Animal Phobias: Loud Noises

There are many dog and cat phobias, just as in humans, but on the eve of the holidays we decided to focus on one in particular: the fear of loud noises. Many animals suffer from this problem.

Dogs that have trouble with loud sounds often freeze on the spot, hide, or bolt in panic in no particular direction.

Dogs have far more sensitive hearing than ours and can hear much higher frequencies.

Desensitisation: The idea is to expose the animal gradually to what it is afraid of.

Training process: 1. Teach your animal a "calm" command when there are no frightening sounds. 2. Find a recording of a thunderstorm and play it at low volume. 3. Once you have achieved calm with the recording at full volume, start leaving the room for short intervals. 4. When your animal is calm, reduce these sessions to once a week. 5. During a storm or fireworks, use the same commands and treats as in training.

We wish you a fun and peaceful holiday season.