Hi everyone. I haven't been on the boards for a few months - been a rough and a busy year with family and my best friend who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (miraculously it was caught at stage 1, she had surgery last week and the prognosis is good).

But we are still having trouble with Kasey and his fear of certain construction related noises. It started when we remodeled our kitchen last summer and all different kinds of machines were being used. We did the bathroom 4 years ago and the same machines were used but didn't bother him at all. Guess since he's 8 now it makes him more nervous? There weren't any bad incidences that happened to him during the kitchen remodel.

There's a house down the street that was leveled in November and has been having construction ever since. Some days are fine, others cause him to act like a psycho - ears back, panting, drinking lots of water, afraid to be in certain areas of the house, hiding, following me around every step I take. It's horrible for both of us (I work from home so I'm here a lot).

The weird part is that if it's my husband who's using any of these power tools (I think it's mostly things like circular saw type noises), then he doesn't even care - he'll be right out in the garage with him and just sleep. But anyone else and he freaks. I thought it might be the tone of the noise hurting his ears but doesn't make sense if he's fine with our tools.

Vet tried a little xanax to see how that would affect it and it seems to make it worse for him - being drugged. I've tried Rescue Remedy, L-theanine, valerian, you name it, and nothing helps him till evening when it's all over and then he's fine again. The vet says I should try a canine behaviorist - that's going to cost me hundreds of dollars we just don't have (Kasey is a very expensive dog with allergies, apoquel, pain meds for his arthritis elbow, etc!).

So I'm wondering if any of you have had any similar experiences and would have anything to offer in terms of what I could do when this behavior starts. I have tried distractions - take him for a walk, play ball, etc., he is better during the distraction, but as soon as we're done, he's resumes the anxiety. Soon I am going to need the xanax...

(I'm very concerned because our neighbor, right next door, has paid a contract to draw up plans for an addition to his house. When this happens, we are in big trouble)

Have you tried diazepam (Valium) yet? It worked quite well for my noise phobic dog. He got just a touch loopy. I don't think anyone noticed it but me. And he could relax during thunderstorms or hunting season.

I have a lot of sympathy for you and Kasey. It's awful having no control over whatever is scary

My vet won't let me do valium or anymore xanax - she doesn't like to prescribe drugs for this kind of thing I guess. At least she didn't when we thought it was temporary because we were doing the kitchen. I'll have to talk to her again.

If your vet doesn't want to try drugs, I'd be looking for another vet who might let you try them because it's a pretty big quality of life issue.

Hi Lori,
Mara makes a great point about quality of life, yours and Kasey's, so I too, would try the valium. My Thor reacted to noise more as he aged, for nine years, he could care less about thunderstorms but around age 9 he would pace and drool when we got them. I felt bad watching that, but daily construction is much more prolonged and just that.... daily....
What I did find out eventually, was that if he was in the car, the thunderstorms did not bother him, so I would move him into the car until they passed and that solved the problem.
Is there somewhere like that, where Kasey feels safe and comfortable? Another thing you can try is on YouTube there are hours long recordings of music to help dogs calm themselves. My puppy came without an off switch and I would put my lap top on top of his crate playing the music and it would put him to sleep. Probably more effective with a puppy but worth trying.... the music is weird with intermittent buzzing, I found it annoying but not as annoying as the screaming...lol. Good luck, I hope you find an answer.

Lori, have you considered using a Thundershirt? We use one for our Malinois, Bailey, and I'm impressed how much of a difference it makes in helping her calm down during thunderstorms. She actually leads us to the room in which we store it when a storm breaks out so we can put it on her. The only other anxiety causing event with her is when we have to board her and it doesn't take her nearly as long any more to calm down in the kennel when she arrives with the Thundershirt on. We don't have the problem you have regarding construction noise but it might be worth a try.

Logan used to react to lawnmowers, going into defense when he heard or saw one. Not exactly the same as an all out panic but nervousness is definitely part of it. What I did was put him on a leash and made him walk with me when I mowed the grass....in steps.

I started before he was nervous and the very first instant he went on alert (ex; ears up when I put my hand on the mower to get it out) I redirected him and made sure he was calm before I touched it again, after a few times he ignored me touching it. Then in steps I added more stimulation until eventually I was mowing the grass with him walking along with me calm and relaxed.

After that I went on to tackle his reaction towards other people such as neighbors mowing...starting at a distance doing the same thing. IT WORKED! But they key is redirecting the VERY first instant of nervousness/alertness.

I have never tried a thundershirt on a dog but I have heard they can really help and I would do this also since your dog goes into complete panic mode. One thing that helps with fearful and excited dogs is to NOT talk to them while dealing with it and be aware of your own energy. The only talking I would do would be a redirection, if you need to physically touch the dog to get their attention, then do so...TIMING is everything...and do not take a step forward until the dog is calm where it is. Most people do not know when this occurs. Its usually when the dog relaxes its jaw, sighs or lays down.

I wonder if B.A.T. training would work for Kasey...David Winners posted about that once.

I don't talk to him and give him attention when he is anxious. I have thought about doing desensitization training but it's hard to do when the noise isn't in your yard - when it's down the street or behind a wall. Plus he doesn't seem to care about the noise when he's outside - it's really only when he's in our house and hears it. Take him outside and he calms down, but when the noise is a constant thing it's not possible to be outside all the time. We had a dog in the past that was afraid of the air compressor in the garage and we were able to greatly reduce that fear like you did with the lawnmower, but this is so much harder since it's someone else's 'hidden' noise - a lot of power tools seem to fall into the 'scary noise' category.

Will he self-calm in a crate?

That works for one of mine that gets anxious occasionally. In the crate, covered with a towel or blanket. Safe place where the scary stuff can't get in.

You might even try something as simple as blocking the outside noise with something else---talk radio or the TV or music--something to compete with the scary noises outside.

 Quote: Tracy Collins

Will he self-calm in a crate?

That works for one of mine that gets anxious occasionally. In the crate, covered with a towel or blanket. Safe place where the scary stuff can't get in.

You might even try something as simple as blocking the outside noise with something else---talk radio or the TV or music--something to compete with the scary noises outside.

His crate in the corner of a closet in our office and he does like it in there - we took the door off and he goes in there on his own when he feels like it. But it doesn't calm him if the noise is happening. We do leave music on next to it - have even tried turning on the white noise machine and putting that by the crate, but he doesn't want to stay in there. He's not used to having the door on the crate, so if i put it back on and locked in him there it might make it it worse?