Milo my ckcs came to us 3 months ago and we noticed he had a few issues one of these is the growing list of things he is afraid of  the first we found was the hoover when turned on he would run and hide if the back door was open he would go to the bottom of the garden and hide under the bush the next thing was the hosepipe if that was on he runs into the house and what I found the other day is he is scared of clothes hangarsI was doing a mad ironing day and i was getting hangars out of the wardrobe and putting them on the bed Milo watched timidly from the door when he saw the hangars. I watched the dog whisperer on sky the other night and he chased a dog round the house with the toaster it was scared of I thought that was a bit mean and very impracticle when it comes to the hosepipe I try not to reward Milos nervouse behaviour but to make matters worse we took him to dog training class for help with his barking and we were told to shake a bottle with pebbles in at him so I think he is developing an irrational fear of Lucozade bottles but I have promised if he stops barking he never has to see another Lucozade bottle.   Any ideas as i hate seeing him cowering but unfortunatley hoovering and ironing must happen he is such a soft sausage he is sitting on my knee now and i know he knows i am talking about him.

Hello there,

Chasing a dog around with a toaster?!? How ridiculous! :rolleyes: An easy easy to make the dog even more scared. If you were afraid of spiders and someone chased you around with one, would you become less scared? How about if someone rattled a bottle every time you saw one? No. These TV programs are ridiculous and actually making problems  worse.

Thankfully you have had the common sense not to use these methods. Throw away the silly lucozade bottle and stop going to that training class.

What you need to teach your Cavvie is confidence and positive experiences in this world. You need to let it understand that nothing horrid is going to happen to him and if he is afraid of something that you will deal with it and keep him safe.

Firstly, set up training situations where you are going to convince him that hosepipes, vacuums, etc, etc are nothing to worry about, in fact, evertyime it sees one great things will happen to him. So, go somewhere comfortable, have loads of tiny bits of hotdogs, cheese, ham, etc (size of your small fingernail) and bring out the vacuum cleaner from a far away distance. When he sees say what a good boy he is and how lovely the vacuum cleaner looks and give him a titbit a few seconds apart. Slowly work up to get closer and closer, but do not force him or rush anything. Keep these sessions to be only 5 minutes long max. Then repeat in 15 minutes time. Everytime the vacuum cleaner comes out, he gets loads of praise AND titbits. Build it up. Then start again from very far away but this time with the vacuum cleaner on and work up as previously. Do this with all  object he finds scary. It is so, so important that you take this nice and slow and do not progress until you see a really happy response from your Cavvie at that level.

Do not reassure him, but act happy and relaxed. It is also extremely important that he is nowhere near the actual things that scare him at any other times except in training sessions or you will be undoing all of your work. So put him int he bedroom upstairs whilst you do your vacuuming during the day. Same applies with all other items.

Finally, it is important that he sees you as someone who is confident and in control of things. Reward-based training will help you achieve this, as the dog will learn to do things for you and be under your control. Dogs like to have a confident leader, so do not leave it to him to deal with situations. Always take control and teach him through rewards what he is to do in those circumstances.

The best thing I can recommend is that you find a proper reward-based trainer. Go to www.apdt.co.uk for your nearest trainer.

If you are still having problems, then it is best to seek professional advice from a properly qualified behaviourist that will give you the correct advice and not make the problem worse. Ask you veterinary surgeon to refer you.

All the best,
Patty

Thanks Patty to be honest I was worried about making the problem worse as I sometimes do things without realising like last night he was barking and cowering at the blinds blowing so I picked him up to give him a cuddle and then realised i may be rewarding his behaviour it is so confusing at times all I want to do is let him know things are ok.

Well we've found that reward based training is working for our 5 month old golden retriever.  However, it didn't help with his barking, and the one thing that has helped is a 'Doggit' ultrasonic alarm!    Silent to us but not to him - he only has to see us pick it up now and he stops!  We got it from Pets At Home I think! :P

Hope this helps!
Maria

My BSD was very nervous of our hoover as a pup - however i did exactly what Patty recommends, only with a toy instead of food. Within a few months she was actually enjoying being "groomed" with the hoover attachment!

One thing is, she is still a bit nervous of the flex, but that's because she got caught in it once when she was out of sight, so I just allow her to jump over it into or out of wherever she wants, seeing me wait for her gives her total confidence.

But when the hoover is turned on, she comes to me for her "going over" :D

Lindsay

ps good to see someone else refer to them as "hoovers", I find it hard to say "vacuum cleaner" as it just doesn't sit with me as well... :P

I certainly wouldn't chase the poor lad around with anything!! I can't imagine how this would do other than frighten him half to death. Shaking things at nervous pups is equally counterproductive!

However, it's important not to take his scarediness too seriously in a way that he senses your concern so be as calm and laid back as possible around him. Keep on introducing him to household objects without fuss and build his confidence up with love and praise.