dog and smoke alarms

[wigparty]

oh my god. I knew he didn't like the pips of the smoke alarm when the battery is low. Yesterday took this to a whole new dimension.

One of the alarms must have started pipping early while we were still asleep. i was woken to dog on my head panting furiously. There was mud and blood all over the bed.

In the front room, he'd dug into the stones and bricks in the fireplace and there were pawprints and blood all around the windows where he'd tried to scrabble out. His claws were all bleeding and most are down to about a mm long from where he's scratched to try and get out.

He'd pee'd in there and poo'd in the kitchen.

I figured the best place to put the poor sod while I tried to get the battery out was outside in the garden and thankfully looked out the window in time to see him trying to crash through a small hole in the fence onto the railway line . He's never done this.

Eventually I managed to get all the batteries changed and so far we are pip free. We were supposed to be out yesterday evening and leave him but I had to stay home with him in case there were any more rogue pips.

I feel so so bad for him, he was totally distressed, I've never seen him like this.

What on earth will happen the next time around. What if he's home alone?? Has anyone else had experience of this?

Wig

The poor boy - that is awful.

How are his claws - do they need checking out?

I can only suggest you check your smoke alarms regularly (eg once a week)or use rechargeable batteries and have a set time you leave them in for before recharging & replacing.

Bit more drastic solution would be to replace the smoke detectors with mains powered smoke alarms which we have & so they never beep (unless DH burns toast )

HTH & that he's okay.

Hi Bella, his claws seem to be okay today. I've been bathing them in warm salty water and they don't seem to be hurting him.

That's a good idea re the mains smoke alarms. We're due for a big electrical / wiring overhaul and we may well add that to the list.

I replaced all the batteries yesterday so hopefully that should keep them quiet for the forseeable future. I think I will set a time limit on them and replace them all at the same time. Trouble is they pip for a bit after you replace the battery so we'll have to keep him somewhere else!

I've never seen anything like it. Downstairs was like a scene from a horror film. Poor poor boy

He seems fine this morning. Asleep at my feet snoring!

There was a thing on Radio 2 around Bonfire Night about dogs being scared of some noises. There was a lady from The Guide Dogs Assoc saying how you can (apparently quite easily) train them not to be scared. Might be worth looking into? Are there any dog trainers in your area you could try? Apparently it usually works, but she was saying they can't use this approach with guide dogs and fireworks because those dogs need to react to certain sounds and see them as danger.
Your poor pooch - I hope he's ok.

That's a thought Drusilla. Trouble is, even though it's only one pip every few mins, it's incredibly loud and piercing so I don't know if he'll ever be taught to be relaxed about it?

I've certainly got to think of something though as he can't go through that again. Everyone slept really badly last night as we were all worried about rogue pips!

He does seem better today though

I think it was just along the lines of teaching them to associate the noise with something good i.e. food. I am not a dog trainer though so sure there is more to it than that! Putting your alarms on the mains instead of batteries is a good idea though - we have that and you never get that annoying beep. You can see why it would drive him mad if he is scared of the sound anyway

Actually, he got more love and treats last night than usual, perhaps he will associate treats with the beep!

I think mains alarms are the way to go though, I shudder to think what state he'd have been in if he was on his own...

I have used the fireworks CD which I think is what you heard about, Drusilla. You play the sound at a very low but gradually increasing volume over a long period of time to desensitise the dog, and link it to something positive (e.g. food).

Unfortunately, while my dog got to the point of listening to the CD at full volume with no qualms, she still turned into a quivering wreck when the real fireworks started