Hi all,

I recently adopted out a female Catahoula/Boxer/Terrier mix with a stellar temperament. Very solid, friendly, affectionate dog.

The adopters live in an apartment complex. They have had the dog for only a week and a half and during that time, their fire alarm has gone off twice. The alarm is electric and is located inside each apartment. The adopter describes it as a very very loud, high-pitched alarm. The last time it went off is last night. There were people, fire trucks, the loud alarm, other dogs, etc.

Now, the poor dog is just terrified. She will not come out of her crate at all, will not drink or eat, and when the owners do manage to get her ouside for a walk, she is all happy and back to normal, but then will NOT re-enter the apartment - they have to carry her.

I can't blame the dog - she is sitting there minding her own business being a good girl, and all of a sudden this loud painful noise unpredictably assaults her ears, coming out of nowhere and for no apparent reason.

I have instructed the adopters to put her water in the crate with her and put a blanket over the crate and just leave her for now. The problem is that the alarms are unpredictable.

I really could use some suggestions on how to help this dog.

The more they try and the more attention they call to it, the worse it'll be. Just pretend nothings wrong and treat the dog normally, praising when she does something right, but totally ignoring when she doesn't. Once she figures out the world isn't going to end she will get better.

 Quote: mike j schoonbrood

The more they try and the more attention they call to it, the worse it'll be. Just pretend nothings wrong and treat the dog normally, praising when she does something right, but totally ignoring when she doesn't. Once she figures out the world isn't going to end she will get better.

The only other thing I can think of is to "desensitize" her to noises.
Starting out with "quiet" noise until she is comfotable with it and then gradually increasing the sound.....but Mikes suggestion is good too.

It all depends on how much work they want to put into it.

Desensitizing to noise is OK, but sometimes that can set it back even further if the owners don't do it properly or focus too much on it. In my experience, the more you ignore it, the better it gets. Let the dog act stupid and scared, just don't talk to them, don't react to them, don't try to lure them out from behind the sofa or under the desk, don't try to do anything different to comfort them, don't do anything. It takes a long time, but eventually most dogs figure it out.

Don't forget the praise and attention when she does do something right or she won't know her behavior is the right behavior If you need her to do something, like go for potty etc, then just be firm with her, make her deal with it, don't make a fuss, just drag her to where she needs to be and praise when she does it right.

A bond with the dog helps, but obviously that's difficult to achieve with stupid fire alarms going off all the time.

Angela,

I have an alarm and it has gone off probably about 5 times at least. Sometimes I'll alarm the house while inside but I have forgotten and opened the wrong door or window and it's instantaneous - it's a God-awful sound. Gunnar HATES it, he even howls. This morning my hard-wired carbon monoxide detector was beeping. In order to check/test it, I had to do something that would set the alarm off. Before I did it, I put my dog in the car and drove him down our driveway so he wouldn't get upset. That's how much the alarm bothers him. And he's a very, very calm dog 24/7.

What the others didn't mention which might help but might not be easy is changing the humans/owner's reactions when they hear the alarm. The sound is very unnerving because you don't know if it's an emergency so you go into a sort of "oh crap, all senses alert" type of reaction. After all, it could be a real fire, a burglar, whatever. So for the first few seconds you have to figure that out, the owners are probably not their most calm. I'm sure the dog notices this. I know my dog does.

I think the dog gets scared because of the high pitch, volume and foreign sound, then immediately picks up on that panicky reaction in the humans, making the dog even more tense.

Not going to be easy but if they can remain totally calm when the alarm is set off, it might help the dog chill too.

Some very good advice, thanks everyone.

These owners are first time dog owners and are the type that worry about doing everything right. I am sure the dog is feeding off their anxiety. Not to mention she is in a new home with new people and a scary noise. They are really good people and I know they will work hard and try to do whatever suggestions I give them.

I really appreciate all your answers and I will forward them on to the owners.