Strange things that freak your dog out

[heatseeker14]

Our dog is a super confident little chap not scared of the usual things dogs are scared of like fireworks. Instead he gets freaked out by the most random things:

1. A large bindweed flower.
2. A PS4 controller that was on charge. It has a light on it that glows when it is charging.
3. A sieve.
4. A J2O bottle after my eldest blew air on it to make a noise.

Anyone else have a dog as crazy as ours?!

I've actually got a pic of my dog cringing in terror!

I received a package with some of those long, foam things you can use to float around a swimming pool, (can't even remember why I ordered them). As I unpacked them, he began cringing, so I took 2 out and waved them at him . I took a photo before realising I was probably traumatising the poor boy and put the offending foam out of sight.

He's since attacked and destroyed similar foam tube things, so no lasting damage to his psyche.

Like another poster's dog upthread, he also hates the hairdryer. He has a love hate relationship with the hosepipe, and music terrifies him. I now listen to music through headphones to spare him a fit of the vapours.

Ours is a 12 year old cocker - he's profoundly deaf so isn't scared of fireworks, thunder or anything like that, but he sure as heck has taken a particular dislike for a house sign on our walk which is at the end of someone's drive - it's literally just a varnished log with the house name carved out of the bark, nothing exciting. He freezes and sneaks past it every day. Sometimes he will stop and give it a quick sniff before scooting off quickly.

@vinosaurus ahh I know that image well. Our rescue took about 2 weeks before she would move off her 'island'. Humans!!!!!!

My big ‘scary’ pitbull was terrified of wellie boots - he would refuse to out the back door if there were any on the patio and would sit there and cry.

My youngest papillon is terrified of whole pumpkins. He barks and carries on when we’ve got them in the veggie patch. He wants to defend them from us but he’s too scared to get too close to them.

There's a house at the end of our road. It's actually round the corner, but the corner house. When you turn the corner into our road, you're walking parallel to their back garden. At the end of their garden is some wooden gates and a dropped kerb, though they don't seem to use the garden as a parking space. Because of their wall and the gate you can't see their garden.

Theyve got a very noisy dog and whenever it's in the garden and someones walking past, it stands at the gate and barks loudly. As you can't see into their garden you're not always aware of it till it starts barking.

Maggie is TERRIFIED even though she normally loves other dogs and when you;re walking past insists on walking on the outside so she's the furthest away from Barky Dog.

She's also got a weird reaction to any noisy household items. When I;m trying to use the hairdryer, she jumps up and tries to snap at it.

Ladders. I feel sorry for the window cleaner.
If he hears counting out loud he goes nuts.
Also doing anything in slow motion sets him off.

Oh I've just remembered another. I was watching tv and the dog was relaxed on the floor. An ad came on that used "we will rock you" by Queen. I started tapping the sofa with my hand and clapping in time either rift. She jumped up, jumped on the sofa to stop me from doing it. Clearly not a Queen fan.

My smoke alarm.

Managed to set it off accidentally with a new toaster and I honestly thought my dog was going to die. He ran and hid under the coffee table and refused to come out, even once it had been turned off.

Other white dogs freak him out too.

Rain. He hates being wet and has a water dance for after an encounter with water.

@CockCarousel, aww look at his face!😄
Our dog absolutely loves our window cleaners. He gets so much fuss when they come round.
I have enjoyed reading your posts. There is such a long list of offending items butterflies, feathers, bubbles and the ultra scary loo roll holder of doom! 😂

Yesterday I found out she's scared of a lamp? Not new. She's seen it before. But I turned it for better light. She trembled and hid!

Mine is freaked out by the following:

Temporary traffic lights.
"Men at work" or temporary road signs.
Sandbags.
People on crutches.

Our boy when we rescued him from the dogs home was petrified of getting in the car to come home. In the end my son had to pick him up and plonk him in the car. Not easy as he is a large chocolate labbie,
For the next 3 days we loaded him into the car and drove him round the local roads to get him use to being in the car. Now much happier and inspects other cars , prefers more upmarket cars to my Nissan.

Fireworks...he trembles for hours after he hears one firework. Our neighbours set off fireworks for the NHS clap for heroes and he was distressed all evening. Not sure what we're going to do whens November comes around! Any ideas?? Thank you ❤️

My DDog is not bothered by fireworks, loud noises or any of the expected things... but flies he is terrified of! He will go into a complete panic and if he can’t find somewhere to hide (usually inside my wardrobe) he will try to climb onto the nearest human and bury his head so he can’t see the fly. He’s not crazy about blinds rattling either

The fan in my office
Watering cans
Buckets
Birds
The Hoover
The ironing board
Pegs
Brooms
Hosepipe
Paddling pool

The list changes every week for asbo dog

Ddog gets very upset with mobility scooters. If he sees one, he just freezes and barks incessantly until they've gone and then we're fine again.

Nothing else bothers him except an ornamental mask thing my parents brought back from Kenya. If ever he sees it, he leaps around bouncing on all 4 legs (like a cat) and barking dramatically. We had to keep it in the cellar.

The bollsrds on canal tow paths

Petrified of feathers. The smaller and fluffier the feather the more scary. He will jump into the air and backwards! He also has not realised that birds have feathers so will chase them but sometimes they will drop feathers when they fly off onto him....

The floor that she’s been living on for the entire decade of her simple life. Sometimes she undergoes some sort of brain spasm where she overthinks what she’s standing on and suddenly walking and standing becomes an incredibly complex and alarming activity.

Likewise her basket, her place of safety and comfort, can occasionally transform into a zone of mystery and peril. Usually because she’s got her front legs out and then she’s attempted thinking and can’t then work how enable her back legs to follow. She can end up just standing there for minutes at a time half in half out looking alarmed.

She’s really not the brightest.

Tbh nothing else really scares her because she simply doesn’t possess the firing synapses in order to equate stimulus with fear response.

Hot water bottle - warm or gone cold. He won't walk on our bed if there's one in there. I've tried to show it to him but he just runs away.

When I cook lamb my dog goes into a full blown panic meltdown!

Prams
Open Umbrellas
Other dogs wearing cones
Bald people
BBQ tongs

We once came across a bald man pushing a pram and walking a dog with a cone on in the rain.
Ddog's brain nearly melted.

Balls - any kind; tennis, soft, squeaky....

You throw her toy bone and she'll chase it with glee. You throw a ball and she looks at you with such worry and betrayal, then heads inside to her bed!

The toaster. DH often burns his toast casing the smoke detector to go off. Now, anytime Dog hears the timer of the toaster and smells toast, she starts shaking.

The terrier -
Window cleaner (more his ladders, if he seems him when he's on a walk he freaks)
Soup maker
The bird that flys on the coronation street intro (but fine with actual birds)
My hoover (but is fine with everyone else's)

The chihuahua -
Bridges (normally the little ones over streams in the woods, he will stop and wait to be picked up)