katycorp asks...
Hello Mary! I have a two year old dog named Finnegan. He is a rescue that we got last June. And the best guess for his breed is an Australian Cattle Dog mixed with a Rat Terrier. Fin is very scared of both our AC units, and a standing fan. Whenever they come on he runs and hides in another room. Or, if they're on in every room, he hides in the closet. How can we make him feel more comfortable around the fan/AC without accidentally rewarding his scared behaviors? Thanks! Kaitlin
Hi Kaitlin! Thanks for your question. This is a tough problem to answer without knowing a lot more about your case. I’m not so much concerned about the exact cause of the fear as the type of treatment will likely be the same. However, if the behavior is the result of inadequate socialization, genetics, or innate tendencies it may not be something that can be completely overcome without help from your veterinarian. Also, you have a cattle dog in there somewhere, which is a herding breed. It is not uncommon for this class of dogs to be sound sensitive or even noise phobic! Lord knows sound sensitivity was one of the many problems I dealt with when I started training Scarlett, my Shetland Sheep dog.
To help you get a feel of where I’m coming from, let me define fear. Fear is a normal response to a perceived threat (Hetts, 1999). It’s what keeps animals in the wild out of trouble and alive longer. While your dog may have had an unfortunate run-in with a fan/AC, and his fear is normal, it makes living with him during the warm months really difficult and uncomfortable. Let’s not kid ourselves about the heat and humidity of the D.C. area! Regardless, Finnegan is experiencing physiological and emotional changes that manifest themselves in different behaviors. The body posture of a fearful dog can vary greatly from a subtle lowering of the head with ears pulled back and tail down to full blown panic as they can damage items in the home while trying to escape. The later would be more characteristic of a phobia where the fear response is disproportionate to the situation, maladaptive, and persistent (Hetts, 1999). It sounds like Fin is somewhere in between, but where?
It’s critical that I understand the exact trigger for the response and the extent of his fear. When you say he’s scared, what exactly is he doing? Be specific or send video to allow me to understand the severity of the problem that, in all honesty, might be best suited for a face-to-face behavior consult. Off the top of my head, here is a small sampling of the questions I would ask if we met: How long does he hide in another room? Is it every time the fan or AC comes on, and for it’s duration? Does the response change depending on the amount of air or sound? I’m assuming it’s a sound issue, but is it possible the blowing air is triggering the fear? And how intense is his fear now compared to when you got him in June? Does he flee at high speeds or sort of slink away? Are there other noises he is afraid of?
Shwoo! Now that all that’s out of the way, you ultimately need to decide whether you want to manage the situation or try to fix it. Either way, development of a specific plan would require knowing more about your case. The best thing to do to make him more comfortable right away, is to keep him out of the rooms that have fans and AC vents when they come on, which may or may not be realistic.
Oh my goodness, I hope this makes sense! Let me know where you’d like to go from here!
Thanks again, Mary
Reference
Hetts, S. Pet Behavior Protocols. AAHA Press, Lakewood, CO. 1999.
