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Thread: Doggy Trauma

  1. #1
    Puppy
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    Doggy Trauma

    Is it possible for dogs to experience significant emotional trauma, similar to humans? A few weeks ago my 1-year-old pup Theo and I woke up to fire alarms and sirens blaring. My apartment building caught fire, and half of it burned down. Luckily my belongings were undamaged, but we had to evacuate, spend awhile in a motel, and then move to a completely new area. Needless to say, it has been a stressful month!

    I wonder about the toll it has taken on Theo. The poor guy was as spooked as I've ever seen him when all the lights and sounds went off that morning. Theo rarely ever barked before the fire, but now he barks constantly at loud noises. He also never paid sirens any heed before, but he always reacts now, usually by running to the window or just freezing in his tracks until the sound passes.

    Last weekend I went back to finish cleaning out the old apartment and took him with me. Unfortunately a fire truck passed by with sirens blazing right as we were entering the apartment, and Theo completely refused to go in (we had been back before without major issue). I couldn't get him to budge and had to drag and push him inside. He tried to run out the door every chance he got after that, and this had been his home for his whole life (excluding the time spent with the breeder)! I felt so bad. Do you think the trauma/stress of the fire and move has affected him psychologically? How can I help him overcome his
    seeming anxiety around sirens and other loud noises?

  2. #2
    Senior Dog
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    What a scary experience.

    When I lived at home, I came home to a house full of smoke and the smoke detector blaring. Got the dog out and he was in the neighbors yard when the fire trucks came. After that he was visibly upset whenever he heard the smoke detector being tested or fire truck sirens (when in the car and a police car went by he was fine because they were different sounds). Thankfully he was never spooked about going back into the house.

    In our case, after the dryer fire, there was very little exposure to the noises that would spook him. If the noise was quick (fire truck siren in passing or the smoke detector going off for something cooking and got turned off quickly) he calmed down immediately and it was business as usual. The exception was the day Santa came around the neighborhood in a fire truck each year. It was a couple hours of the fire truck siren being turned on and off. The first year we didn't even think about it and it was hard seeing him so upset for so long. Once the event was over he calmed down. Subsequent years we just planned a typical outing for him so we were away from the noise.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Jeff's Avatar
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    To answer your question, yes, they experience emotional and psychological trauma. Basically you treat it the same as PTSD in soldiers coming home. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I have come to learn dogs minds are very much like humans. They are simpler, they have different urges and needs but they pretty much work the exact same way. We have all heard of Pavlov's Dog experiment, in where he would ring a bell and give the dog food, pretty soon the ringing of the bell the dog would start salivating. Anyway, little known is that Pavlov's experiments were also done on human children. With the exact same results. A lot of this wasn't known or highly published because this was the same time Darwin published the theory of evolution and Pavlov's experiments showed distinct relationships in Canine brain and Human brain. Probably a lot more than you wanted to know but yes at fundamental levels dogs and humans brains work a lot in the same way. Positive dog training, which is a great method to train dogs is no different than Human Possitive reinforment learning, except in Dog training you use a lot of treats.

    So my suggestion would be to treat this as mild PTSD. I would use exposure therapy. Basically talk to the local fire department and ask them if you could bring your lab by for a visit. Explain to them what happened and what you want to do. Then for like a month and a half bring him by every week and have him meet the firemen, let him see and sniff the fire trucks. Let them love him up and get treats and then leave. Don't turn the truck on or anything. Just get a lot of positive exposure. Then after about a month and a half. see if they have a bull horn with a fire alarm siren sound, some do. Have one of the guys stand back away and sound the siren for a little bit, then let him check the bullhorn out. Let him sniff it, see it have the guy walk away and do the siren again. Gauge his reaction. only you can tell here if this is a possitive or negative experience. If negative then well lots of treats and love and time to leave. Try again the following week. Keep repeating until he is ok with that. Then have them fire up the sirens to the truck. Once he knows the sirens are just his best buddy firemen he might be excited to hear them but actually looking forward to know his firemen buddys are nearby.

    Some references for PTSD, while this is for humans, the same things works for dogs.
    Exposure Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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  6. #4
    Real Retriever
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    Yes...it's very real.

    We took our big guy camping as an 18mnth old puppy; never a fear issue of thunder, loud noises, etc until that particular trip; during the trip we had experienced 3 horrible summer storms all the while being in a tent.

    Fast forward 5yrs, he can't stand even the thought of thunder or a summer storm - he hides in the closet.

  7. #5
    House Broken swanska's Avatar
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    I like Jeff's suggestion. Might want to put Theo in a Thundershirt while doing the exercises at the station -- it may add that extra sense of security and comfort.

    Good luck!

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  9. #6
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Absolutely yes. Plus Theo is at a point in his life where dogs go through the stage where they become scared of things that never bothered them before.

    Jeff has some excellent suggestions. Our local fire station loves to have visits. In fact, I recently went to discuss firemen completely decked out in all their gear and the effect on dogs. They are very knowledgeable and have protocols in place. Archie had a great time sniffing the equipment and trucks. Of course, they all dealt out tons of pats and love.

    Using the watch me command while a stressor happens with treats and tons of praise is a good exercise.

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  11. #7
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    Poor guy! Great advice above from Jeff and Fran, I also like the idea of using a thundrrshirt. I have used one for my 9 y/o girl who us terrified of thunderstorms, gun fire, fireworks, etc, it has made a huge difference for her. Sending good thoughts you are able to help him recover from such a scary event. I think that would have been frightening for many dogs.
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  13. #8
    House Broken swanska's Avatar
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    Oh, I also wanted to mention that if he acts afraid of the firemen when they are suited up, ask if one will "dress" up in their uniform piece by piece -- getting treats and love the whole time. There was a dog at the park that was total freaked out by my two-toned winter jacket. This was a dog that adored me and always ran up for pets. I had to remove the jacket and hang it on the fence. The dog immediately recognized me as his friend and approached for his TLC. Then, I took the jacket down and let him sniff it then watch me put it on -- it was about 20 degrees so I am glad that he accepted me wearing the jacket.

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