That Sounds Awful
If you dread pop up thunderstorms, fireworks, that beeping sound of smoke detectors losing battery power, the rumble of trashcans being dragged to the curb, loud vehicles driving by, and more, you probably have a dog who’s stressed out by these sounds. It equally stresses us to see our dogs experiencing stress. What can we do to help our sound sensitive or noise phobic dogs?
First, speak with your dog’s veterinarian. There are fast and short-acting medications which alleviate stress from sounds. Watch Dr. Jill E Sackman’s webinar discussing noise sensitivity.
Second, implement stress mitigation strategies. Mitigate stressors by limiting exposures to triggers as much as possible. Your dog can’t constantly be exposed to triggers at high intensities while you’re trying to reduce your dog’s stress from these triggers.
Cover windows with vinyl film and play calm TV channels/radio stations/Through A Dog’s Ear. Play this music when you give your dog a food puzzle. Pairing the music with a licking activity can help your dog self soothe.
Consider conditioning your dog to wear the dog version of noise cancelling headphones. Here are examples of ear covers for dogs which help muffle sounds:
Mutt Muffs Hearing Protection for Dogs
Third, start training. Whether your dog has noise phobia or insists on making sure you heard the doorbell, these behavior modification techniques can help.
Counter conditioning and desensitization are simple but not easy. Expose your dog to the sound at the lowest volume or intensity for your dog to notice but not be concerned, thus keeping them below their noise phobia threshold. Feed fabulous food during the sound. This order is important! The sound must proceed the food and the feeding must stop when the sound stops. Does this ring a bell? It’s Pavlovian conditioning!
When your dog hears the sound and gets excited for yummy food, your dog is ready for you to increase the volume or intensity ever so slightly. If your dog stops eating or won’t eat, the volume or intensity is too much - stop the exercise. Try again another day at a lower volume or intensity. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Your dog sets the pace.
Below are some videos showing various behavior modification sessions.
Keep in mind, if your dog’s sound sensitivity or noise phobia is well controlled and you suddenly see a resurgence in their stress response to sounds, make sure to contact your vet. New or sudden resurgence of sound sensitivity or noise phobia can be an early symptom of pain.
Finally, have you ever heard that you should not comfort a dog experiencing fear and stress (from noise or anything else) because you’ll reward/reinforce their fear? Imagine you are on a plane sitting next to me. You think you just scored because now you can ask me all of your dog-related questions during our flight. However, when the plane experiences extreme turbulence and I become scared, I ask if you’ll hold my hand. You respond by yanking your hand away and saying, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to reward your fear. I will not comfort you.” Do you think when we land I’ll take you on as a client? COMFORT YOUR DOG and allow them to go to their safe space! Remember, your dog isn’t trying to give you a hard time, they are having a hard time.