Irrational fears

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delladooo
Posts: 763
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2014 4:53 am
Location: Blackpool, UK

Irrational fears

Post by delladooo »

Can dogs have irrational fears like humans?

I was thinking about it because, for instance, I'm scared of daddy long legs (I think they're really called crane flies?) and they really creep me out. I was wondering if similar logic could be applied to dogs or if all their fears come from experiences.
rnor1120
Posts: 282
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 9:35 pm
Location: USA

Re: Irrational fears

Post by rnor1120 »

Chance is afraid of my iron (like for clothes). To my knowledge, he's never had a bad experience involving an iron.
lucyandbella
Posts: 304
Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 7:19 pm

Re: Irrational fears

Post by lucyandbella »

In my opinion, yes they do. Bella is neophobic, meaning fear of new things. So she is scared of new objects. The first time I left a cereal box on the counter and walked away, she later came in the kitchen by herself and went bananas. From the sound she was making I thought someone broke in, I come to the kitchen and see her barking like crazy at the cereal box from a distance, her body cowering and ready to run. After I moved the box she hid in her crate for awhile, I then had to do counter conditioning with ceral boxes on counter to get her used to it. She certainly never had a box fall on her, been beaten with a box, or had any bad experience with boxes at all, in fact I let her shred boxes for fun!


This is one of many examples I have. Life with a dog scared of inanimate objects is daily hearing scary barks like we are under attack, and then trying to get the dog to like the object she took offense to. Yesterday we had to get a huge gift bag for a blanket my mom made my cousin and Bella came in the room, saw it and panicked, jumping in my arms and timidly looking toward the bag. :roll:
delladooo
Posts: 763
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2014 4:53 am
Location: Blackpool, UK

Re: Irrational fears

Post by delladooo »

Rnor, that's a very odd one to be afraid of :?

Awww, bless Bella, that sounds like an awful situation for the two of you to deal with, her being scared of any random thing and then the work into making it an okay thing sounds like it would just stress the two of you out.


I'm thinking Laufey might have a fear of abandonment (not separation anxiety) because I can't leave him somewhere; such as outside with my mum whilst I run into a shop - although we can do it the other way around. I figured it's not a big deal because I was never planning to leave him outside whilst I did things anyway so the fact that I can't isn't a big deal but he does occasionally look at me when I move with a look I interpret as "where are you going and why aren't I coming" although I suspect a lot of it is my imagination anyway :lol:
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