Has anyone heard of the above term - meaning that their 9-12 month old dog suddenly becomes afraid of things that never normally bothered before?
And if so how did you handle it ?

hope someone answers this as i cant but will bump it up for you

It's a bit like children who get frigthened of sleeping in the dark cos there's a tiger/monster under the bed

It means the dog is frightened of non existent or non frightening things-like plastic carrier bags

If you react to the dogs fear & reassurance the dog you are compound the problem by reinforcing the fear. better to ignore the reaction & distract the dog with something it likes eg squeaky/rattle toy. You can also desensitize the dog so that he/she learns to reignore or even like what ever hs frightened them-like keeping treats in a plastic carrier bag so the dog associates good things with it

Collie can become shadow chasers or shadow phobic for example

Touch wood I've never had a dog with this problem, but most of my dogs are little/big b*gg*rs :D

Boscoe was scared stiff of carrier bags so i used to put one over my hand and stroke him with it,he is a lot better now
mel:)

went through a stage like this with Phoe - all of a sudden if anything (like a bag) wasn't in its usual place at home she was scared. Never had the problem outside of our house and grounds but she knew if something wasn't in it's right place at home.

The silliest time was over a show bag - went to a show , carried bag around next to her all day - totally fine. Got home - took bag into house and left on kitchen floor while she was still outside and then she backed out the kitchen door when on her way in coz she spotted it :rolleyes:

Was just a case of ignoring her behaviour and acting as though everything was normal (including leaving a bag in the middle of the kitchen floor for days ;) )

Another time was a garden chair that had moved places - her way to get past that one was to always make sure I was between her and it :D

I did find treats fed near the "offending" article speeded up getting over the fear - as did sitting near what was ever the "problem" and fussing my other dog so she felt like she was losing out and would edge closer.

SaraW

This is perfectly normal! She is going through what is known as her
Second
Fear Impact stage, a time of a pups life when it may show fear or things that
it may have been associated with for ages! I know it seems illogical in our
eyes, but I assure you that it is a normal part of growing up for dogs!
Just ignore her fears, remain calm and 'matter-of-fact' to help her through
this.
She is becoming a teenage dog, an adolescent and most of us know what
humans
can be like! Do not sympathise with her, do not get angry or impatient with
her. When she shows fear, your attitude as her leader must be so calm and
quiet. Try yawning and looking away from her, paying attention to
something else instead

Buster has always been frightened, for whatever reason, of the ironing board, or rather the scraping noise it makes as I put it up. Recently that has now stretched to scraping of chairs or moving of furniture ... as you say we have totally ignored this behaviour although he continues to be wary and will run out the back door if say I'm moving the dining table around ... hopefully he'll grow out of it, he's just over 11 months. Nicki

You lot are lucky, my sister has a neighbour who thinks aliens live in the shed! They did live in the greenhouse but he smashed it to bits with a hammer and broom to get rid of them, now they dwell in the shed!
Dawn.

Does he live next door to Ultra Man?

:D

My friend has a tenant who is frightened to death of helicopters, she thinks there huge flies, and tries to spray them as they pass over, we're still debating why she lives in my friends property when it is right next door to the airfield where the Navy train their Helicopter pilots.

Robert

Hi Lesley,

I think our lives have become interlinked through these pups, I've experienced it with Sal twice in the last week :D first time we were walking on lead in the park where the park goes from open to wooded area and she backed away nothing I could see or hear but I she just stopped and sat down I stopped a sec then called her back to heel and walked on confidently she took no more notice. Second time yesterday she decided on a walk she was scared of ladies with shopping trollies (you know old lady ones) andIagain just called her close and walked on. Don't know if this is the start of the finish of "scary things" but I am just carrying on as normal.

Don't pamper him be confident and if possible walk him toward whatever scares him reassure but not pampering to his fear.

Hope it helps Karen (suffering the same thing)

He seems to have become frightened of going into rooms he doesnt know :(
He wouldnt go into the shop with me last week although he has been in before . He lay down on the floor and refused to move .
Yesterday he seemed "scared" of passing through the door leading to ringcraft and he goes every week ( they did have a shut down during the summer hols and last night was his first time back) but he knows the room and he knows the dogs there .
He is fine with people , other dogs , traffic etc just seems to have a bit of an aversion to doorways ??

I try to ignore these instances and just go on as if nothing has happened. Seems to work for our Murphy as he can be a tad over cautious. Maggy on the other hand is scared of nothing. Typical woman. Aint got the brains to be scared.
Mick

Hi Mick
how old is Murphy now - has he outgrown this ??
One of the Staffy books I have mentions that it seems to affect mainly males .

Hi, I have a 2 yr old Irish bt dog who went through this from about 10 mnths old anything out of the ordinary would be challenged - a misplaced traffic cone, wheely bins where they shouldn't be, carrier bags on trees etc. etc. as I said he's 2 now and seems to have gone past the worst of it, was it Claire Lee's book you saw this mentioned in? Good luck with your dog . K .

Hi K
yes it was Clares book . I cant remember my previous Staffy going through anything like this .
I feel more reassured that others have been through the same sort of things :)
I was starting to worry a little - he has been welll socialised and is normally a happy-go-lucky little chap .
Lel

Hi ,i have just been looking for any info on fireworks,and have found this thread , Lola is absolutely terrified of loud noises(fireworks etc) and i really dont know how we are going to cope with bonfire night !! she is a wreck,she just shakes from head to toe and her eyes look as though they are going to pop out .After reading the above posts i am not reacting in the right way ,i have been trying to reassure her .hugging and stroking her etc ,now i read its best to ignore her behaviour,i shall try ,but i want to try and see if we can help her ASAP as the only other option suggested are drugs to calm her down! maybe if fireworks were only used on the 5th of nov that would be an option !,but as we all know its all year round ,,,,help how can i help my pup to not be afraid? Regards Sue & Lola xx

this is a bit of an old thread... id suggest starting a new thread on this, so that you get more replys :)

My Bullmastiff Gia was terrified of car doors, when opened. If someone was getting in/out of a car she ould freak out and was hard to hold her then I saw a program about scared dogs and the behaviourist(spell?) said to ignore it, not comfort the dog, like moonmaid, Carolyn, etc, said above. Now she is almost 5 and occasionally jumps when a car door opens near her but that's all. They, Gia and Athos, are also scared of fireworks, specially Athos, one day he tried to get in through the catflap! I just get them inside and if they stay in the same room with us, they are happy. Athos is also scared of loud planes and helicopters. He is 3 1/2.
Val xxxx

Hi i know this is an old thread ,but i had noticed that often when people asked questions that are still sort of up and running ,they are asked to check them out first ,before starting another thread ,i shall try out the "ignore strategy " before anything else ,its not going to be easy though as all i want to do is reassure her ...! to be honest though she doesnt seem to want to be comforted ,she just sits next to me but on full red alert!!! once again its mum who is probably making more of it than i should ....Ciest La Vie, Regards Sue & Lola xx

I agree Sue ...an old thread with a new reply will show up on the ACTIVE TOPICS board and will attract replies :)

Melody

hi, last year amber was a little skitish at this time of year and we just filtered out the noise, played music in the room she was in, or turned the tv up a little louder as its a noise she is used to, she didnt seem to hear the fireworks after that or if she did, the other noises made her not as bothered, it worked for me anyway :)

Hi Sue
must admit that my previous Staffy , Sam was absolutely petrified of fireworks . He would try and shrink himself away into a corner if h heard them :(
We would turn the tv or radio up really loud in the hope that he couldnt hear them but on Bonfire Night itself it was always a nightmare because they are so LOUD and so NEAR !
We did have to resort to pills from the vet in the end because he was so scared . :(
We have had idiots setting them off around here or a few weeks now and so far Gus has been fine - so fingers crossed he wont be too bothered or upset on the night .
(I hope)
lel

Hi everyone ,thanks for the reassurance,Lola loves the tv and loves music,so i am going to have a bash at trying the new Rod Stewart dvd(free in this weeks Mail on Sunday)if that doesnt distract her nothing will!!!!!!dont you just love him !!anyway failing that we thought we would try my daughters old pink fluffy ear muffs she looks really cool, LOL ,take care all Regards Sue & Lola xx

hey sue good luck with the ear muffs! i can aympathise completely - i've a 15 wk cavalier and last friday there were fireworks at the back of our house. i thought it was (as it usually is except for bonfire night) the stately home @ 4 miles behind us so i thought it was a good time to get her used to them at a distance so took her in the kitchen - saw some pretty ones through the window, was fine then opened the door - and just as i did this some really gunfirey ones were let off and it became blatantly apparent that they were actually in the cottage behind us's garden (if you saw the back of our house you'd realise i'm not as stupid as this makes me sound) and she was PETRIFIED - jumped out of my arms and ran to hide int he front room under the coffee table......even ignored her sausage kong for 15 mins or so - i felt AWFUL all evening, for being so stupid....now i'm pretty scared of bonfire night too

a friend suggested trying to get hold of a sound effects CD with fireworks on it (or even gunfire or thunder) and putting it on really quietly at first and then gradually getting her used to it being slightly louder....i'm going to try giving this a go if i can find one soon enough.....

good luck though - i might copy the ear muff idea too...! :)

Hi,well simple as this sounds my daughters boyfriend said she is only a puppy and has never heard these loud sounds before, its all new to her,! he said when his dog was a pup he was exactly the same ,but after a couple of years he was not bothered ,so maybe its as simple as that,lets hope so ,keep you posted,once again thanks for everyones input,it really does help knowing there are "friends" out there who are in the same boat!!Regards Sue & Lola xx

Hey they scare the life out of ME sometimes so theres no reason why little dogs shouldnt be scared too :(
I wish they would make fireworks harder to get hold of . There have been reports in Liverpool recently of kids throwing them into shops and into letter boxes . :( :(

If its really bad the vet can give you a mild sedative so she sleeps through it. Used them for our bess dog years ago, she was out for about four hours so the worst was over when she came round.
Some people disagree with using them but if it calms the dog rather than have it petrified all night then i'm all for it.
Hope you find a solution soon, the kids will be getting hold of fireworks pretty soon x

Hi i agree i think that the time has come for "organised displays only"there are too many idiots out there and it seems as though every year there are more and more accidents ,for years we had bonfire party's at home we have a large garden and every possible care was taken ,but we wont be having any more especially with Lola reacting the way she does,just one accident is one too many,its a shame but a sign of the times Regards Sue & Lola xx

I hate the things myself! Bonfire partys are great for the masses of food (kindie, Mia and kuma agree!) and i always take a doggy bag home.
We'll be having sparklers and soup in the garden and doggie burgers for the wee family this year after midnight. Mia's only 15 weeks (today) and i'm dreading bonfire night with her. I think i'll have her and her dad sedated for the evening as kuma's a big poof and she's scared of the post box let alone fireworks!!!!!
Caz

Breeders can help so much by being aware that they can often influence how their pups will react as adults to loud noises :)

My BSd, a breed not exactly renowned for coping happily with bangs etc, :D happily went out for a wee in the garden her first year with all the sky lit up around us with fireworks....because her breeder had had the foresight to use the Blue Cross CD with firework noises, and played it to them as pups so that they became used to similar noises.

She tends to be what i would call "interested" when there is a bang, rather than scared...

Sounds Scary does a firework Cd, it has advice with it on how to de-sensitise the dog .... it has to be done slowly.

Fingers crossed for us all on firework night and around that time....

Lindsay