# Suddenly afraid



## Ralphies Mom (Jan 12, 2008)

Hi everyone...

I hope that one of the experts out there may have some advice for me.

Ralphie is going to be 2 years old in March. Last Sunday we went and got his Rabies Booster shot. That evening when I got home from work I fired up a brand new toaster oven we had just gotten and made some toast. Unfortunately being a new toaster oven it smoked a little and set off the smoke alarm. I turned on the ceiling fan to help clear out some of the smoke. Shortly after this happened Ralphie came into the kitchen panting. He was acting nervous and kept jumping up on me. I tried to give him his evening cookie and he refused it (which is unlike him). It took him a little while for him to calm down. Ralphie has never acted nervous about anything, he is quite fearless most of the time and I thought perhaps it had something to do with getting the Rabie shot and the smoke alarm startling him.

The next day once again I burned something in the toaster oven (ok, so I'm not Martha Stewart) and once again the alarm went off. Once again he was panting and acting nervous. The third day I did not manage to burn anything, but at one point I came into the kitchen and Ralphie was sitting on the floor shaking. I went over to him to see what was wrong and he kept looking up at the ceiling fan which we had on because it was a bit warm that day. I took him outside to play and he stopped shaking and was fine but he did not want to come back inside. He has never had this reaction to the ceiling fan before.

Since that day every time I go into the kitchen and begin to prepare dinner, he starts panting and jumping up on me and acting hyper...and staring at the ceiling fan. This has been going on for days now even though the smoke alarm has not gone off. I assumed that after a few days he would forget about the alarm and get back to normal but he hasn't.

I have tried giving him a Kong with peanut butter while I cook thinking it may distract/calm him but when he starts to get nervous he is not interested in eating anything. Has anyone had any experience with something like this? Any ideas how I can make him less freaked out at dinner time? I don't want him being scared when Mommy cooks (generally that feeling is reserved for those who have to partake of Mommy's cooking). 

Thanks in advance!


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## mainegirl (May 2, 2005)

my one golden does the same thng when the smoke detector goes off. luckily it doesn't do it that much. but recently she reacts the same way when it "chirps" for the battery to be changed. my cat reacts to the ceiling fan the same way. i hope that you are able to get some relief. i have just day by day tried to get her to relate good times, treats, etc. with the fan and the noise. sometimes it works, sometimes not.
beth, moose and angel


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

It sounds like the chain of events might have been too much for him.

I would suggest having an extremely high value treat on hand. Feed it to him at the doorway to the kitchen to start, but try to do it far away from the kitchen so that he doesn't go into shut down mode. Call him to you and when he comes up, use a very steady voice and say "yes!" and hand him the treat. Continue to get him closer and closer to the kitchen, within his comfort level. Eventually you should be able to get him into the kitchen with no reaction. I would initially do this with the ceiling fan OFF. But once he is feeling comfortable, turn it back on.

One of the main things to remember is to NOT comfort him when he is uptight like that. Just casually say "you are fine" and let it go at that. If you comfort him, it will reinforce his fear. It's like you are saying "poor baby, it's okay, you have every reason to be afraid".


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

My Gunner is afraid of all loud noises : smoke detector, thunder, fireworks etc.
I just try to distract him with things he likes.

Hopefully if it doesn't go off for awhile, he'll calm down. Dogs can be so Pavlovian and associate things together and it gets embedded in their mind.


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

My Tucker was deathly afraid of our smoke detector. He tried to jump through the glass panels on our backdoor. I tried to just ignore his fear while keeping him away from the glass. He's still afraid when he sees me cooking on the stove. If he smells something burn off, he bolts to the upstairs. 

For some reason he tries to get into my husbands closet. If I'm in the room and DH is cooking, I just tell him to knock it off. He settles down, but he really likes to go outside and wait until he thinks the coast is clear.:uhoh:


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Ronin the Siamese absolutely HATES the can opener (now there's a switch). He will half-destroy the house getting away if I don't check to make sure he's not in the kitchen when I open something.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

I know this is only an off chance, but that is pretty much what Finn is like if he has a "fly catcher" focal seizure. I wonder if the rabies vaccine lowered his seizure threshhold a bit, and the electrical activity set off by the alarm crept over your dog's seizure threshold. Not taking the cookies, peering at the ceiling fan- sounds very familiar. Simple valium(Diazepam) can quiet that activity and stop focal seizures.


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## Ralphies Mom (Jan 12, 2008)

Thanks everyone for the great advice and reassurance. He did it again tonight when I went in to cook. He started panting and paced back and forth from the kitchen to the living room and then came into the kitchen jumped up on me and gave me a giant hug (squeezed me hard). I filled his Kong with peanut butter and put it in his crate and he went in and started licking it and seemed content then. 

Now when I cook I take the kitchen smoke detector down and put it out on the porch. I don't want to take any chances that it may go off.

Ljilly, I looked up the seizure thing. I guess it could be something like that. I have never noticed any odd behavior before and it is only when I cook. I guess I will keep an eye on him and see if he exhibits any other odd stuff.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I have to say that when my smoke detector went off when it was shorting out, my Beau acted the same way. In fact he was so upset, he climbed into the tub when I was there. And that was after it stopped beeping. I think there is something in the sound that really grabs them and scares them half to death. Hopefully after a couple of days without it going off he will calm down when you go in the kitchen to cook.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

It sounds like he built an association between the sound of the smoke alarm, the scent of smoke, and the movement of the ceiling fan. He got the crap scared out of him once, so now he's wary of any of the pieces of that scariness. As Debles said, dogs are incredibly good at associating things, so they'll react to any piece of that association whether it's logical or not. The loud, scary noise is paired with the other elements in his mind now, so the fan and the smoke, even individually, can make him _feel_ like the alarm is going off, even though it isn't.

Try introducing him to each piece of the puzzle with food and fun but without the other pieces. Run the kitchen fan and have fun playtime without cooking. If he seems nervous near the fan, do it in the next room with the fan running in the kitchen. Then, cook with the fan off (or better yet, pretend to cook but don't use any heat so there's no smell), and definitely don't have the alarm go off.

If you can acclimate him to the pieces of the problem individually, you can probably break the whole association. The key is to use food and fun while exposing the dog to elements of the problem stimulus _without_ triggering the actual anxiety. If he won't eat or is shaking, the stimulus is too strong since he's experiencing the anxiety, so you need to lessen the stimulus. But if you can incorporate _any_ element of the bad stimulus without triggering a reaction, you can build from there.

It can take a lot of positive experiences to break negative associations like this, but it does pay off over time. LJilly may be right that there's a biological problem underlying these anxiety reactions, but working on the anxiety itself won't hurt.


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## wagondog (Aug 24, 2007)

Could be the very high pitch range and decibel level of the detector. now if you could condition that behavior to come and get you when it goes off that could be a possible lifesaver some day. 
Wagondog


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

I have a reputation of setting off the smoke detector too!

Lexi and Trace retreat to their crates (their safe places) when I start to cook! They have made the association between me standing at the stove, smoke and the smoke detector. Sounds like your pup has added ceiling fans to the association.

Ive been taking the detector outside where the sound is not as intense and setting it off (using the test button) and offering them beef or hotdogs.
Trace is starting to make the connection that the smoke detector means come find Mom, she has good food. (kind of like a very annoying recall whistle)

Lexi is not as easily convinced. She had a traumatic even when she was young involving the house filling with smoke and the detector going off for 30 minutes before my husband came home and cleared the house of smoke.
However she doesn't pant or pace...she just hides...


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

I had a trainer write out a hole page of how to desensitize Tucker to the noise of the smoke alarm. The woman was good. She trains dogs for the deaf. 

Our dogs have sound sensitivity. Shadow could care less if it goes off.


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## SoGolden (Jul 17, 2008)

I'm sorry your Ralphie is going through this. Dogs have anxiety issues, just like people do. Even if he may be predisposed to be fearful, you can work with him to help him be calm. When he is just sitting near you, acting calm and relaxed, stroke his ears and softly say "settle". Do this every time you catch him relaxed and calm. Soon, he will learn to associate the command "settle" and feeling relaxed. He will be able to better manage his anxiety. You also may want to Google the Tellington Touch method. Good luck and please keep us posted!


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

I was going to go to training for the T-Touch. They used to offer classes at our training facility. I think you can find web sites and books of course, on the subject.


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## Ralphies Mom (Jan 12, 2008)

Wow some great ideas and thoughts on the matter. I will definately try all of the ideas and see. I think whoever said he had an overload of stimulus was right. As I said, earlier that day we had gone to the Humane Society to the Rabies clinic. There were a bunch of dogs and cats there and he was a bit stressed out by that. He has 4 dachshund siblings and two cat siblings but he has very little contact with other (strange) dogs. I have signed him up for Beginners Obedience at the Kennel Club starting in March. He already knows most of his commands, but I thought it would be a good socialization thing for him.

His looking at the ceiling fan seems to have stopped today. We generally don't run the fan that much anyway, only in the summer. Today I went into the kitchen to do some dishes and as soon as he heard the dishes clanking he ran out of the room and jumped into the nearest lap and clung on for dear life. If he would run and hide in a closet that would be one thing...but he goes to the nearest person and grabs on, literally, with his paws.

After a few minutes I went and coerced him into the kitchen with a treat. He took it into his crate (which is in the kitchen..and this is where he always takes his treats). Once he was in I closed the gate and he settled in. I then went and did the dishes and he seemed fine. He settled right down. I am thinking perhaps at dinner time I will put him in his crate. This is his safe place anyway, so maybe that will help.

Luckily tonight we are going out to dinner with friends for a friends birthday, so he will not have to endure dinner time stress tonight. Poor guy.


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## tgruebnau (Mar 17, 2009)

I am so glad you posted this. My Max is digging into the floor, won't "come" when called and I think now it really was the smoke alarm beeping. He will knock over the furniture trying to hide under it. He's 7 and this is the first time I'm seeing any behavior issues. He was heavy panting but I really was trying to console him.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

tgruebnau said:


> I am so glad you posted this. My Max is digging into the floor, won't "come" when called and I think now it really was the smoke alarm beeping. He will knock over the furniture trying to hide under it. He's 7 and this is the first time I'm seeing any behavior issues. He was heavy panting but I really was trying to console him.


 Try not to console him. He is showing the same signs that a dog with thunderphobia will show. If you comfort him, you are reinforcing the fear. Which makes it worse each time.


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## Ralphies Mom (Jan 12, 2008)

Ralph and I were working hard on getting him over this smoke detector thing. He was still freaking every time I went into the kitchen. I tried putting him in his crate but instead of him laying down and relaxing he stood up wide eyed looking like he wanted to break down the walls. Then it happened....stupid smoke alarm went off again. Back to square one. Now it seems he is afraid of everything. Earlier today I was in the bathroom and my phone alerted a text message and he jumped out of his skin. We went for a ride in the car today and all he tried to do was jump in my lap and panted the whole time. He has become a nervous wreck. And of course I can't even cook anymore without him getting nervous. He is only happy when he is sitting on the sofa next to me or when he is outside. I even had someone take him outside while I cooked yesterday and all he did was bark for me. Any ideas how I can solve this problem?


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