Noise Sensitivity
Jack is one of those wonderful chocolate Labradors that just take you over, body and soul when you meet!
He is owned by a farmer just along the road from where we live.
But all is not always as it appears with these apparently bomb-proof and larger than life Labs, Jack’s owners were having problems coping with Jack’s noise phobia – despite his gundog ancestry, poor Jack was scared to bits by virtually any loud noise.
The vet had tried some mild sedative medication and Jack had showed slight signs of improvement, but not enough to ensure a good everyday quality of life.
Almost every day, something would go bang unexpectedly, and poor Jack would panic, dribble profusely and run like the wind if he was out on a walk. Angie and Tom were powerless to help; all they could do was to hang on to the lead if they could, or run after Jack if he was running free in blind panic. Indoors, it didn’t seem to matter whether they tried to comfort Jack or ignore him, he rushed around in great fear, pausing only to draw desperate breath and shake or jump at them.
And things were indeed getting progressively worse, as is usually the case, with sound phobias. Now Jack was starting to show the same fearful panic to sounds around the home that he used to ignore, such as the vacuum cleaner and the dishwasher.
A
combination of beta blocker and mild sedative
The vet prescribed jack a combination approach of medications, a
beta blocker and mild sedative.
This has been very successfully for a number of years in treating dogs with sound phobias, especially fireworks and gun shot. These medications don’t sedate the dog but act on the brain and body to reduce arousal, prevent memory recall of previously alarming events and restrain the physiological signs of panic, such as the heart racing and increasing blood pressure, which otherwise all add to the feelings of unpleasantness for the dog. With this approach, many dogs effectively desensitise themselves to sounds through normal everyday exposure and a specific desensitisation programme, for example using pre-recorded tapes of loud noises (or the 1812 Overture!), is often unnecessary.
If, like me you do not want to turn your dog into a Junkie, you will have to desensitise them against the noise.
Barry and Hazel, the trainers at Elstree and Borehamwood Dog Club have a good method for desensitising dogs with an aversion to wheels.
The dog is let off the lead in the training hall whilst they appear at the other end of the room on skateboards.
When the dog rushes over to them barking, the owner calls the dog back (in a pleasant tone) and (using a clicker for positive reinforcement) clicks the successful recall and praises the dog.
The dog soon learns to ignore the skateboards, but beware that the dog doesn't start to train the trainers.
They will quickly learn that by chasing the skateboard and successfully performing a recall they will get a treat.
You must not do this for too long, just enough for the dog to ignore the skateboard and then leave it for another session.
This will be time consuming but the rewards will make it all worthwhile.