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Poor Toby has been in a constant state of anxiety since our whole street is festooned with twinkling, flashing, and sometimes even jingling Christmas lights. His usual relaxing walks are now very tense and full of growls and barks. This is his first christmas with us and it is obvious he is not handling all the extra stimulation very well. Any suggestions?
Poor Toby has been in a constant state of anxiety since our whole street is festooned with twinkling, flashing, and sometimes even jingling Christmas lights. His usual relaxing walks are now very tense and full of growls and barks. This is his first christmas with us and it is obvious he is not handling all the extra stimulation very well. Any suggestions?
he might just be PC and you could start referring to the decorations as Holiday lights when around Toby.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by no kudzu
Poor Toby has been in a constant state of anxiety since our whole street is festooned with twinkling, flashing, and sometimes even jingling Christmas lights. His usual relaxing walks are now very tense and full of growls and barks. This is his first christmas with us and it is obvious he is not handling all the extra stimulation very well. Any suggestions?
Artie doesn't seem to get bothered by Christmas lights but last year, in our old neighborhood in CT, someone had a scarecrow out during Hallowe'en. Well, Artie was none too pleased and would bark at this "guy" every single time we walked by him.
That said, someone once had a vacuum by the curb for the trash collection, and Artie thought that "he" was a person, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghengis
he might just be PC and you could start referring to the decorations as Holiday lights when around Toby.
Try to associate something positive with the environment they are afraid of. When I was trying to teach my doggies that thunderstorms were not the enemy, I would use my command that says 'you are doing a great job' and gave them a special treat. For me, that means, clapping my hands and saying yaaaaaaaa'. So, when a loud thunderboom was happening, I clapped, said yaaa and gave them bologna or whatever special treat I wanted to use. It helped their anxiety a lot and I can repeat this during another storm and they calm down more quickly. Maybe you can bring lots of treats during your walks to associate something positive with uncertainty of the lights/sounds. That may help your dog realize walking outside with lights and sounds is a good thing and something to look forward to.
Treats can work, but be careful when you give them to him. Don't give him anything when he is barking or growling otherwise you may end up rewarding and encouraging his anxiety.
Sometimes dogs need to be exposed to something slowly and on a regular basis so that they are desensitized to them. Dogs are smart and sometimes you just need to let them investigate what it is that's making them nervous. We had a similar situation with my mom's decorative Christmas angel, which would light up and move its arms. My dog would freak whenever it was plugged in and would bark at it since she thought it was alive. Finally, one night I took the angel down and let her sniff it while it was off. I turned it on and off while she watched and it finally clicked to her that it was not alive and that I controlled it. Never had a problem after that.
Maybe you can let Toby check out some twinkling lights in your house under your supervision. Let him see you turn them off, then on and so forth. Use the treats others have suggested when he seems calm so that there is a positive association with them. Good luck!
Poor Toby has been in a constant state of anxiety since our whole street is festooned with twinkling, flashing, and sometimes even jingling Christmas lights. His usual relaxing walks are now very tense and full of growls and barks. This is his first Christmas with us and it is obvious he is not handling all the extra stimulation very well. Any suggestions?
The boys walked up to the Christmas tree this weekend took a sniff and walked away. I knew Spanky would. It's not his first Christmas tree...Diesel, was my concern. It's his first one here in this house. (I adopted him in July) although he is five (big boy just had a birthday) I think he was an outside dog. (Just the way he acted when I brought him inside...)
So, my concern when putting up the tree was...will he use it for, well you know...but so far, so good. No problems outside, either.
I have never known a dog to have issues with Christmas lights but there is always a first time.
Have you changed during the Christmas season (attitude)? Do you like the Christmas lights? Your dog will pick up on that and react. Everything we feel and react to travels down the leash to our dogs. It is amazing what we transfer to our dogs and don't even realize...it is just something to think about.
Not afraid of the lights, but one of ours doesn't like the blow up Christmas decorations that make motion. We no longer live in a neighborhood, so those are now in the past. LOL!
No, our dog isn't afraid of the Christmas lights. She didn't like us bringing in all the Christmas decorations, boxes, etc. She stayed outside in the fenced in backyard until everything was put up. She creeps around the tree and if you throw her toy near it, she walks very gently over to it to pick it up. This is our first Christmas with her. She hates bags and anything that makes noise. I don't think she is going to like the wrapping paper, us unwrapping gifts.
My lab is afraid of snowmen. He thinks they're scary people and barks at them. He's afraid of hot air balloons too and chases them until they disappear.
We haven't put up a Christmas tree in years because he always knocked it over and broke cherished family ornaments. He's 16 now so it has probably been 10 years since I've had a Christmas tree.
Hopefully Toby will get used to this the more he sees it. My dogs don't like the blow-up decorations much, but they do get used to them. The only one that's really hard is a house with a Santa that constantly pops in and out of the door. They don't bark but they won't take their eyes off it, look back over their shoulder, wanting to stop, with me saying, "Leave it! It's OK, leave it! Let's go! Leave it! Come on, let's walk!" They did get kind of used to it last year but now we're starting all over.
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