Another vacuum cleaner question !!

[EllieDixon]

Here in the UK we must be obsessed with the things. Anyway, does anyone know why some dogs are scared stiff of them? Amy isn't bothered at all, in fact she's quite happy for me to run the nozzle gently over her when she's even more than usually coated with sand. But Ben is terrified!!

I had a rescue dog that was scared of the vacuum cleaner and I thought perhaps she'd been teased with it, but I've had Ben since he was 8 weeks old and so I know he's never had a negative experience. Yet he is deeply frightened by it.

Help me please - what is so scary - and has anyone overcome this in their newfs?

Many thanks
Ellie

 

[BluwaterNewfs]

It's usually the noise from the vacuum that bothers them. Some motors give off an pitch that bother the dogs ears. Remember their hearing is more senstive than ours. And while Ben may not have had a bad expereince with the vacuum, was he exposed to as a puppy? How used to the sound is he?

 

[EllieDixon]

Hi - I don't know about at the breeders, though they weren't in the house after a couple of weeks old - and I'm sure she wouldn't have teased him at all.

Here I vacuum 2/3 times a week and I've never tried to force him to remain in the room, I just let him exit before I switch on and calmly carry on. He can't have learned this behaviour from Amy as she's not bothered at all. I'd like to try to get him over this if at all possible - any tips please?

Thanks
Ellie

 

[BluwaterNewfs]

He just may not like the sound - it is not necessarily a learned behavior not does it mean he was teased. He may not even have been exposed to the sound at the breeder's.

 

[Bob M]

The American comedian Brett Butler once said that the reason men and dogs get along so well is that they are the only two species that are instinctively afraid of vacuum cleaners.

And you know how wrong she is? (We'll set aside the gender slander, though allow me to say "Harrumph!") None of my four are even slightly concerned by an approaching vacuum. They'll lie stubbornly in its path, until I have to warn them that before long I'll be vacuuming up dog hair that's still attached.

Mary, on the other hand, thinks brooms are prey, and rushes to the attack the instant she hears anyone start to sweep.

 

[Wash]

Wash goes into full on protection mode when the vacuum turns on. For whatever reason he thinks the vile thing is attacking mom and goes beserk.