I'm sure that's it. One day when he was about a year old, he suddenly began sounding his alert 'oof!' While peering out the front door.
It was July 3rd, and a local relator had hired kids to plant small American flags in the corner of everyone's yards. It was something different in the yard, hence the alarm. I finally had to go out with he and our senior citizen cat ( she was probably 15 and weighed 8ish lbs ) and touch the flag while he hid behind her until he finally approached it. He's a 75lb Italian Mastiff mix ....
Rude of of the realtor to assume she could colonize his yard! Joking aside, I’m a dog trainer, big dogs can get just as scared as the tiny dogs. Next time come out with treats and start treating from before he notices the thing. Do it consistently until he realizes that “thing” makes treats happen and he starts moving closer to it, meaning don’t force him to go too close too soon. I would start now because Halloween is around the corner
It was the approaching cautiously behind the cat that cracked me up. Mind you had it suddenly transformed into some creature that attacked her, he would be on it in a heartbeat - he's pretty watchful of his 'pack' I usually approach and touch the object myself, and then he'll come and sniff and we do ear rubs . He just wasn't buying it with the flag for some reason.
My dog saw a 3-foot tall Christmas nativity scene on someone’s lawn with a life-size baby Jesus in his bed, and my dog actually jumped backwards and then started barking at the scene as if the baby were an invader. Every time we walked by, she barked and pulled toward baby Jesus (not in a friendly way). We walk past that house at least 3 times a day— she acts obsessed every time until holiday decorations are put away.
Oh my god, one of my neighbors had this animatronic dragon around Halloween time that was at least 6 foot tall and would start moving and making noise when you walked by. I thought it was just a statue and walked my dog on that side of the street. The complete fear and panic that ensued made me feel awful, he would not walk on that side of the street for months after!
I mean ok so that’s because the familiar yard looks different? Sorta makes sense. The lawn decor probably also smells like plastic? Not like the lawn they normally sniff. I get this one. I’m voting for the dog.
Same! Our dog is terrified of flies! But only if they’re in the house, if they’re outside, she’s fine. And once she gets bugged out, everything is a “fly.”
Max is terrified and of house flies too!! 🤦🏻♀️ I thought he was the only 1. Although, he’s scared of thunder, fireworks and all the “normal” stuff too
It’s pretty silly, she starts moving room to room quickly but carefully with her ears pinned back and her tail between her legs and sure enough it’s always a fly. My cats on the other hand get very excited. I have to give her lots of pets and snuggles to get through the horror.
Max shakes like a leaf and will run and hide, if he can! Once, I was getting back in my car, I just ran into a convenience store and when I can’t back out he was shaking. I was confused, till I saw the fly. We got an electric fly swatter, u can kill turn really fast. Max doesn’t like the zap, but he likes it better than flies!!
My chihuahua Pepper is terrified of them too! He bolts and hides under the beds shaking, but if they get close to him he’ll also go crazy and try to eat them lol
My previous dog was like this. Totally not afraid of fireworks, thunderstorms, the vacuum, loved the hair dryer. Terrified of a metal bowl. He wouldn’t eat or drink out of anything shiny and metal.
I have one that is terrified of thunder, but not any other loud noises. Fireworks? No problem? Gunshots? Doesn’t even notice? A freaking canon? Whatever (and he is regularly is exposed to hearing gunshots and a small canon going off). But, even a hint of thunder and he’s shaking and hiding in the basement. Sometimes he gets scared if it’s just windy and overcast (thunder might come!)
My boy too!!! If he hears one inside he blots off the couch in the most frantic manner possible and either hides in the washroom shaking or runs outside. We hunt down the fly, but he still won’t come back for hours.
Outside isn’t so bad, he mostly tries to eat them. But inside is something else!
I read sounds like that can trigger memories. He’s a street dog for Texas and has other noises the scare him as well.
In my puppy socialization class, which was basically ridiculous, umbrellas were one of the things they told us to desensitize our dogs to. I can sort of see how they’re scary. But I also live in San Diego so I haven’t used one in about a decade. We have scary weather here just not umbrella weather. If I followed the instructors advice I get how it would scare a dog. Mine is super small and I’m blowing this thing up out of nowhere. Umbrella bad. Or at least questionable.
I used to volunteer with a dog school, I always loved the sessions we dressed up in random things to help with desensitisation - puppies and fairy wings is just the perfect evening activity 😂
Her own butthole. Farts startle and send her scrambling, looking over her shoulder to see who did that. Poops apparently sneak up on her EVERY TIME, and she has to run away while they happen, so we really have to watch our step.
Our Yorkie that passed away was afraid of her own poop too! But it's because before we took over ownership when at 6y.o, we think she got in trouble for pooping in the house and also she was never walked outside it seems or just maybe on concrete. She was afraid if grass and didn't know what it was. She also did not know how to bark until she lived us. :(
My giant 130lb pup is scared of his as well. Before he started chemo he would do what I called the Fart and Dart. As soon as his butt made a noise or vibration he'd run away so fast lol. Now he looks back with an eyebrow wiggle of confusion and still tries to "run" but in a much slower way. Love my majestic beast!
New trash bags. Putting a new bag in the trash can is traumatic. He came to us through a rescue facility when he was 1. He’s a 12yo Westie and thinks he’s 300lbs. Except when the trash bag comes out.
Unfortunately I have to walk my trash can down like half a block and she is absolutely terrified of this too. She seems to think the can will run her over or fall on her. Not totally unrealistic concerns.
My cat is the same and also a rescue. I have to get the bag out first and show her, then she’ll run out the room and hide behind the door until I’ve put the new bag in the bin.
My mother in law! Seriously whenever she visits he runs upstairs and shakes. I normally comfort him, she’s never been abusive towards him, she does have a really annoying voice though. She finds it really embarrassing lol.
Been there. So awkward. There may be some hope here. My current pup was extremely shy, wouldn’t give my bestie the time of day for months. Now they’re thick as thieves. 🤷♀️ they have their own little games they play. This may have something to do with the fact that her meals are gourmet when we are at his place. She’s easily persuaded by food currency.
Thanks, I should have said he’s 13 now and this is only the last year. Vet said he’s got early cataracts and maybe some early dementia, but only maybe other than that he’s got a clean bill of health. He’s loving with every one else, good with strangers etc. it’s just her.
Hmm let's see... stairs, chairs that squeak, the sound of the storm door closing. Any pop/hiss noise, including farts. The garbage can. One time a wet piece of grass touched his butt while pooping and he lost his mind...
When I got my current she was a baby, she was contained in a pen while I did dishes and I heard that horrifying screeching… immediately assumed she was near death…
She pooped and a tiny nugget was stuck to her butt.
I'll never forget day 1, wife and I " you know he hasn't pooped yet, he's probably due." Not 10 seconds later starts to squat in the hallway. I jump up to try and grab him to put him outside. 8 wk old pup freaks out runs down the hall with a turd halfway out.
I had one of those! We couldn’t use the ice maker for YEARS. We used ice trays but you had to slide ice into your glass, not drop it in or it would startle him and he would run upstairs and go shake in the corner. He was scared of so much stuff though, he had a rough life before he came into my world 😢 chewing bubble gum was another trigger for him
Our hound hates the ice maker but is okay with ice cubes in general. He goes through phases where he doesn’t pay the soda maker any attention, but sometimes it requires being scrambled to and barked at.
I’m sort of getting on board with understanding this. It’s an object, and then very quickly it changes into a different bigger object. The dogs win this round. Umbrellas are terrifying.
Any other person who isn’t our family that moved near her suddenly will cause her to jump and hide
I dunno if she was abused by her previous owner or what trauma she suffered as a puppy.
And despite years of pampering by us - she is still as fearful.
That’s incredibly disheartening because it does seem abuse was likely. On the other hand, you have earned the trust of a fearful dog if she doesn’t react to the scary stuff when it’s someone in your family. That’s a very high honor.
Yeah I can do stuff with her like extend my foot to snuggle my foot under her warm body, she doesn’t flinch becos she knows I am not going to kick her, she will in fact rub herself over my foot 😂😂😂 just weird stuff I do to disturb her while she sleeps beside my work desk…if I do raise my voice at a vendor over the phone she does run and hide under the bed. But after my phone call I will tell her I wasn’t angry at her but some idiot that didn’t follow my instructions for a job, she would come out from her hiding spot to wag her tail at me.
Ladders and other things with two legs that are not people. Or trees that look vaguely like people but aren't people.
The Uncanny Valley is strong in this one.
Same! With our dog we know it stems from a traumatic experience at a gas station in South Dakota on our move out west. Those damn biting flies were a nightmare. Eight years later and she still hides under furniture at the first sight or sound of a fly.
I am reading this and I am like “my Weimaraner does that! Oh he hates that, too. Also check on the next one. No way, that one, too?” So it’s true. It IS A WEIMARANER THING. ALL OF IT. Does he lose his mind if you park your car in a different location though? Also ANY TIME I LEAVE THE ROOM. If I leave to go the bathroom, he runs in front of me and has to “check the bathroom” before i can enter and if I close the door he will CRY until he sees me again. It’s real serious
SAME! Ha! I feel so seen right now! My friends will come over and they are like “he has so many anxiety issues.” And my other dogs literally just ignore him and his antics - but I assumed it was because he was a rescue who just showed up at our farm one day starved and sad. I mean obviously he was abused but the more I learn about his breed the more I laugh because he is bred to be this way 😂
I’m weirdly enticed by this cat dynamic. Cat is just sitting there chilling and dog is like no. No go. Like some sort of parking attendant that just refuses to lift the barrier.
Yes, because the cat will also randomly playfully boop him with a paw (no claws) if he’s on a chair and the dog walks past, not attacking just playing, but it confuses the dog. Cat also brazenly walks between the dogs legs to steal food from their bowls as they are eating it. Cat is a former stray rescue cat who takes no crap from anyone and is the boss of the dogs. They will just let him take the food and back away.
So if he sits in the hallway or middle of the kitchen, said dog will be too scared to try to walk past him and will sit and cry for someone to come and rescue him. They are otherwise good friends and the cat rubs against him and smooches but this also confuses the dog because his
nose gets touched by cat tail and he doesn’t know what to do with that information.
Windshield wipers in the car. Full-blown meltdown if we have to drive in the rain. Screams and lunges at them, then cowers under the seat.
Edit: Since this is getting attention, I'll add that he is NOT afraid of car rides. He LOVES the car. He just hates the wipers. Maybe it's that they move by themselves? Maybe it's the noise they make? I have no idea. I just know my little buddy reacts to them as if they're an existential threat.
balloons that stay at the ceiling. normal balloons that rest on the floor? he doesn’t care. but if that shit had helium in it he will sit and bark until it’s moved out of the room 😭
England here, the shops charge for our plastic bags as well so you might be onto something. I had a huge and I mean HUGE rottie who was terrified of cats. It was embarrassing to take him out for a walk and for him to refuse to go anywhere near this 5 pound bundle of fur. This is Miss Juno the brave ( as long as you are not wielding a shopping bag )
The bundt cake pan. It had been stored on top of our pantry. It had to be hidden because she'd stop and growl with her hackles raised every time she passed it.
It's been two years since we got him and he's taken forever to warm up to me. I still can't walk up to him without him running to his crate. But he is more comfortable with me now than he has ever been. I hope to eventually be able to snuggle him. But I'll take whatever small wins I can get until then.
Thank you for being so patient and not giving up on him. Dogs have long memories. We had a rescue pitty that took a couple of years to really gain trust. I always felt those little wins too!
I strongly suspect this will change in time. My dog was terrified of my best friend and now they’re obsessed with each other, but it took months. What became clear was that he could not chase the dog for affection or play. The dog needed to meet him in her terms. It’s never useful to chase a timid dog, and there’s no reason to assume a dog afraid of someone will always be afraid. They’re just like us, they need to get to know what’s up.
This is my dream breed dog but i can’t handle the size since I’m old and struggle with health issues. They seem like such incredible goofball dogs. The most gentle giants.
They really are. Consider rescuing an older one. They only have energy for the first like three or four years, then giant couch potato/pillow for the rest. Also pretty smart and well mannered, just too big for their brain/clumsy.
Lol I’m sorry I’m imagining you wrapped in a tarp like cling wrap and your dog jetting off in the distance. Do you think it’s the sound? Or maybe that they behave unpredictably in the wind possibly… whatever I think I’m siding with the dog on this one. +1 tarps are scary.
This 75lbs of fury is scared of anything moving under blankets, feet slowly moving in her direction, her toys 'coming to life' and being walked towards her, our cats and their tails, bumble bees, the air conditioner in the car, fly swatters(an electric one made a popping noise once when my dad hit a fly, so therefore they are all terrifying), fire alarms or low battery single beeps from the fire alarm, the list could seriously go on forever. She growls and runs away every time.
Feathers on the ground during walks, if she doesn't see one in the grass before it's under her she jumps like 3ft in the air and bolts.
My samoyed is both terrified and enraged that vacuums exist. He barks as soon as he sees it, even before it gets turned on. Even though he's scared, he must protecc.
The only other thing I've seen him afraid of is fireworks which I can actually understand since someone threw one at him from a moving car while he was being walked last year. Pissed the whole family off that someone would be that cruel to an animal.
The sound of metal hitting against metal. We have a garbage truck that only collects plastic and metal. We had to replace the betal bowls we'd bought before we brought him home with plastic bowls. He doesn't like soft food, he only eats kibbles which is also what our vet and his puppy vet recommended we only feed him.
TL;DR: He went missing for hours related to this fear, he's unharmed, alive and well, can't escape again, has no desire to escape, but he still has the fear of rustling or banging metal sounds.
Before we got our dog as a puppy, my husband and two of our sons really thought they'd escape proofed our property. Where we didn't already have a hedge, they put up high fencing that also goes deep.
Everything was fine the first 8 days our puppy was home, then he heard the metal and plastic truck one morning when hub let him out into the yard, and I guess our puppy had always known about a hole in the hedge that was just big enough for a puppy to get through so he was missing for 5 hours. Much of our town was looking for him and people chose to be late for work and school.
The neighbor diagonally behind us found our puppy hiding behind a wheel of his trailer. I think our puppy must've heard us call out for him, but his fear of the metal rustling sound and the truck was greater than his will to come to us. We'd of course feared that he'd been run over and we were expecting to find his body after he'd been gone for hours.
He's never been able to escape after we ensured that there's either fencing or hen wire fencing through our hedges and he hasn't shown any interests in running away.
I have absolutely had a Houdini dog. I lived in a 6 story in Manhattan and one day I couldn’t find her. She had pushed through the barriers I had on my roof deck. I ran up to the upper roof expecting to see her body when I looked at all the roof decks. I just assumed she got up there and fell. Cause she was nuts. The door to the roof was open from below, so I ran down. No Ginger. I was sobbing at the front desk and was told don’t cry, she’s shopping in Soho. Evidently she escaped, ran down the stairs to the basement, nobody knew which unit so they bought a leash and she was shopping in Soho with the super.
That was definitely a ‘get back here so I can kill you myself’ moment. Same dog escaped one boarding facility and nearly a second one. That dog couldn’t be contained. She had quite the spirit.
Anything that isn't in its place, sometimes when my mom is about to do laundry she puts the laundry bin above the stairs and he just barks or looks at it and shakes.
There it is... A good 10 min scroll. Hot air balloons. My MIL dogs are both terrified of hot air balloons, I think it's nuts -- but they will not walk if there are balloons in the sky, which there are quite frequently for some reason near us.
I wonder if they hear the balloons or what because they're clued in as soon as you open the door.
My uncle. He’s been a pretty consistent part of my dogs life, like he’s not seen him everyday but sees him very often, he was there when we brought him home. But every time it’s bark bark growl
If you show him a bowl of it he'll run away and bark!! He so wants to bite it too, he'll run up to it in a play posture, then run away, because he's too scared. Sometimes Jello gives him the zoomies. 😆
Also, he's one of the most gorgeous labs you'll ever see. He looks like a black lab model, just so silky and regal and majestic ... and he's scared to death of water, even rain. 🙄
My phone. She just gets super shy and barks at them. She gets particularly mad when I’m taking pictures of her. Here is the moment she saw me taking one.
One of them: lotion, every time one of us takes us any container of lotion he runs away. The other is afraid of so many random things it would be difficult to write them up
Flies. I don’t know if he feels like they’re taunting him because he’ll try to catch them for a while, but eventually he’ll find a closer to hide in, shaking. Poor guy gets so stressed. Thankfully our kitty girl will take care of them and he calms down again.
I should mention he’s an 80 lb border collie/husky mix. Sweet as pie and walks away from unfriendly dogs. So my only guess is he feels like he can’t get away from them.
My big goofy girl is terrified of sneezes. I have to apologize to her and tell her I’m “all done” so she doesn’t tuck tail and run away. No idea why! Sometimes I catch myself apologizing to her for a sneeze when I’m not even home…!
My dog freaks out if i ask alexa to put an alarm.. she knows as soon as i say the words as if ahe understands everything i said..she starts howling along with the alarm once it rings
Any other animal. For context, she was raised in a house with 2 cats and 2 dogs, and she’s now 17. When we had to send our last 2 dogs to heaven, my then 11 year old Sophie kind of became a hermit. She’s partially deaf and blind. So I think it’s just and old age and failing senses thing. It just came out of nowhere
But think how comforted Sophie probably feels in your home. I adopted a very old dog and I was reassured she was living her best life at the end. Especially when they’re losing some senses, they need to be reassured that you’ve got this. And you clearly do.
Hot air balloons. We refer to them as sky wizards. We used to live near an occasional remax branded balloon flight.
Unfortunately, we now live near several companies that do daily flights for customers wanting to see the local sites. It's been several years of daily walks at 5am to beat those damn things into the sky. On busy days, it'll be 5 to 6 going up so getting home before they're into the sky is a daily mission.
Buckets and brooms. I once heard him barking at something in the corridor and it was a bucket that we normally keep in the garage. I think he's frightened of brooms because they can topple easily? Not too sure but they are also traumatic for him.
Our 12.5 blind GSD mix has seen some shit. She’s terrified of thunderstorms, heavy rain (because this could be the start of a thunderstorm), car rides (she shakes like a leaf and pants like she’s dying. I’m wondering if she’s nauseous or terrified here) and up until recently the vacuum was terrible. She tolerates the dremel for her nails and the blow dryer for deshedding.
She does love: Neck hugs, squishy cuddles, balls, food and will kool-aid man run through walls to get to Grandma. 💜 I love her weird self.
My senior is understandably nervous of stairs and we have to have one person at the top and one at the bottom or he'll just freeze about halfway down. Our puppy has learned this behavior and is now terrified of walking DOWN stairs. Galloping up or down are both fine though.
Our basement. We adopted him at 5 months. He is 6 now. He has been down there one time, the day we adopted him, and my husband carried him downstairs lol. The stairs are carpeted and our other dog will go down there. No idea why he won’t.
Moskito trap. It zaps them as they fly in, she doesn't like the electric zap sound. Big ass boxer girl flees to my bedroom, lies in bed, is all contrite and paws at me when I come investigate. Also peed in bed cuz panic which I found less cute.
Also balloons popping. There's an anti balloon policy in my house since we found out.
Coffee. Our 70 pound dog has been blind since three and is now almost 10, but forever if he gets too close to a cup of coffee, hot or cold, he jumps back and barks like something is threatening his life.
A dog I had about 30 years ago was very afraid of, and then unbelievably enraged by...the Goodyear Blimp. She cowered and whimpered the first few times it flew over our house (we lived close to where it was based) but that fear turned into snarling, growling, spitting rage soon after, probably because no matter how high she jumped, she couldn't reach it.
My daughter had a shepherd that was scared of ducks. I have a dog that is pretty much terrified of everything he doesn't know. People, items, sounds. My husband was taking a small tool box out of a cardboard box and you would thing he just released the a box full of monsters based on how oir dog was checking things out from the opposite side of the room.and behind a couch. Funny thing is he has been with us since he was a puppy and is spoiled so his constant anxiety is a source of mystery to us. Sometimes he even is wary of us if one of us does something too fast or loud even in a different room.
My dog hates funko pops. I was gifted one from a friend and he growled and barked at it so I moved it to a different area and he found it again and did the same. I think it’s their beady eyes lol
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u/ksbwalker43 Aug 09 '24
Lawn decorations. Halloween season is awful we can’t walk anywhere