Dog Community

My dog has an aniexty problem.

Posted : 11/18/2006 11:24:31 AM

I need some advice. My dog (Coco) has had an a problem with smoke alarms and the stove timer going off. This has been going on for about one year now. When we first moved into this house (which we live on the Air Force base), we would cook muffins sometimes at 400 degrees and the smoke detectors would go off, that's when she started all of this aniexty stuff. We had the smoke detectors replaced b/c we thought maybe they were to sensitive. But we still cannot let the stove timer go off b/c she freaks out.
Then 3 nights ago, she woke up in the middle of the night freaking out again, like their was a beeping noise or something and she did it again the next night. But I figured out what the problem was that next morning. When I was letting them go outside, she didn't want to go, so I stepped outside the door and their was a beeping noise kind of like when the smoke detectors battery is low and needs to be replaced. Thats why she was freaking out for two nights in a row. Now, she doesn't even want to go outside in the back yard anymore. I have no clue what to do b/c she has to go out to use the bathroom, but now she has associated the beeping noise with the back yard. Please help. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks,

corvus

Posted : 11/18/2006 6:05:51 PM

Hmmm, these things can be tricky. I would try desensitising her. Perhaps you can record the smoke alarm and oven bell rings and play it back to her at a low volume. Praise her for being calm and then gradually increase the volume. It can be hard, though, because sometimes dogs know it's a recording and don't respond at all. And if you go too fast and they flip out, you have to start all over again.

Failing that, you could try having her on leash while you make the smoke alarm bleep so she can't race off in hysterics and work her through it that way. I guess that would be considered flooding, and I don't really think it's an ideal way to deal with a very frightened dog, but perhaps because it's a sound that's over quickly, it might work.

Hope someone else can give you some more advicve. Good luck with it.

calliecritturs

Posted : 11/18/2006 7:38:50 PM

Gonna try taking a stab at it.

Hi -- all it takes is ONE thing ONE time to form a negative association and if the future behaviors are inadvertently encouraged it builts.

You'll have to desensitize these sounds by pairing them with positive things. And the easiest thing to start with is the timer -- and probably a variety of things that beep and make noise.

Before you make it MAKE noise show the 'thing' to the dog and pair it with you being calm, *explaining* "This is the timer -- this is a good thing!" and a treat. At first use something that is completely a high value treat -- liver, or whatever is "to die for".

Then frankly, I'd pair it with you cooking and then when the timer goes off, something good happens. Like set it just for a minute and say "see when this goes off YOU get a treat!"

Make it a game. Make it happy and really positive. But realize the timer may emit a sound you can't hear (or if it's a wind up timer just the tick tick may provoke a response). So you have to desensitize the whole process, not JUST the end result of the beep.

At some time, my guess is that someone got worried, nervous or upset when the timer went off (probably because it upset/startled the dog) and THAT reinforced the dog's behavior. Part of desensitizing this is gaining the ability to control YOUR response to the dog's response. Every time this situation arises you have to help the dog see it is NO BIG DEAL. No "ohhh poor baby what's wroooooooooooooooooooooong/???" That simply panders to the dog's fear and makes it feel like it's justified.

so you break it down into small tiny steps -- you use all kinds of electronically generated sounds and pair it with something 'fun' -- even a toy that gets tossed when the beep sounds. Don't just use food -- use ANYTHING this dog sees as positive. Does he like being petted?? Just make SURE you give the positive thing FASTER than the dog can react.

In other words you don't want to reinforce the fearful response. That's one of the reasons to associate all aspects of the timer/beeper/thing with positive things. See? This is the timer? (TREAT). I'm gonna set it -- see?? I push this and it ticks (TREAT) ... pick it up 3 minutes later while it's still 'ticking' and say "see? when this thing gets to zero it's gonna ring!! Won't that be GREAT??? (TREAT).

THEN make sure your hands are on the timer JUST prior to it going off and you count it down -- it's gonna make noise when I say "one" -- 4, 3, 2, 1 -_WHOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! (TREAT IN MOUTH AT "1")

So you are treating/reinforcing the alarm ringing NOT the dog's fear. But also when he sees you can 'predict' that it's gonna ring .... NOW ... suddenly he sees you're in control of it and you WANTED it to ring.

Next time the dog keeps you awake -- don't buy into "awww baby what's got you all upset???" (particulary not with a high pitched whiney tone). But rather "Hey ... it's ok -- let's go find it!!" Then find the source of the sound and 'de-bunk' it -- "Oh that's just the Miller's heat pump on their air conditioner" or "that's just that noisy light on the street! NO problem!!!"

The dog will largely take their cue from you. Should help.

willowchow

Posted : 11/18/2006 7:49:52 PM

It's true. Willow has anxiety and a few things set her off. One being air brakes from trucks & buses. In fact, today we had one go by us while we were at a stop light. So, she started with the huffing and grumbling that she does. And, I just said, "it's OK, it's just a bus. . .there see it went by, it's out of your life now, your OK".

It does help to talk them thru it. The more "what"??, "what's that"?? we are the worse it is for her.

I'm not a fan of medicating dogs. But, since it's severe enough that she doesn't want to go outside you might want to speak to your vet about some medication to use while you work thru these issues. The one Willow was prescribed is Clomicalm.

Tiffany Ward

Posted : 11/19/2006 1:21:31 AM

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post. Everyone seems really helpful on this website and I appreciate that so much because vet bills can get so expensive. Coco has been to the vet many times for things like allergies and allergy related problems, then she just had emergency surgery for Pyometra 3 weeks ago. I love both of my dogs and would do anything for them.
Also I want to thank CALLIECRITTURS for the long detailed response that you posted. You sound very knowledgeable with this type of behavior and just by reading your response made me feel like I talked to a doctor at the vet. I will try those things for her now that I have some guidance.
We did finally resolve the problem with the beeping noise outside. It was the neighbors smoke detector that lives right behind us. They leave their windows open a lot and it was beeping like the battery was low.

Thanks Again.[sm=happy.gif]