Notice Gunther’s (black and white dog)hair up. Listen for the gunshots, and observe Bonze’s(white terrier) behavior.
There is a gun range across the road from the dog beach. There are loud gunshots everyday. Usually the dogs are so busy and so stimulated, they don’t even notice.
Gunther was never scared of loud noises until he moved in with Bonze and Bonze taught him to be scared of loud noises. It’s an ongoing belief I must diffuse with Gunther and I work on and off with Bonze. I have a blog post on my website called influence if you would like more info.
Last week, they heard the gunshots for the first time. And Gunther was terrified, tail tucked, prancing around, I had to leash him. Until he got distracted enough, calmed himself down, I let him off and we had a normal hike otherwise and hikes since.
Today, they heard the gunshots again, but instead of cowering, Bonze launched into action, barking and charging in the general direction. Gunther followed his lead, upright bounding after Bonze.
This is a remarkable response from Bonze. For some reason today, he perceived that loud noise as something he could threaten, instead of something threatening.
In this specific situation, this is an easier response to dissuade them of than terror. By the time I took this video, I had done enough diffusion of the situation that all that was happening is Bonze got alert and Gunther’s hair raised.
It would have been nice if forever more, they just never perceived the gunshots. But now that they have, we must do the work to persuade them that they are safe.
My hope is I can translate this to Bonze’s home, when he hears loud noises. It’s much easier to tame an empowered response because you just convince the dog that, you’re not worried and you don’t plan to charge into the gun range.
Rather than a doom consumed, disempowered response, where for the dog it’s like they’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop. You may say it’s okay and try to comfort your dog, but as far as they’re concerned, someone is still launching small explosives and there’s no telling when they will be near.
For context Bonze is nine years old and has always had a quivering freeze response to loud noises. My only explanation for this sudden change in response for Bonze is he’s been hiking and was on a hike. Hikes give dogs autonomy. Autonomy is important because that is the only place trust and confidence can grow from. Happiness and confidence come from the perception of choice. Off leash scenarios offer your dog unlimited choices. It is exhilarating for many dogs and life changing. The only reason I can think of how Bonze was able to have a different knee jerk response to a trigger for him, is that hikes have generally empowered him, and he can lean more often towards sure of himself rather than “oh jeez, the end is near.” It may sound severe, buts dogs live in an emotional space. Often to us, our emotions get in the way. To them, it is their sole guidance.