What are you dogs afraid of?

I'm not talking about common things like thunder and lighting or stranger or vacuum cleaners, but odd things? Gigi has the weird fear of certain objects in our home. Like if we throw her toy and it lands on our Roomba vacuum (it's in its base and not on at all), near the toilet base or between in back of the door but in plain view, she will not get it. Instead, she will just lay in front of it and do this strange growl sigh and look intensely pathetic until someone takes her toy out of those areas. It is the oddest thing, because she will be only a few inches from her toy but not want to get it herself.

Does anyone elses dog do this, or are they afraid of anything else?

Misha has a similar fear. We have centralized heat. If you throw her toy near or on the vent, she panics. She will make pathetic attempts to quickly pull it away, but she always misses. Usually, I have to go over and rescue her toy.

Misha has a lot of weird fears. Most of them have to do with things that make noise. Her strangest noise making fears are the packaging tape dispenser, the plastic wrap, and the aluminum foil. Pull off a piece of any of these and she will run out of the room.

Also, she is terrified of the dust mop head if the mop head is up in the air. My Mom was trying to fix the mop head one day. She flipped it over so the head was in the air. Misha ran and hid in her tent.

We don't have a dog, but our neighbours have two Miniature Schnauzers, and we're sort of foster parents. We look after them when their owners go away on holiday, or if they're away all day, and we see them every day, so I know them almost as well as the owners do.

Tikka is a bit neurotic, and she doesn't like different noises. We're in Spain, so we have fireworks going off most weekends, and that doesn't bother her. However, the first time she came into our house - about 4 years ago - our cuckoo clock struck just as she was going past it into the garden, and she was terrified. We couldn't coax her back into the house, and she had to go home through the garden. It was weeks before she'd even be in the room with the cuckoo clock, and she still takes the scenic route into the garden, rather than passing the clock.

Bertie is more laid back than his sister, but he doesn't like cold water dripping on him. Pat and Brian - their owners - live very close to the swimming pool on our complex, and I used to go in the garden for a drink after my swim, but because I dripped cold water over Bertie, he wouldn't come near me. Then I started going for a drink before the swim, but he still wouldn't come near me, as in his mind, I had a swimming costume on, so I was wet.

I didn't like upsetting the dog, so I stopped going in my swimming costume. I have long hair, which I usually keep tied back for coolness, except when I'm swimming. Pat asked me up there for some reason one day, and my hair was down, as it had only just dried out from the swimming. It wasn't dripping, and it wasn't even wet, but Bertie still wouldn't come near me, even though I was fully clothed. I asked Pat for a scrunchie, and as soon as I tied back my hair, he came for his cuddle!

This dog is up for a fight with a German Shepherd who always growls at him, and who could do real damage if he wanted to, but he's frightened of my dripping hair. Also, he doesn't like wasps, flies or other insects. He had a bad reaction to a wasp sting a couple of years back, and he's convinced that anything that flies is out to get him!

The only thing that I my dog would be afraid was thunder and lightning. It was amazing at how scared she would be at that. She would immediately jump in my arms and hide. It was quite cute, similar to a child, who is usually scared of the same thing.

She was also afraid when my mother and I would have our huge fights that would shake the entire apartment building.

Sandra, it is interesting how dogs observe so much about our appearance. Bertie didn't see a ponytail and put two and two together even if it didn't add up to the right thing. I have known dogs that would become afraid of someone they knew if they saw them with a hat on.

I am glad to see Tiki over came her fear of the cuckoo clock. That would have been difficult to control.

My previous dog, a Lab, was not afraid of anything. She was fearless. That is, until we installed the ceiling fan in my bedroom. I remember that she was laying on my bed the first time I turned it on. She looked up warily watching the blades spin around. Then suddenly, she jumped up and fled the room. She did this several times for about a month. She did eventually decide the fan could stay.

My dog has a problem with me sneezing, and I really don't understand why. He actually runs away when I sneeze. If he doesn't notice that I'm faking, and I just do the breath in thing, like I'm about to sneeze, He'll get up and take off, too.

He's been my dog since he was about 5-6 weeks(I know, way too early, but it's a long story), and I've never tormented with my sneezes or anything, haha! He just hates it when I sneeze. Oddly enough, he could care less if anybody else sneezes, only me!

(09-20-2012 09:50 AM)themdno Wrote:  My dog has a problem with me sneezing, and I really don't understand why. He actually runs away when I sneeze. If he doesn't notice that I'm faking, and I just do the breath in thing, like I'm about to sneeze, He'll get up and take off, too.

He's been my dog since he was about 5-6 weeks(I know, way too early, but it's a long story), and I've never tormented with my sneezes or anything, haha! He just hates it when I sneeze. Oddly enough, he could care less if anybody else sneezes, only me!

Similarly, my dogs are afraid when someone coughs. I don't know if it's just the fact that it's a loud noise, or if it sounds like some sort of bark or growl to them, but whenever they hear a cough they run away and look at you with these big, terrified eyes, as if they think they're in trouble. I always have to comfort them afterwards to let them know that there's nothing wrong. This makes cold season a pretty frightful one for them.

Beside thunder, our dog is so afraid of getting left at the vets office. He starts shaking with his tail between his leg and tries to bolt to the door. If we have to leave him there we can hear him crying as we walk out to the car.

themdno, that is really peculiar! I wonder why your dog only reacts when it is you sneezing, but not anyone else. It would make more sense if he scared him when everyone sneezed, unless you have a really loud sneeze. Maybe he thinks you are injured.

My sister's dog is afraid of anything that comes in a spray bottle--even food. One night she brought out a can of whip cream. When she went to spray it on her pie, the dog fled the kitchen.

One of my dogs is afraid of baths. If you even say the word bath, he runs away as fast as he can. He won't go anywhere near any bathtubs, and if you try to make him, he'll just roll over belly up so you can't drag him to it.
Ironically, he loves to play in the sprinklers and with the hose. He just hates having a bath. He also runs away when you get the dog shampoo out because he knows that means it's going to be bath time, it's amazing how smart he is to have figured that one out.

Misha has added something new to her list of fears. We were taking our walk today when we passed by one of those real estate signs. You know the ones that are like a sandwich board. They stand in a triangle shape. They use them to announce garage sale and open houses.

Misha approached warily. Then, she made this really big wide turn around it. When we walked back, she was very determined not to get anywhere near this monster on the sidewalk. Crazy Jack Russell!

(09-20-2012 09:50 AM)themdno Wrote:  My dog has a problem with me sneezing, and I really don't understand why. He actually runs away when I sneeze. If he doesn't notice that I'm faking, and I just do the breath in thing, like I'm about to sneeze, He'll get up and take off, too.

He's been my dog since he was about 5-6 weeks(I know, way too early, but it's a long story), and I've never tormented with my sneezes or anything, haha! He just hates it when I sneeze. Oddly enough, he could care less if anybody else sneezes, only me!

Oh my gosh! I actually really did laugh out loud when I read this and pictured it in my head. That is the funniest thing, especially that he only does it when you sneeze.

Okay, I'm going to tell you guys something that would embarrass my family if they knew I mentioned this. But Gigi does the same thing when anyone in my family farts! Yep...she will head for the hills it anyone close by her toots their horn. The first time she did this, I almost peed myself from laughing so hard (sorry if that's TMI). I have never heard of any animal that was afraid of a fart!