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Rudy has always been a weird dog, LOL, and he has a few odd phobias... most aren't much of a problem, and his reactions are nothing major (putting his ears down, i.e.). But he has one that seems to be getting worse, and I'm thinking it should be dealt with asap. So what's the phobia? Chewing gum! I don't chew it myself, but my roommate does, especially since I got a little gumball machine at a party recently. It's not the gum itself that scares Rudy, but the popping/snapping - which sends him into a total panic. Usually he will flatten his ears, hide behind me as tightly as possible, and sometimes he will quiver... once he "put himself in jail" under the end-table, and refused to come out until I bribed him with cheese. I actually got a picture of that:
Now he gets anxious at the sound of the gumball machine, or if he notices anyone with gum in their mouth... so how do I deal with this? Is it all about de-sensitizing, or should I use bribes? I don't want to scare him on purpose, but I seem to remember that is a way to cure phobias. TIA for any advice!
Kinda like Katie when she pops her balls! I say get rid of the gum! There is no way to explain to him what it is. And he may have had a mean gum eating kid in his past!
I rescued him as a young puppy, and he lived in the shelter before that (from probably 6-7 weeks of age)... so there were no gum-chewing kids that I know of! I guess we could make it a non-gum household, but other people might chew gum around him - and he should learn to face it, right?
Replace the gumballs with dog treats! And let him see you getting the treat out of the gumball machine. Of course, wash it REALLY good afterwards. (Mmmm, liver flavored gumballs...)
Seriously though...you can desensitize with bribes. Give him really, really good treats when, and only when, the gum chewing is occuring. Then he should learn to associate the two.
Yep, Misfitz has it right. Give him some high-value treats and chew gum while your're doing it. Work the gumball machine and give him treats. Once he accepts the chewing and using the machine, snap and pop the gum and get him used to that. There's obviously some weird association going on in his mind to gum, but you should be able to get him used to it. You can even chew gum while he eats.
One of my dogs is afraid of one of our bathrooms. He'll go into two of them, but the other one scares him to death for no reason I can figure out. He'll now come in and get a treat, then run right out. I figure I'll keep at it for another week or so, then start moving his food dish closer to the bathroom until he'll eat in there. That should do it.
What a beautiful baby!?!?
Poor guy, our dog is afraid of the sound of fireworks (or any sound that remotely resembles it) and we live smack in the middle of about 4 areas that do fireworks regularly in summer. We're starting to use treats when the noise is going on, and it's working, slowly but surely. Try the above suggestions. Gum free house isn't really feasible since you'll probably run into gum chewers everywhere you take him.
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I don't chew it myself, but my roommate does, especially since I got a little gumball machine at a party recently. It's not the gum itself that scares Rudy, but the popping/snapping - which sends him into a total panic. Usually he will flatten his ears, hide behind me as tightly as possible, and sometimes he will quiver... once he "put himself in jail" under the end-table, and refused to come out until I bribed him with cheese. I actually got a picture of that:
I guess we could make it a non-gum household, but other people might chew gum around him - and he should learn to face it, right?
Of course, wash it REALLY good afterwards. (Mmmm, liver flavored gumballs...)
