My dog.....is afraid of the Dark

I'm serious.
And it's my fault.

Some of you know So-Chee. She is just the best dog ever! Well~ on the 4th of July we had a party. Very much fun. So-Chee had a good time too~ was an EXCELLENT babysitter playing with the toddler human child that came very gently all evening.

BUT~
Then it got dark and the fireworks started. I was hoping she would be okay with it~ she is a brave girl. But her eyes got all glassy and she was obviously very frightened. So I put her inside~ in my bathroom. She was obviously pretty freaked. Even though she HAS seen and heard fireworks before and acted frightened~ her reaction Friday night was more extreme than I've seen from her before. I locked her up for the safety of our guests and I THOUGHT to calm her down. I checked her several times during the evening and she seemed extremely freaked~ glassy eyes~ drooling~ shaking~ whining. I decided next time I will go to the vet and get her a tranquilizer before fire works.

4th of July over~ no more fire works. Problem solved for now right?

Apparently not.
Last night I put her outside to do her nightly business.....THEN I heard a screaming and thumping. OH GOD SOMETHING IS KILLING MY BIG TOUGH GUARD DOG!!!!!!! I run to the door~ there is So-Chee screaming like the world is ending and slamming herself into the glass door! I ran outside (while my tough guardian ran to MY BED!) There was.............

NOTHING OUT THERE
NOTHING

I pulled So-chee out of my bed and took her outside on her lead. We walked several circuits of the house~ her on her belly, crawling, shaking, glassy eyed.

I thought~ well......maybe someone put off one last firecracker on Saturday and she heard it. She was fine outside all day today. No problem...........

Until it got dark.

She is outside now~ leaning into the glass door and shivering. She was thumping the doors until I shouted at her. Apparently she is slightly more afraid of my anger than she is of the dark......but it appears that fear of the dark is a close second to fear of my wrath............

Okay~ I could see her being afraid of loud noises now
Flashing lights even
Fire maybe~
Sure.......

BUT AFRAID OF THE DARK?!?!?
I never would have believed it if I wasn't watching my tough and serious guard dog wet herself of the back steps because she is too afraid to go into the yard after dark............

Bring her inside. I hate to say it, but you may need to involve a dog trainer and do some extinction therapy with her. It's my guess that she is associating the dark with the fireworks, even inside. Drooling is not a good sign. I work in rescue and am on my third dog now with fear issues (all have been Rottwielers). They can be a liability and sometimes dangerous. In my experience it usually takes a lot more time to fix an issue than it does to create it. Google the extinction and flooding therapy and read up on how you may be able to help her. I by no means am implying that you should tackle this without professional help (dog trainer/therapist). In my book they are worth the time and maybe a little money.

Jerry

Oh I forgot, don't get onto her for barking or acting the way she is right now. Maybe just ignore it and bring her inside and act like nothing has changed. Don't baby her as you could reinforce the behavior. Try to act like you 2 did before this happened and good luck to both of you. I wish all my dogs had no issues, but it does feel so good when you start to see progress being made.

Jerry

It's beginning to make more sense. When I first realized So-Chee was afraid of the dark I insisted to my husband that was ridiculous. Afraid of loud noises~ okay. Afraid of flashing lights~ okay. Afraid of the dark??? It's gotten dark every night of her life. EVERY NIGHT! LOL! If I wasn't seeing it for myself I'd insist the person reporting this was anthropomorphizing! It's ridiculous!

I put her outside last night....and she took off! She's never done that before! It was terrifying for ME. I found her way up by the road~ about a 1/4 mile away. If she were afraid of the dark WHY would she take off AWAY from the lights on the house????

So tonight I think we've figured it out.
It's not the DARK
We moved here from the city~ where the night time sounds we hear are peoples TVs and other dogs barking. Now we are in the country. This is our first year here. Our first July. I think its the cicadas (SP?). They started getting louder just a few days before July 4th~ then the trauma of being scared out her wits on July 4th..........then back outside and the cicadas are getting LOUDER. VERY LOUD. We are actually amazed how LOUD the night is out here! When she took off last night~ it was AWAY from the woods TOWARD the road. AWAY from the sounds the cicadas where making!!!

She is doing better tonight. Still not 100% herself~ but going outside without freaking. We made a point of not coddling her for being frightened~ and we all sat outside on the porch this evening just watching the sun set as the cicadas started up. We played ball with So-Chee and she did fine. She went out to do her business about 20 min ago~ and she was quick about it and wanted back in the house but she didn't act like the world was about to end.

Being afraid of the new sound she may have associated with the scary sounds on July 4 makes MUCH more sense to me than being afraid of the Dark!

I'm glad to hear you all are doing better. That's a good idea going outside with her and doing fun things with her. You know to show her outside is not scary. I use positive reinforcement in classes I teach. They don't always have to be treat based. Praise and love and attention can go a long way also.

Jerry

Thanks~ I appreciate the info you gave me last night. I was pretty upset after she ran off. We've been here since last September~ and we did set up an invisible fence system to keep her close to the house~ but it got disabled a couple months ago (you would not believe how many things can happen to that wire if you don't bury it~ cows investigate and tear it~ chickens play with it and tear it~ tractors drive through where you never imagined......even where it is buried was damaged by new fencing installation!) But it didn't seem so important because she is a smart dog and respected the fence boundary even though it did not function any longer............until last night. THAT scared me. So-Chee is more than a dog to me. She is very important~ and when she went missing last night (for the first time EVER~ I've never lost her before) I FREAKED! So while we are not coddling her fear at all.......she is being carefully watched until I can get the invisible fence repaired so she can't disappear on me again!

How is So-Chee now? It's been a week+ since you updated, I'm hoping she's more settled.

She is doing much better now. But now we seem to have developed a hearing problem........she doesn't hear me pretty often lately when I call her or give her a comand.

I don't really think she has a hearing problem. I think we are actually having a bit of an attitude problem. Everyone always tells me how well trained she is~ but I seem to spend a lot of time lately standing in my yard hollering "Aren't you supposs ed to be well trained?!? Come HERE!" We are going to having some refresher training as soon as I get a minute to breathe around here! Otherwise~ she is doing much better! And the "Hearing problem" isn't so bad that she won't listen when she knows I'm serious I called her off a groundhog I'd told her to "get" yesterday. I wanted her to chase it off ("Get it" is get in it's business and chase it off~ we don't do "Get it" as in "Kill it")~ but it stood it's ground and I didn't want her to get bitten~ so I called her off. She obviously didn't want to be called off~ and she was hopping around me barking still~ but she did come to me when I told her to and I obviously meant NOW! So training has not been completely forgotten~ just conveniently not heard at times lately!