I have a Belgian Terv and she is quite noise sensitive. She is frightened at the usual thunderstorms, fireworks and so forth but she is also afraid of beeping noises such as cell phone low battery or missed calls, messenger received message beeps and the oven timer. She seems to be okay with the microwave beep.

Does anyone else out there have a dog that is like this? I'd like to hear about your experiences.

M.

Have you ever done any kind of desensitizing work?

Desensitizing should help.

Luc was brought into a shelter at around 6-8 months old and spent three years there. He was very noise sensitive when I got him due to lack of exposure - thunderstorms (lightening no problems though), fireworks (I adopted him Canada Day weekend, that was great), low-flying fighter jets, and then the weird stuff....like carbonated pop.

For the carbonated pop, I worked with him slowly. Not that I drink a tonne of pop but Diet Coke is a vice. I started by having him sniff the bottles and praising/treating. I think marker training would work really well there. Then I started opening the bottle. He would run away. I called him back, had him sniff the bottle again, treated/praised. Then I would reopen the bottle. The hiss was less. Over time, he got used to the noise, realized the bottle wasn't anything bad, and now he doesn't blink if I have carbonated pop.

For the thunderstorms and fireworks, I just ignored that he was scared and set up things for us to do. Sometimes it was just reading to him in an upbeat voice. Sometimes it was obedience. Never did I acknowledge that they were the kind of things to be afraid of. We moved, and this Canada Day, the people across the street set off fireworks. Luc moved out of the living room initially, but came back in when I called him. That was it.

Something you might also want to try is swaddling him in a shirt. I did that for the fighter jets (in path of air show) and it helped.

There is also a drug free over the counter supplement called melatonin.

Produced by the pineal gland at the base of the brain,melatonin helps regulate circadian rythyms, the internal clock that tells mammals when to sleep and when to wake.

Marketed to humans as a natural nightcap, melatonin has been used in dogs to treat fear of thunder, as well as reactivity to loud noises and stress. It stays in their system for 8 hours. It is also said to help dogs with immune problems.

The dosage is 3 mg for average sized dogs.

In case you need a little more info about desensitization: Start with a beep you know your dog can handle, like the microwave. Put your pup in a down-stay, and make the microwave beep. The instant it beeps, if she stays calm, give her a click and a treat. Do that 10 times in a row. Take a break, and then for your next set of 10, change the beep to something a little more difficult, but make sure it's still below her threshold of being able to stay calm. You may need to get creative - find beeping watches, blackberries, etc. I would do this exercise 4 times per day, slowly increasing her ability to stay calm with different kinds of beeps.

If she panics at a certain kind of beep, just say, "Oops!" (the negative reward marker) and go back to an easier beep. Put that one aside for later in your training. Definitely don't force her to stay down or keep forcing her to listen to a beep that is past her threshold - get creative and find more beeps that she CAN successfully listen to and stay calm, and keep practicing with those.

If you do this 4 times a day for 2 weeks, you will probably see a lot of progress. If you have questions, you can email me through my website at http://www.oldtowndogs.com.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone for the advice. She has gone through odd fear stages off and on since she was a pup. I regarded these as the natural fear stages that dogs go through when they are young. For example, she was afraid of the stairs for a while. I found that if I just let her be and didn't make a fuss about the stairs, she got over it in a day or two.

I was actually curious about whether anyone else had experienced noise sensitivity with their Belgians. I had read and heard that herding dogs tend to be noise sensitive however when I looked for more information on the subject, I didn't find much.

I also would like to know more about typical Belgian temperaments. My breeder has told me that all Belgians are the same dog (Terv, Mal & Grund) but I do wonder if there are any behavioral differences between the varieties of Belgians. Like why are the Mals used more for police work than the Tervs or Gruns?

There just isn't a lot of information out there on Belgians. The breeder I got my dog from was a ... er not a great person and while he was knowledgeable about breeding and breed standards, he didn't have much to offer as far as behavior traits.

I'm not looking for advice, I'd just like more information on the subject so if anyone has anything to share - I'd really appreciate it.

There is the potential for noise sensitivity in any breed. Fearfullness of noises, as your describing, is a weakness in her temperament...and to me is not uncommon in many Tervs and Groenendael that I have seen.
As far as 'all Belgians being the same dog', this was true many years ago. The Terv, Groenendael & Lakenois have gained in notoriety with showdog people & therefore their tempermant has suffered. This has also happened in the Malinois, but to a lesser extent, b/c there is still a large population of Mals bred only for work. The working malinois that is seen today in Ringsport, SchH/IPO & Police work is what used to be the "typical" Belgian temperament/character for all of the varieties.

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I also would like to know more about typical Belgian temperaments. My breeder has told me that all Belgians are the same dog (Terv, Mal & Grund) but I do wonder if there are any behavioral differences between the varieties of Belgians. Like why are the Mals used more for police work than the Tervs or Gruns?

Same breed perhaps many years ago. Now they are bred for different purposes. Terv's are used as show dogs. Mal's as working dogs, although there are show lines too.

Character varies line to line. Lots of nerve issues in many lines, I see it a lot in Terv's especially because they are not bred for the work. The Belgian dogs are often twitchy (depending on lines), so a little nerve issue or improper exposure to something can screw the dog up pretty easily. They remember EVERYTHING. Especially the bad.

That makes sense (John & Mike). I can see how the temperament does suffer with the breeding of show dogs.

I can see that there are a few nerve issues with her. On the most part, she's pretty stable - there are a few areas that we are working on such as her ignoring other dogs when we walk through an unleashed area (which is not like a U.S. dog park).

Ah, you probably want an explanation. :-) She has a certain amount of space and if another dog comes into that zone, she reacts. When she was young, I socialized her lots but when she was young but as she started to mature, she kept pinning other dogs. She never broke the skin but it sounded like she was killing them. I talked to the vet, my breeder and a dog trainer about this and unfortunately none of them thought it was anything to worry about and didn't give me any advice on how to resolve the problem.

So, I took matters into my own hands and bought and read just about every book on dog behavior I could get my hands on, not to mention I bought just about all of Leerburgs DVD (which helped greatly) as well as watched and read all that Cesar Milan had on dogs. I now have at least an inclining of a clue though I lack the knowledge that experience provides. Not to mention, this is the first Belgian I've ever owned (my previous dog was a Yorkie so big learning curve for me).

Sorry, I don't mean to write a book here...

When it comes to the topic of nerves ... would the nerve issues tie in with her "personal space" issue? She also startles very easily at home when she is lying down. If someone moves, she jumps up and barks or may growl.

I am having success on the "startle" reaction. It's not cured but we are getting there. Now, if she reacts - she catches herself and leaves the room.

I don't want to paint a picture of her being all nerves because other than the situations I have mentioned, she is calm, playful, obedient and a sweet dog to be around.

She's also still young. She is three years old.

Anyway, I don't want to bog you down with too much dialog here. Any comments, advice, shared experiences would be most welcome!

M.