 |
| Image is copyright free from Wikimedia Commons |
It's currently just under four hours until 2012 here on the East coast. Fireworks are already being shot off by those who are celebrating early. Of course, those of us with pets often must be concerned about the noise. I'm lucky enough to have a dog who isn't sound reactive, and who has only ever flinched at the sound of a cymbal crashing four feet from his head. He's never been bothered by fireworks, thunder, or the other loud noises that commonly scare dogs. By the way, 2012 will be the year that a certain handsome black Labrador turns seven years old. It's only a couple of weeks away now.
I hope everything goes smoothly for everyone else so that the you can ring in the new year without any incident. Here's to a 2012; may it be a good year for all. Celebrate and stay safe!
Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteNone of my dogs are as bomb-proof as Ebon and I have a big mix of sound tolerance amongst them.
Juneau is the worst. She will begin to shake and pant a lot from odd sounds. The fire alarms beep occasionally and that'll send her into a spell. Last night an explosion is what set her off and she stayed in my room on the floor the entire night.
Sasha is okay with most sounds, but big loud ones like thunder do set her off a bit. She's not as bad as Juneau but not exactly amazing with sounds either. She was mainly okay last night.
Conker... Well, it depends on the sound but he's pretty good about it most of the time. He is initially interested if the sound isn't too close or loud, and then he just gets annoyed. While in St. Louis, a tornado was about 1/4 of a mile from my apartment and there was horrid wind noise, hail, thunder and the tornado alarm all going off at once. What was he doing? Sleeping.
But some things, often human-generated sounds, can scare him. But it doesn't affect him for long and he'll eventually ignore it after a while.
Strangely all of the large dogs I have had (Old English, Collie, GSD, American Eskimo mix) have been afraid of thunder, but none of my Poodles or Chihuahuas have been.
ReplyDeleteMisty the alpha Poodle seems to understand what days of the year these noises go on.
Happy new year!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Liebster blog award.
http://shibasenji.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/award.jpg
It's explained in today's entry. Sure, these things are a little silly, but I'm happy to pass them along to a few blogs I enjoy. You only have to pass it on if you feel like it. ;)
Charlie, my family's old dog, was sound reactive. Thunder and fireworks were his main problems, and would send him into a whining, barking spell. When he went deaf it was like peace fell on the house. He wasn't as bad as my dad's new dog Siggy, though. Siggy is more timid than Charlie ever was, and instead of barking and whining and seeking us out, he'll run away and go curl up in a safe place (either his kennel or a bathtub, whatever's convenient). He's reactive to more types of sounds too: thunder, fireworks, certain car noises, people yelling, small children, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of sounds that Ebon has been exposed to through his life and very little scares him, and I don't know if it's breeding or personality that has made him so calm. Trains, tornado sirens, hail, fireworks, thunder, gunfire, ordnance (we lived very close to a military base), crowds and the various noises they make, squealing children, and so on. The only thing that has ever set him off were those cymbals. Considering how fearful and timid he has been with other things (unexpected small objects, stairs, small dogs, or anything else that causes a visual surprise) it's a bit surprising sometimes. Since he was bred as a working retriever, I do suspect that there was a lot of care taken to desensitize the litter to sound. I still wonder if he's ever been shot over.