Our recent nosework session was up at the fields we use near Portavogie. Due to the weather, we only had one field – right next to people flying model airplanes and just up the hill from Kirkistown racetack, where there was car racing going on.
Gus trotted quite happily down to the field and I was proud of him ignoring the racing cars. The model airplanes were exciting though. While I was explaining what we were going to do that day, Gus managed to back himself out of his harness and run off across the field, barking madly at the buzzing monsters.
All the other dogs behaved beautifully of course – my dog’s the only truly mad one! We calmed Gus down by playing “find it” games, which are his favourite. Thankfully the model aircraft stopped flying and things calmed down.
But near the end of our session, rally cars started racing, complete with those frequent exhaust gate bangs and backfires. Gus’s eyes went round and stary and he went tense, then tried to bolt away. I struggled to hold him while trying to calm him – my new joints aren’t really strong enough to resist the massive momentum Gus produces when he lunges in fear. But he wouldn’t take food and kept trying to lunge away – he was too scared to cope. Finally he broke free and shot back up the path away from the scary bangs.
I found him crouching against the car, one of his safe places. By the time we left the fields he’d calmed a little, but it can take around 48-72 hours for those stress hormones to fully settle.
Slow but sure is the motto for helping dogs with noise phobias. It’s practically impossible to cure but the aim is to make the dog comfortable and give him options/places where he can feel safe.
I’ll tell you more in this week’s Wednesday Why, and also tell you what happened the next day with Gus.
Keep training
Carol