Loud Noise - Page 1

I would like some input from everyone on how their dogs respond to loud noise such as thunder or fireworks. Also, do most of you test your pups with gunfire? Do most of you deliberatly make alot of loud unusal noises around your pups as they grow up? How would your 8 week old pups respond to the following... Say a metal bucket falls from a shelf and lands on a concrete floor making a loud noise right behind the pup. 1. Would the pup turn around and check it out, mainly curious? 2. Yelp and take off running . 3. Take off runnig but then come back. 5. Urinate and tuck tail? Lots of questions but really curious on how you all will respond, since some of you are basically among the best GSD breeders around.

Hey Desert, what happened to option number 4??? LOL Just teasing. Pups around here are subject to my loud kids (two of them, who can make more noise than any gun or bucket falling from a shelf...those of you who are parents know EXACTLY what I am talking about! haha), vacuum cleaner, tv, radio, other dogs, tractors, trains, etc. from the time they are born. They never seem to balk at loud noises. I do not deliberately make noises other than a radio or television (which often has westerns playing somewhat loudly just for the gunfire) until they are older, for I do not want to damage their little eardrums. First of all, I would not let the pup be somewhere that a bucket could fall on it and injur it, but this being said.....IF a bucket fell from a shelf RIGHT behind one of my pups, it would probably take off running, probably a bit scared, but then come back, along with all the littermates, to see if something edible also fell! It's funny, but definitely the way things would go around here. Afterall, the kids that make all the noise are a great resource for "snacks" if you are a puppy in this house. Why not the bucket??

For 3 weeks of they're lives they live in our bedroom, therefore subjected to all sorts of things, water running, (shower, sink, toilet) Closet doors, bathroom doors, toilet seat, dresser drawers, shoes off, snoring, (the hubby) coughing, (me), Radio, alarm clocks, and cell phones. at 3 weeks they move to the "stall", I call it. there they are brought a mess of food 5x's daily for week 1 and 4x's daily thereafter. When I go out, I make sure I clang the bowls, drop one or two, make all kinds of noises, whistling, clicking, smooching, and puppy puppy puppy words. Time spent in the house each evening ends up being noisy, we have the kids playing ball with them laughter at they're antics, cat is peeved about it always, introduce them to other members of the pack one on one, they don't like that much, but they get used to it. I bang pans together and they come running to see what "mom" has for them it's too funny, they are exposed to surfaces carpet, lanoliam, concrete, sawdust, grass, sand, dirt, gravel, and finally when they master the jump onto the couch, upholsterey. Our pups have no fear I swear, we have the kids invite friends over to spend playtime with them too, thus introducing them to strangers early on as well, they don't even seem to notice it's someone new. It's alot of work though !!!! Sometimes they smart up, and if they wish to spend more time in the house, they will hide when I say Outside, most of the time though it's potty time and everyone runs for the door, Works out really well.

1. The old American-lines dog has been scared of thunder and fireworks since day one. He doesn't bolt, but he does shiver and puts his tail between his legs, and hides under my desk or under the back deck. Didn't like the vacum cleaner when he was very young, but since puberty he thinks he might be able to scare it back into the closet and will approach it barking. Since the vacuum cleaner does in fact always wind up back in the closet, maybe he's onto something there. He's not scared of the lawnmower or other yard power tools at all, to the point where I generally wind up putting him in the house so he won't get hurt by any flying debris because he usually hangs too close. If I drop something behind him he's startled, but not to the point of taking off. 2. The 8-month old Kirschental boy hasn't been bothered by any noises since day one, from fireworks to pans being dropped behind him. Absolutely bomb-proof.

My 8 week old pups and younger have always been either indifferent to loud noises or gone to investigate depending on whether the were inside or outside,meaning when I have had intense thunder and they were in the house they didn't care.I mean thunder that nearly rattled the house. If I am not lucky enough to test them that way I do test them with other loud noises to make sure they are not gunshy. I have never had a gunshy dog or puppy. Like p59,mine seem to be bomb proof and they have been exposed to a wide variety of noises. I do expose them to gunfire and the smell of a gun,but not at 8 weeks. Fireworks is another wonderful tool to test puppies with. When introducing the usual household noises for the first time ,like vaccuum, I have someone else do it while I observe the litter. If a metal bucket fell on concrete,they would check it out,I have done similar things without endangering the litter of course.

At 8 weeks my pups would have ran at the noise but quickly turned around to investigate. On the 4th I packed up all of my dogs and went to a friends who lives on a ranch. I have one dog who doesn't like fireworks, he doesn't freak out but he does want in the house and he claws at the window to tell me to let him in. I had 2 of my litter still, at this time and I expected them to freak at the fireworks. (reason I packed up and left town) We had our friends over and everyone brought their own WORKS. I had control, so If the dogs handled it badly, we could stop and move them inside. For the first round, I had them in a crate out on the lawn. My adults were ok with the works and I checked the pups. They looked perplexed but not frightened. Just wondering what all the noise was about. At that point I opened the crate and they came right out. Good sign not hudled in the back of the crate. I walked out twords the direction the fireworks were going off and the pups followed the pack. They watched the bright flashing lights like they been there done that. I had always from the start had been exposing them to strange and sudden noises. Nothing as loud as fireworks however. Your typical throwing pans on the pavement and hitting wood together. Lots of screaming kids and children playing. Other barking dogs, cars, radio, slamming doors. The pups were whelped in the garage and I do my laundry out there, we have a second refrigerator and I routinely throw my laundry baskets from the kitchen door back to their spot in front of the washer. I may have just been lucky but they ended up liking water and retrieving metal of any shape or size. Great pups!

Well I can say 1. Like Echomeadows mine are born in the house and stay in the house till between 3 and 4 weeks old then go to the kennel. They are exposed to all the household noises. From day one they are handled, every time I let the female outside my daughter grabs a couple of puppies out and carrys them around. Once they are out in the kennel every time I clean the kennels they get to go out and explore. They are always curious what I am doing and I toss buckets out and feed pans that land behind them and make loud noises and I can safely say they all turn around and run to it to investigate. They usually end up playing with the bowls and buckets. I usually have 1 or 2 of my other females that love puppies running around with them but they start learning to explore the outside. During the rainy season I usually have to go out to the kennel and gather up the pups out of there run and close their in out door so they are not out playing in the rain, so thunderstorms don't bother them. Gun shots, have a neighbor that shoots on their property, when this does occur, pups usually stop what they are doing and look that way, after that ignore it. They also get to come in the house, most of them attack the vacum cleaner, others just move when it gets too close and relocate to chew there bone. The pups learn from the older dogs to wait for the car that pulled down the driveway to stop and then run up and greet whoever gets out. This works great when someone comes to buy a pup and a whole group of pups greets them at their car. Mike

Thanks all for your feedback! It was good to hear that so many of you have solid dogs that can handle these types of stressors. I laugh remembering my pups attacking the vacum cleaner as my wife tried to clean house. Without a doubt pups benefit greatly from the things you all mentioned. I do most of them myself as the pups mature. I must admit it boils my blood to see "top" line dogs who are weak nerved or not socialized and are scared of everything. Why people continue to breed them is beyond me. These are the dogs whose pups end up being fear biters or in shelters. Have a good day.