New Puppy, Help!

[america57]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't posted for awhile because my life has gotten really hectic! We got a new puppy! We rescued him from the pound. He is a boxer/hound mix. We named him Louie. We love him already! If you click on the URL below my signature, you can see a picture of him. I didn't know how to make his picture appear on my signature all the time, if someone knows how, feel free to do it for me! He is beautiful! He has a beautiful brindle coat, he is going to weigh about 80 pounds and you can already tell he is going to be a very regal looking dog.

Anyway, we got the puppy Tuesday night. I woke up that night with a terrible pain in my right lung. Went to the doctor, I have bronchitis, so I have been really sick, meanwhile, I have this baby puppy to take care of! Anyway, here is my problem. He is afraid of loud noises, if we are outside and a car comes down the street, he bolts for the door. How can I get him used to loud noises without tramatizing him? Other than that fear, he is a really good puppy. He goes in and out of his crate, he woke us up at 4:00 last night to let us know he had to go poopie, he has only had one accident in the house and that was the first day. He has really dialed in to our family, we are having a lot of fun. When we had to have our 13 year old dog put to sleep, I never thought I would get over it, but with a puppy, you are so busy taking care of him, it takes some of the pain away. It is also good for me to know that I raised a good dog before, so I am confident I can do it again.

[Isabeau]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

Fear of Thunderstorms in Dogs
Dr. Chip Coombs

Every spring and summer dog owners are faced with the annoying and often serious problem of their dog being frightened of thunderstorms. In most cases, this fear can be considered a phobia. A phobia is a fearful response to a stimulus, in this case the thunderstorm, which is out of proportion to the real threat that this stimulus poses. In other words, other than the unlikelihood of actually being struck by a bolt of lightning, a thunderstorm poses no real threat, being just a lot of noise and flashes.
Fear of thunderstorms is quite common, as any veterinarian would admit with the numbers of owners seeking an easy solution to the problem. As we shall see there are solutions, but they require some time and effort by the owner. In most cases, no one in the family will actually remember when or how the phobia began; it may not even have been an actual thunderstorm that initially started it. Often the fear of one noise will, over time, begin to generalise to encompass other similar sounds. For example, a car that backfired as it was passing may have frightened a puppy walking along the street, and it was this initial sudden loud noise that initiated the fear of thunderstorms and possibly other loud noises. Fortunately, it is not necessary to know how or why the phobia started in order to treat it successfully.
Two concepts that are important to remember when treating noise phobias are that 1.) The dog’s response to the noise is directly proportional to the intensity of the noise – the louder and closer the storm, the worse the dog’s response; and 2.) When a dog acquires a response to one particular stimulus (e.g. a storm) then it often will acquire a similar response to similar stimuli (e.g. firecrackers).
Although initially not considered a problem by some owners, it is important to treat dogs for noise phobias, for in most cases the response gets worse with repetition (or as the dog gets older). In other words, as a puppy, a dog may simply shiver a little during a storm, yet as an adult having experienced thunderstorms many times, the response can progress to shear terror involving trembling, hiding, barking, salivating, defecating, urinating or destructive behaviour.
The ideal time to treat noise phobias is when you can control the exposure to the noise itself. With thunderstorms, the, the best time to start is after the summer and into the fall: having your dog experience a severe thunderstorm half-way through the training period will likely undo all the progress made to that point, meaning you will have to start all over again.
The treatment sought after by most owners would be a simple “quick fix” solution, which would be given when the situation required it. Most owners would then ask their veterinarians for a tranquillising or sedating drug to be administered when a storm arrives. As many owners have discovered drugs usually don’t offer much of a solution. The reason is that, in order for an oral tranquilliser to be most effective, it has to be given to a patient who is in a relatively calm state of mind; waiting for the storm clouds to arrive and then popping the pill is not likely to work. Most dogs that require treatment for this phobia have long ago learned to associate a drop in barometric pressure with the ensuing thunder and lightning. We, as human beings, usually are unaware of this pressure change and the weather report is questionable at best. Consequently, your dog has already begun its negative response to the approaching storm well ahead of when most owners would contemplate administering the drug.
There are other problems associated with the use of drugs, such as the length of time the drug is effective, as well as side effects. Some dogs actually have the opposite response to a tranquilliser and act worse than they would normally during the storm. The treatment of choice, then, is usually “behaviour modification” of the dog’s response to the storm.
The two techniques most commonly used are desensitisation and counterconditioning.
Desensitisation is a means by which the stimulus (e.g. a loud noise) is presented to the dog at such a low intensity that it produces little or no response. Gradually over a period of time that might involve days and weeks, the intensity (i.e. volume) of the stimulus is increased to the point where the dog tolerates the noise. At no time during this increasing intensity should the dog be allowed to have a fearful response.
Counterconditioning is a technique by which the dog is conditioned to respond to the stimulus (e.g. thunderstorm) with a behaviour (e.g. eating or playing) that is incompatible with the undesired response (i.e. fear).
For treating thunderstorms we use both techniques at the same time.
Purchase from a store a sound effects record that contains the sounds of a thunderstorm, and then record on cassette tape just the thunder storm so that you have 1-2 hours of nothing but good old storm. Have your dog come into the room and turn on the tape for a brief moment to ensure that the sounds you have recorded are close enough to the real thing to evoke the expected fear response. If you not, you may have to record and actual thunderstorm.
Armed with some very tasty tidbits of food, have your dog sit or lie beside you and begin the training session. Initially the tape should be playing at a volume which is imperceptible to your own ears (remember that a dog’s hearing is much better than yours). While feeding the dog a tidbit every 30 seconds or more, begin to increase the volume very, very slowly. At the first sign of the slightest anxiety (ears perk up, for example), turn the volume back slightly and continue to pat/stroke your dog and offer it tidbits. When the anxiety disappears (generally within a few minutes), the training can continue with the volume increased slightly. Each training session should last about 30-40 minutes and as each day (week) passes, progressive increases in the volume to the level of an actual storm should eventually be achievable.
When your dog demonstrates its willingness to tolerate the “storm” while you are at home, begin the sessions from the beginning with you outside. It is important that these secondary sessions progress equally slowly. If you begin the training in the fall of the year you will have many opportunities when the training sessions are successfully completed, to offer your dog ‘refresher’ courses during the winter. These refresher courses will be helpful in the years ahead to prevent a reoccurrence of the thunderstorm phobia.
In most cases, most dogs can be conditioned to have little or no fear of thunderstorms. It does take owner patience and perseverance in order for the training to be successful, but it will work. The same technique can be used equally successfully to train your dog to overcome the fear of almost any loud noise.

[RunAwayMichelle]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

Your puppy may not be ready for walking very far outside. I have two shih-tzu dogs and one of them, Dusty, is very skittish. When she was a baby she was too scared to step out of our yard. We never forced her. We went as far as she was comfortable then turned around for home. Over time she progressed from, then end of our sidewalk, to just past the end of our fence, then 1 house down the block, then another and another. Today she loves to go for walks and is not bothered by cars or normal noises.

Just give your baby some time to adjust to all the new changes and to grow up a little more. In a few months she will be walking down the block. Our little Dusty took several months before she could really go for a long walk with us. Take baby for a little tiny walk then into the kennel while you go for your real walk.

Before you know it you will have a wonderful friend that insists on his nightly walk and you will get plenty of exercises keeping him happy.

[syrnett]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

encourage them with treats around loud noises... disassociate the noise with fear.... DO NOT use anything but a bright cheery excited voice when it happens... if you are all "awwww...come here.... poor babyyyyyyy" and hug louie tight, it reinforces his reaction... just show him that none of the rest of the family is afraid and with time he will come around.

-Erik

[pjade1]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

I had to read this since I have 5 Shelties that I train for show and competition. None of them have a timid response to loud noises even thunderstorms, which they don't hear very often. You have received some good advice here. I train my dogs in agility and one of the sounds most of them don't like is the teeter totter hitting the ground. They normally run away from it the first time they hear it.

Food is a good motivator. Everytime they hear the loud sounds, treat them and do it over and over again. Soon they learn to tune out the loud noises and associate the loud noises with something good. If your dog is not food motivated try toys if they like them. Never baby your dog. Maybe in a cheer voice say oooooh, what was that? Try taking your new dog to different public places for socialization and new sounds with treats in hand. Pretty soon you new baby will be enjoying his walks and loud noises will not affect him anymore. Don't be stingy with the treats either. Use small bits of treats. Your dog doesn't understand that bigger is better. He thinks more is better, so dole out the treats in small pieces. He will think he hit the jackpot.

Normally, it only takes me one session of loud noises to get my dogs used to it. One session will consist of makeing the noise about 20 times or so and lots of treats. Good luck with your new puppy.

[SugarFreeSheila]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

As an animal lover, it really upsets me to see my little Jack Russell Terrier, Sassy, get so afraid of thunderstorms. She truly hates them! While it may seem counterintuitive, it actually helps soothe her a bit to put her in her crate while the storm passes. To look inside the crate, she is all relaxed and coolheaded. Otherwise, left to her own devises, she paces constantly, at times staying in corners, trembling horribly - she just gets so heartbreakingly petrified. The crate may seem to humans like a punishment in this situation, but she loves it. Whatever works!

[pjade1]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

I always teach my dogs that crates are their security. I have rules where I cannot removed them from their crates when they go in them. They have to come out on their own. So when I go to give them baths, if they run inside their crates, I am not allowed to pull them out. It is their safe haven.

I didn't think of it but that is a great solution for dogs that fear thunderstorms.

[america57]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

Well, Louie is getting braver every day! We took him to the dog park and I was one proud momma! He played very well with the other dogs, he went up and introduced himself to other people that were there, he even approached a man in a baseball cap, when we first got him, he was afraid of men in baseball caps. He is not agressive at all, he is very sweet. My husband cleared out an area of the woods, we take him in there and he pees & poos right away. We take little walks out on the street, but he is getting used to cars, but he is afraid of anything else on wheels, scooters, big wheels things like that. The two little boys next door are helping me with that, I explained to them that he is afaid, so they ride their big wheels in their driveway, I sit with Louie at a distance and just talk to him about what they are doing. He acts like he still wants to bolt, but he is comforted by my arms around him.

[manita]

Re: New Puppy, Help!

I think it is just like a child that is afraid, if the adult is confedent and doesn't react usually the dog doesn't. Our 11 month old mastiff used to do that, he was so skitish. He is fine now, jsut alittle more alert than the other puppy. Just keep taking him around new surroundings slowly and don't over do it.

Our puppy used to be scared of older people. Yet taking him for walkes has helped with this. Also we made sure that he had all his shots befor scocializing him at the park or anywere elese. (he did get flees from a dog on his walk, we think) Good luck he sounds beautiful!!