For the 4th of July: Dogs and fireworks

[George Cantstandya]

(07-02-2020, 06:41 PM)fredtoast Wrote: It is really strange how much it bothers some dogs and not others.

When my father was growing up during the depression in the hills of Kentucky dogs were tools used for hunting.  If a dog was "gun shy" it was useless and would get "culled out".

Just getting a gun out in front of a "gun shy" dog will be enough for it to run away and hide.  But dogs that love to hunt go crazy with excitement when they see the gun.  It is like a dog seeing a leash and getting excited to go on a walk.

My ex-wife has an Afghan Hound that has extreme social anxiety.  She says she thinks it is because the dog was abused as a puppy.  But it could be that the dog was just born crazy like some people are.  Most dogs that are afraid of noises have not been injured or hurt by something with a loud noise.  Instead they are just born that way.

And it bother me to see it.  I had a dog that would crawl up in your lap during fireworks, but I know people who had dogs that would tear down screen doors and crawl under beds to hide even in thunderstorms.

I think my dog was abused before I adopted him from the shelter.  When I first brought him home and took him for walks he would freak out and grab my pant leg in his teeth if my foot got too close to him and he would not let go.  He was visibly upset and angry to the point at times I thought he would attack me. On a few occasions I literally walked him back home with him growling and pulling on my pant leg. It was never an issue as long as he was further away from my feet while walking. So I think he had probably been kicked by someone, probably multiple times, before I adopted him.  It took some work, patience, and treats before he would walk with me without that being an issue.  But it was totally worth it and if was a matter of him just being born crazy I don't know if I could have resolved that so easily.

I also wonder what else he was subjected to.  A friend of mine gave me this pet treat launcher that sort of looks like a gun.  He was totally terrified of it even though it didn't make a loud noise and dispensed treats.

So maybe he has some genetic predisposition that makes him afraid of loud noises. But having worked with him for almost 7 years now I think at least part of it has to do with his past before I adopted him. He is still rather skittish even without loud noises.  Sometimes when I pet him he gets startled if he doesn't notice me first.  

He is extremely intelligent.  For example even though he had not been to the vet in over 6 months, when I took him there today the first thing he did was get on the scale and sit so they could take his weight.  He didn't even have to be prompted.  He just seemed to remember that was how things work even after all that time.   I've trained him to sit, stay, lay down, give paw and roll over and it only took a few treats to do so before he learned it.  I can put some of his toys in another room and say, "Go get your ball," or "Go get your bear," or "Go get your squeaky," and he will retrieve them correctly every time.

But yes there are probably some genetics as well as history.  I've spent so much time and effort with my dog making sure he is happy and comfortable that I think a lot of his anxiety has to do with how he was treated before I adopted him. I'm no dog trainer and not a vet either so what do I know?