Strange Phobia

does your smoke alarm go off often when the ovens on?

 

How strange. Do you think she might have burned her nose on it once? I met a St Bernard once that was afraid of open fires, the great big wimp.

 

Poor Dotty Good excuse to get a takeaway though! (w00t)

 

I have two in here with strange phobias too.... :-

Oscar does not like the oven fan and as soon as I switch it on hes off downstairs (we have an upstairs Kitchen in the house)....also Archie

does not like the frying pan when I fry bacon especially...maybe the spitting that sets him off...and hes away too.... :lol: ..I have a small cat bed

next to the oven which the dogs fight over sometimes...so maybe he got splashed once too...that would explain it...

 

 

Hi Sue,

wow! what an unusual fear from your girlie! I'm not sure if finding the initial fear provoking incident will help, I think you have to tackle what you are left with. I can't imagine how I'd tackle this in any other way than desensitising which you are already doing BUT I wouldn't allow her the chance to escape from the kitchen with the 'scary thing' in it and go down the lines of when dogs are afraid of thunder for instance - ignore the fear response as I think it often feeds their fear of the thing ie/ ooh err if she's reassuring me, I must be justified in being afraid.

You say you feed her treats in the kitchen - I'd feed her evening meal in there, particularly if Duke is another whippie and will eat happily with the oven on. I'd give both a good satisfying walk and feed them an irresistible (chicken, sardines, or whatever) meal in front of the oven, possibly away from it to begin with and gradually move in towards it as the days go on? - have the food ready for immediate eating - so no chance of getting ultra frightened whilst you prepare it, and perhaps deliver it from close to the oven so she associates the oven with food. Completely ignore both whilst eating - no 'good girl' and no hovering - act normal! Possibly she'll have to be very hungry to do this. Paradoxically, in my experience, you must not praise her if she eats the tea, as the theory is that 'everything is normal'.

It may not work immediately, but no dog will starve itself, and I think you may have to be a bit cruel to be kind. I had a very neurotic chinese crested with endless fears - I found that when I was at my least sympathetic with her I had the most success. It took me ages to cotton on that I was adding to her fears and so as soon as I'd tackled one, she'd invent a new one! I cracked her in the end!

We are fortunate that whippets are not a neurotic breed so I think she'll come good - one of mine hates the vacuum cleaner, we no longer get any fear response but she removes herself when I vacuum - if only I had that excuse! lol

Just my opinion, and good luck with her, but desensitisation is the key - think people in spider phobia therapy! :wacko: )

 

Strange creatures aren't they! :lol: Something must have happened to make Dotty so scared of the oven! :unsure: I guess you may never know what.

The phobia we have here concerns Muffin. He always used to come to bed with me and get settled in the middle of the bed and wouldn't move even when Richard came up. But for the last 6 months or so, when he hears Richard go into the bathroom, he's up and off the bed like a shot, running downstairs. :clown: He comes back after quite a short while though. The only thing we can think of which started him behaving like this is that Richard once sat on him! (w00t) But you'd really think he'd have forgotten about that by now - it just shows what long memories they have.

Hope you can find out what's causing Dotty's behaviour :thumbsup:

 

I have one with a phobia too, and I think it may have been the dishwasher, which we always seem to put on when we go to bed. One of our boys (Sweep) started to shake, pant and cling to me whenever we started off the routine of bedtime.

All the dogs go out for a wee, and then the young ones are put to bed with biscuits. Sweep would be in a right state, and I think he connected us going to bed, with the noise of the dishwasher. I expect we once put pans or their food bowls in there, which do make a funny noise when the water squirts on them. Whatever it is, he associates it with us leaving him - so he and his sister sleep in a crate in our bedroom. He is happy with that, and we don't mind, as long as he is happy. I did try ignoring him, but would come down in the morning to a pool of dribble, he must have been really dehydrated, and he also started losing weight, so I couldn't let it go on.

At one time he used to freak at the sound of my mobile phone, but we did the desensitising bit (I made him sit with me and listen to it, while I stroked him and fed him treats) and he is fine with it now.

They are sensitive dogs, not neurotic, but very sensitive - but that's what makes them the addictive, beautiful, loving creatures they are :wub:

 

Alfie doesn't like the ironing board, I think the noise it makes opening/closing scared him when he was a pup, he leaves the room when it's ironing time... or if he has to pass the ironing board he rushes by with his head down :wacko:

 

you could always cook a nice chicken and when its ready dish it up for her so she see's that good stuff comes out of the scary cooker.....

Mine are always up at the cooker and I forever worry about burnt tootsies and when the door is open they are all peering in to see if its for them. As soon as I put veg into a pan they are following me about because they think its their dinner

Tracy