Afraid of Dryer - but not of fire works(!)

[Rebecca]

My large boy is afraid of any small motor appliance. Dryers, vacuums, my battery operated hand fan, my humming (just kidding on the last one).
He has no problem with thunder, fireworks, backfiring cars, a loud compressor, etc., just those rascally dryers.
We need to start bathing him at home but he is non-cooperative when it comes to those tiny motors. Any suggestions on very quiet dryers?
Also, I am not sure he is really a "water" dog, lol. His avoidance must be that he knows it will inevitably involve the dreaded "dryer".
I am thinking we need to get another dog who likes to swim, we have been planning to get another soon anyway. My sister has an 8 year old chocolate lab, an alpha dog that my Newfie took to like a long lost brother from another mother. But my sister wants to keep her Labrador, ha.
Has anyone ever had a Newfoundland that didn't seem interested in the water at first but learned to like it later? We live a block or two from the Columbia River in Washington State. Hate to see all that water go to waste.

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

Dryers are pretty much about the same when it comes to how loud they are. What are you drying him with now? The best thing is to put it in another room on low so he can get used to the noise. Eventually you should be able to coax him near it with a treat.

 

[Cutiemus Maximus]

Admiral used to hate the table, the dryer, all of grooming. Then I brought her along when I'd go groom a friend's dogs, and they must have brought out her inner courage because now she jumps up on the table on her own and calmly tolerates the dryer. Maybe seeing other dogs getting groomed helped her over her fears!

 

[Jager's Mom]

My newf isn't fond of the water...the only time he seemed to enjoy it was when he was with another newf (Buzz)....then he would follow him into the water.

As for dryers....mine has a loooong hose, so I could put the motor in a different room and pull the door to minimize the noise.

 

[shellyk]

Maybe bring your sister's lab over and try the dryer out on him. We have a Newf and a Lab. Luckily the Newf doesn't mind the dryer. At first the Lab wanted no part of it but then decided that he liked the attention that the Newf was getting and now he demands that he be dried off too. While the Lab doesn't need the power dryer we find that blowing him dry keeps the amount of hair shed in the house to a reasonable amount. We have it set up in our garage. My husband mounted it to the wall near the large garage door. All the hair and dander gets blown out of the garage. I think having the door open dissipates the noise too.

Living near the river is paradise and I can't imagine your Newf not wanting to go in it daily year round!

 

[Franksmum01]

Frank loves the water but mainly just to sit or lay in still not quite got this swimming lark but we are working on it, he hadn't really seen the water until we got him so doing pretty good really, as for the dryer no chance he's off....but loves the vacuum which us just as noisy but guess it doesn't blow hot air at him x

 

[shellyk]

One thing I forgot to mention is that my Husband put a hook with a short leather tether that he hooks the dogs collars to while drying. They actually don't have a choice about it. That may have helped them get used to it as well. :lol:

 

[R Taft]

I just click and treat...Kikopup on Youtube will show you the way...my way to get anything done on dogs (and horses)..small steps and progress. maybe first dryer on low in another room at some distance and slowly get closer and louder. And this is done over days not hours, sometimes weeks. I have had many rescues who hated our rather forceful dryer, but now i have to keep them away from it and it is quite tedious if you want to work on only one