HELP with thunder & other scary things that go bump or ding

[chowkidz]

I need advice or suggestions on how to help Nanook. Just in the last year he has become a nervous basket case. We got a thunderstorm over the weekend and i thought he was going to have a heart attack. He was always nervous when thunder would roll thru but he just seems to get worse. Then there is the evil recliner in our living room. We remodeled about 6 months ago and moved it from one side of the living room to the other. Now every time one of us goes to sit in it he leaves the room and it usually takes him 15 mins or longer to come back. This is the room where his fan and the a/c vents are so he loves to be in that room. Then there is the satan spawn toaster oven. Same thing the last year or so he started freaking out when we use it. As soon as he hears the door open he goes in the basement. If for some reason he does not hear it open and the bell dings for when the toast is done, he runs like the devil is after him . I feel so bad for him i don't know what to do. Just to make it more confusing he will sit right next to our motorcycles or classic cars when they are running that have loud exhaust . I guess i should mention that Jade is afraid of thunder also and GOD forbid i hiccup then Jade is also being chased by the devil

Any suggestions or do i just have two messed up but lovable furballs??????

[deidre]

Hey

I hear you loud and clear but i unfortunately have no advice. All i can say however is that i am going through similar strange fears with Kannika.

She is petrified of lightning, thunder, bicycles, children that are playing around her and making a noise, scateboards, people playing sports on the filed where she can hear and see them, motorbikes, and anything she hasnt heard before, etc.

So i would love to know how to solve this problem, glad im not the only one going through it.

Oh and i have seen an ethologist about it but the exercises i received didnt help her anxiety.

Any help would be a Godsend

Thnx

[chownuzzle]

Maybe you can play some soothing music that doesn't have any major build up in it. Also dogs pick up on energy so maybe when you see Nanook freaking out it probably makes worried or affects your mood. You should try to remain neutral.

Another suggestions would be dog therapy I know that sounds kind of strange. but it mind help Nanook and might let you understand why things affect him the way they do.

My other suggestions is one that I actually do is using the Neurolink and Body Talk System which usually done by chiropractors. Search for Body talk practitioners that have worked with animals before. I haven't done it with any of my pets but when I go my chiropractor communicates with your subconscious is able to find problems whether is something that actually needs to be popped or something is affecting emotionally or something that your brain has decided to respond in a way it wouldn't normally. You should give this one a try is completely noninvasive and no medications are given. This has helped me a great deal. I was having vertigo repeatedly and when I went to a ENT they couldn't find anything that would explain why. I decided to try this way instead and he found that I have had prior head trauma. Which is very true and I never even mentioned my prior head trauma to my Chiropractor and he has been able reprogram things you would never imagine would be wrong. And things that in an MRI or other exam you would never find. Read more information about it and see if your interested I really recommend this.

Here are the links

http://www.bodytalksystem.com/bodytalk/
http://www.neurolink.co.nz/index.asp?bhcp=1
http://www.bodytalksystem.com/bodytalk/ ... access.cfm

[chownuzzle]

I don't know how much it would cost but I don't have insurance right now and I pay $50. per visit except the first visit it was a longer visit and more money. I see him twice a week right now. But eventually when your body and brain have returned to working in the way it should your visit are further apart. My boyfriend goes like every 4-5 months or unless he feels he needs to go. Which you normally would go cause you feel off or some sort of ache. I think with animal it would be if they start acting a certain way. The last link I posted is their link about the experince they have done with animals.

[janet]

i just got some rescue remedy to try. hopefully it will work on my two psychos. i'll let you know.

[Cinders mom]

My Cinders hates thunder and lighting too. She will pant, shake and "cling" to me. I just try to act like the thunder and lighting is "no big deal".

[chowkidz]

I will have to look into the therapy. It can't hurt to check it out.

Janet let me know how the rescue remedy works for your psychos. We have used it a few times and it works but only if we give it to them early enough. If that storm sneaks up on us we are screwed.

Cinders mom we do the same, act like the thunder is no big deal. I don't think they believe us

I just hate to see them get so upset over silly things like the toaster and recliner........... So maybe therapy is the right direction. Funny that is one of the reasons we decided not to have 2 legged kids, we figured we would mess them up so bad they would need therapy

[vicster605]

LOL Kearra heads under the bed afraid for whatever her reasons are....sometimes I have NO IDEA!!! It just lasts a few minutes and she is fine again......and I don't act like its a big deal.....works for her.....I do try distraction and sometimes that works. And poor Kyra is afraid of anything different like birthday balloons etc. I just can't for the life of me figure out why sooooo many people are afraid of Chows can you?? Can't give you any advice on this but I hope something works for them as it is very upsetting seeing them upset.

[TJordan]

Well Butters is one of the biggest frady chows on the planet. Of his own shadow, the lawnmower (not running) etc. But most things don't scare him so bad I can't control it. The only time I have seen him so scared I thought he was gonna give himself a heart attack was at the vets office. IT is scary because there seems to be no way to calm them in that state. For the other times when he is mildly scared I act like it is no big deal and he will just walk away. If you figure out what to do in those really scary times do let me know.

[chowchowdaddy]

Tempest is becoming more afraid of thunder and lightning as time goes by. She has gotten to the point that she either paws at me while I'm sleeping to pet her, or she burrows back as far as she can behind and under all the decorative pillows that are beside the bed at night. Emperor Ming, on the other hand, feels that it's his job to protect me and he jumps up on the bed during thunderstorms and puts his rear up against me. Yeah, right, he's protecting me...

[Jeff&Peks]

I found out with Pekoe the worst thing you can do is react to their fear, Pekoe use to freak and try to climb into the TV, I tried rescue remedy, a waste of money but then I read by reacting to a dogs fear you are reinforcing the fear so it will get worse. What I did the last few time of fireworks and storms is put Pekoe in the room with me, just said its ok if she got to weird and left it at that. It took awhile but the last 4th fireworks all she did was lay by the bed not a peep and went to sleep, Last week they had fireworks right across the street I didn't pay attention to her and just went on like nothing, turned the TV a little louder she didn't pay attention to them.

My Advice was just for fireworks and thunder, things that go bump and ding might mean your house is haunted time to call Ghost busters or that Plumber guy on TV that hunts for Ghost.

[cmyers]

I have one that freaks to the point of temp of 104. Tried everything!
2 Benedryl and follow with 5mg of valium, won't knock them out but he doesn't seem to stress as badly. Your vet can get you valium..............

[chowkidz]

As long as they are like Casper they can stay. If we hired the Ghostbusters our luck they would bring back the stay puff marshmallow man ( was that his name) or the plumber guy would make us ALL afraid of the plumber crack Maybe they can chase away the mean toaster devil that keeps making that ding noise or the evil spirits in that recliner.

We do try to act like it's no big deal, i wasn't sure if that was the correct thing to do. So i guess we will just keeping working on that.

[bubba]

when my boy arrived he was very fearful of black dogs , little old ladies in tennis shoes a, crate rooms, loud noises and many many other things, ,, the black dogs i understood because, the dogs in the next run were black high energy bouvs.. .. the little old ladies and the crate rooms i attribute to something*may* have happened in the nationals in texas once upon a year.. shows are dog eat dog and lots of *dirty tricks * i think..

he has gotten much better over time with careful application of ms Privitello's methodology ,, i first saw it on her web site , i fear since her site has been down for years..

my chow still hates the DING bell on the clock , every hour it dings and he jumps up.....
he is also appartently very fearful of passing gas .. since he will release digestive gas making the particular signature noise of that behavior and leave the room as if rocket propelled ,, which in some respects he is i suppose , remember , for every action there is an equal and oppesete [spelled] reaction.......,

please read
SOCIALIZING THE SHY CHOW
by Karen Privitello

bootlegged . karens site hase been down for yars but i am happy her material lives on in cyberspace.. somewhere in romania.. thank you Karen for your help ,, whereever you are..
read it..

http://www.buddhachows.go.ro/behavior.html


desensitization and counterconditioning." Desensitization means gradually exposing the dog to the fearful stimulous in a less intense form so the dog doesn't show a fearful response. Counterconditioning involves pairing a wonderful reward, such as a treasured treat, with the desired behavioral response. The trick to using this technique successfully is to gradually intensify the stimulus without evoking fearful behavior.

Before training, you must carefully identify *all* the things your dog is afraid of and rank them

The next step is to expose your Chow to the lowest possible fearful situation (unlikely to cause fear so he can be rewarded) and very gradually increase its intensity

A successful session begins and ends with the Chow having shown no signs of fear.

Change the situation and start again

http://www.goof.com/~pmurphy/shy-k9s-faq.html

[Jeff&Peks]

"little old ladies in tennis shoes"

I Can understand your Chows fear in that one.

I just found out Pekoe's not to pleased with the blue tooth radio i had put in the car she freaks when it rings. Its illegal in CA to talk on cellulers while driving now so I had to get a blue tooth even though most are still using thier phones in protest. You can't talk on your phone but you can text message, that makes since.

[chownuzzle]

I have one that freaks to the point of temp of 104. Tried everything!
2 Benedryl and follow with 5mg of valium, won't knock them out but he doesn't seem to stress as badly. Your vet can get you valium..............

Oh I don't like the idea of that on a Chow or any pet just because they have some out of whack nerves

Let me know if how therapy works out. Did you look into the BodyTalk information? I don't think that your four-legged kid actually needs therapy caused you guys messed them up lol but probably since in the end we can't really understand an animal as easily as we want to.
I have read on what Jeff said about you reacting to nervousness only reinforces it.