Is Your Dog Sensitive to Noises?

Do booms and crashes send your dog into a barking fit? Does your dog dive for cover when she hears a microwave beep or the garbage truck pass by? Do you have trouble with summer storms and fireworks holidays? Your dog may be noise sensitive!

Noise sensitivity is a common problem, and many dogs develop fears from perfectly ordinary elements of daily life. It can range from social matters like the sounds of dogs and people outside the home, to household sounds like appliances, TV and game sounds, and people walking across the floor upstairs. It may even be fear of thunder and fireworks, which may come up unexpectedly! No matter what your dog is frightened of, there is a lot we can do to help them feel better.

Many people don’t know what to do when their dog is fearful, and often are worried their actions will make things worse. Or, they may have heard that you should “give cookies after the noise” and they tried that and it “didn’t work.” In this presentation I will teach you how truly structure that intervention so that it is able to help your dog learn that noises are not scary at all, but are great fun, and give you the stepwise practice in each step, one at a time, so your dog has the structured lessons that result in effective learning. We will teach your dog the “noise framework!”

We’ll also discuss how to prevent this issue in young dogs and in dogs that might be fine right now but that you worry might develop the issue as they age. Noise sensitivity can happen to any dog, and being proactive now, when they don’t already worry about noises, gives you that buffer should anything change!

Additionally, we will address:

• Why your dog might be sensitive
• What it can look like in the early stages
• The mechanics of training, and how to make noise work fun
• What to do with dogs that bark at noises outside rather than inside the home
• How to handle the more extreme events supportively
• When to talk to your vet to discuss behavioral medications

Identifying these elements early in the process will really help you nip this problem in the bud, and if your dog is already struggling with this, there is no time like the present to lay the foundation that gives them a whole new understanding of what noises mean.

Come give your dog the gift of being resilient to sudden noises, and teach them that they’re just gateways to having a great time with you!

Watch the Video Trailer with Sample Clips:

Instructor: Amy Cook, PhD

Amy Cook, Ph.D. (she/her) has been training dogs for over 30 years, and through Full Circle Dog Training and Play Way Dogs in Oakland, CA, has been specializing in the rehabilitation of shy and fearful dogs for 20 years. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the IAABC, a longstanding ...(Click here for full bio and to view Amy's upcoming courses)