Dog Owner Question: Why are my dogs afraid of...?

Question:   Why are my 2 dogs afraid of thunder & gunshots & fireworks? My Pitie (Neutered male,5 years old) Shows signs of anxiety really bad, especially when the weather is going to change. He also gets so anxious he sometimes throws up. Also, I would like to know if there is any way on God's green earth that you can get a Black Labrador Retriever (Spayed Female 7 Years Old) from jumping on people when they come in the door. They go walking, but that pittie Is not a very good walker. He wants to sniff EVERYTHING & I mean EVERYTHING. They do not get along with other dogs whatsoever. I am A C-4 quadriplegic & they mostly stay in the house with me. However, they do have a doggy door & a fenced in backyard so they have freedom to go out by themselves & play.

Reply to  "Why are my 2 dogs afraid of thunder & gunshots & fireworks?":  To really know why a dog is afraid of something, would take some sort of psychic ability.   Logically however, we can assume that the dogs do not have any earthly idea of what those noises are.  WE know what they are, and therefore (unless someone has a phobia about it) we know not to be afraid of it.   Dogs also have much better hearing than we do, so to them it must be much louder than to us.

Here is an interesting article that I found about dog senses.

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/articles/dogsenses.htm

Some dogs may just assume the worst from these noises, because they are just not used to them and do not experience them very often.   Some dogs may have had a traumatic experience regarding weather (one of my dog's was afraid of thunder only after experiencing a scary micro burst with us).


Reply to "is any way on God's green earth that you can get a Black Labrador Retriever (Spayed Female 7 Years Old) from jumping on people when they come in the door. ":
Yes, but it does not involve some quick trick.   You can get there by actively training your dog, and what will be especially important is a well trained sit stay.   In a well trained sit stay, there would be no way for the dog to jump on someone.   Something less than a well trained sit stay would not solve that of course.  There is also the relationship between the dog owner and dog to consider.  You want a team or partnership relationship to develop, and that takes more than a few training classes or sessions (and the homework that goes along with that).

Observations:  You have a lot going on in your home.   The best way to acquire another dog, is to be sure everyone else has been trained up to a standard first.  Of course not everybody knows that or does that.   Another thing that jumped out at me is that while they have a doggy door and backyard, they have no structure.  So with that sort of freedom and no guidance, they are going to be making decisions for themselves.   We are seldom going to be happy with decisions dogs make on their own with no human guidance.  Because they are mostly in the house with you, they are lacking social experiences to make them more balanced dogs.   It may be your best bet to get some professional training guidance, especially someone who has trained with people who have disabilities.   You may need the professional trainer to do some up front work with your dogs first to make the beginning part easier on you, and then train you on how to maintain it.   There are probably several ways of doing this with you.   Many of those issues are a lack of working with you, and making that change in your relationship to that of a partnership.

I hope some of this answers your questions and helps:)

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