We understand how stressful this can be, not only for your dog, but for you too. It’s terrible seeing your treasured friend inconsolable through fright. But together we can move towards a rested, more peaceful approach to those situations. 

Before we go any further, maybe we should address that word, phobia. A phobia is a long lasting, extreme reaction to a stimuli, even when that is at a low intensity. In humans we see phobias as irrational, but we are at least capable of logical thought and understanding, enabling us to overcome phobias with the right help. If your dog is scared, but recovers quickly from that fright, although it’s not nice to see, they may be coping quite well. Canine body language can be complicated though, and if you’re in any doubt, it’s best to get someone to help.

Back to the main topic. Your dog being afraid of noise is not as simple as it running off to hide behind the sofa. Your dog will be undergoing a series of hormonal and physiological changes during exposure to a stressor like noise. Some of these changes, if they are not addressed, can lead to long term health conditions such as depression, digestive complaints, diabetes, even heart issues. These can not only be life limiting, but can also be incredibly costly. Whilst we don’t like to put a cash sum on our dogs lives, we can’t avoid the fact that long term health conditions can be incredibly expensive, even when insurance payouts are included.

Having completed targeted training with Dr.Else Verbeek, Associate Professor of  Animal Welfare at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, we can work with you to investigate the exact causes of your dogs noise phobia. Each dog is different, and although the techniques we use to help, (think of it like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, CBT), may be the same, your treatment plan will be bespoke for your situation. Your dog is completely individual, and that is why having a plan for you is so much better than trying to deal with things using books, or YouTube videos. Whilst both are great methods for learning about different topics, they don’t know you, your dog, or the situation and history that you live in right now.

Noise phobia can be deep seated in your dogs psyche. Both humans and dogs have an inbuilt response to protect us from dangers in our environment, but we humans have the benefit of being able to apply logic, as well as experience, to the dangers we come across in our lives. Our dogs lack the level of logic that we possess, and as such can react to dangers, and if these reactions continue, then they can become a learned pattern of behaviour. It’s these patterns that our treatment focuses on. Taking this into consideration you may be able to see that dealing with such an issue may not be the quick fix that some may believe it to be.

We take a holistic view of your dogs noise problem, seeing that there are many aspects of your dogs life that be be unknowingly contributing to their issue. Their diet, health, exercise, and relationships are just a few of the many factors that can contribute to your dog's struggles. Before we start to address the phobia we will want to get the deepest insight we possibly can into their problem. There will be a number of questionaries to complete that will help assess how your dog interacts with the world it lives in, maybe we will talk with their vet to see if there needs to be any adjustment to any medications they are taking that might be contributing to their behaviour, or that may interfere with their recovery.

Hopefully you’ll be starting to see that dealing with a phobia is quite intricate, and can take some time to deal with. If your dog does have an issue with noise it is better to address the problem as soon as possible, not only to stop the behaviour from being reinforced further, but to give you dog a better quality of life as soon as possible. If, for example, your dog is afraid of fireworks, addressing issues months before they may peak will give you and your dog the time to learn and practice the treatments before they are exposed to situations you can’t control.

If you have any questions about noise phobia, or our treatments, please do get in touch.