Fear of Noises

This is our season of thunderstorms, power outages, rain, lightening, hurricanes...yikes!

Ralphie is definitely not fond of this weather.  He really had a rough evening yesterday.  We had a typical Florida storm with the booming thunder and gushing rain.   During this time Ralphie was getting spooked, nervous, and shaking.  Then the power went out.  My smoke alarms began to beep from the loss of power.  Oh my gosh, Ralphie began freaking out with the high-pitched beeping.  Finally the rain let up, power still out, so I decided to take him and Ollie for a walk that way it would get his mind off the scarey noises and in hopes it would relieve his anxiety.  So we go outside, Ralphie still a bit frazzled from his noise experience.  The three of us started our walk and holy and behold my neighbor was have trouble with his motorcycle and making grinding noises and revving the engine.  Ralphie completely and totally freaked out to the max!!!  With his tail tuck between his back legs, body lowered to the ground, this 53 pound puppy began to pull and pull me down the street towards our house.  Needless to say, poor little Ollie was dragging behind.  I'm yelling, "STOP, DON'T PULL, STOP!"  I was losing all control over him.  I strained my shoulder muscle trying to hold him back.  He kept pulling and pulling...he was so scared and wanted to get back into the house FAST!  Thank goodness the power was on when we got home.  I unleashed both of them, and Ralphie ran to my bedroom and just sat there dazed with the most pitiful, sorrowful expression.  I think Ralphie was feeling he disappointed me.  He knew I was upset being dragged by him.

Finally I get him cozy in my bed and I started searching the Internet ... "dog scared of noises".  I learned the best way to help him is to desensitize him...very, very slowly.  I will be getting a CD with different loud sounds; start playing it extremely low and at the same time play with Ralphie...he loves the tennis ball.  Slowly over time I will increase the volume of the CD and play with him.  In the meantime, I am not supposed to coddle him during the thunderstorms or any other loud sound event.  I need to ignore his behavior and distract him with play. This may take a month or several months, but whatever it takes I don't want Ralphie to live a fearful life of sounds.  I know this is a common concern with many pets so I will continue to update my blog with his progress.

I never want to see that sad,  pathetic look on Ralphie's sweet face again.   I'm determined we'll overcome his fears in time.  Sweet Baby.