing it anyway.

If the dog is having a full blown panic attack, you probably won't be able to train your way out of it. Ruby was close to actually having seizures during her attacks, and trying to use training to deal with a problem that severe is like trying to stop a truck with your hand.

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Postby rockermom » February 16th, 2009, 6:29 pm

well at night I would say it is almost full blown panic. But in the middle of night I am not up to training so I get him to a safe place and he does ok on his own. During the day he is not full blown he is not as scared for some reason so that is when I am doing the training. Right now as we speak my husband and son are working on backwashing hot water heater. Hope it works. But I hope this is not the start of fear of sounds
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