My dog is afraid of the hoover

Karen91

Hi everyone,

I have a pomeranian, she is 15 months old and she has developed a fear of the hoover. Its only developed in the last few months. I noticed its got worse as in she is nervous passing it even when it is switched off.

Can anybody offer advice on how I can get her out of this and what can trigger this fear? I can understand if she was frightened with something on purpose but that is not the case with my dog. When the hoover is turned on she runs away and starts shaking, she usually wants to be picked up as soon as she sees it.

jamo2oo9

It's completely normal. As dogs get older, they will become more sensitive to loud things like the hoover or sneezing

Kajemo

Hi

We have two poms and they are exactly the same
won't even walk past the Hoover when it's turned off
We tend to reassure them and give them cuddles and
either myself or OH will take them to another room
and play with them/distract them while the other does
the hoovering, I wouldn't worry too much, I think
most dogs are afraid of Hoover anyway.

gimmick

Haha, I just picked up the hoover the other day, didn't even turn it on and my fella jumped as if I had burst a balloon behind his back. Of course then I chased him with it while he was doing his best to get a proper bark out of his mouth.

aonb

My dog is frightened of the hoover too. On or off! He goes to his armchair the second he sees the hoover coming out - luckily I only have 2 carpets, so its never on for long. I would put her and her bed in a room farthest away from the noise of the hoover, with a treat, then close the door and go do your hoovering (i.e. put her away BEFORE the hoover comes out!)

wexie

My big guy is afraid of the hoover as well, it's hilarious because he's simultaneously afraid of it and wants to protect us from the evil machine so he kinda prances around deciding what to do. Inevitably he'll walk into something (usually backwards or sideways) he just freaks and really looses it.

He's easy to train but not always the sharpest tool in the shed.

One_Of_Shanks

Our wee Maltichon is scared witless of the hoover too. Runs a mile as soon as soon as I take it out of the closet. Sweeping brush is seen as a toy but the hoover is viewed as immediate danger Lol

Adrian J Lynch

We have a doberman he isn't afraid of the hoover but he loves barking at it and playing with it. Every dog reacts different to different things esp when they are big objects that make noise. i.e. Hoover

Bluefrog

I know a few people who seem to be afraid of them too

ShaShaBear

Shadow was terrified of it, as he got older he got braver and even bit it a few times.
Opie on the other hand... well lets just say if it wasn't hardened plastic, it'd be in the bin now

endacl

If you've a dog that isn't afraid of the hoover, you've got a weird dog.

gerrybbadd

Our guy (a lab X pointer) is terrified of the hoover... and the mop... and the brush... As soon as he sees them coming out it's like :eek::eek::eek: and off he goes, headed for the back door

Alun

endacl wrote: »

If you've a dog that isn't afraid of the hoover, you've got a weird dog.

Very true, every dog or cat I've ever had has been terrified of the hoover. It's completely 'normal'

muddypaws

If you've got a dog who isn't afraid of the hoover, you probably bought it as a pup from a good breeder who worked hard at socialising the litter.

OP, I'd try and work with the dog, leave the hoover out, don't put it on and treat her, you can then gradually have it on in another room, and treat, so that she can hear it, but at a distance, and then hopefully move it nearer and nearer. Try and give it a positive association, hoover means treats. Don't do it too fast, if she starts to stress when its on at a distance, try and make it even quieter, close doors perhaps, have the TV and radio on at the same time, so that the noise of it is hardly noticeable (dogs obviously have a better sense of hearing than we do). As its only started fairly recently, something probably happened to scare her.

DBB

muddypaws wrote: »

If you've got a dog who isn't afraid of the hoover, you probably bought it as a pup from a good breeder who worked hard at socialising the litter.

OP, I'd try and work with the dog, leave the hoover out, don't put it on and treat her, you can then gradually have it on in another room, and treat, so that she can hear it, but at a distance, and then hopefully move it nearer and nearer. Try and give it a positive association, hoover means treats. Don't do it too fast, if she starts to stress when its on at a distance, try and make it even quieter, close doors perhaps, have the TV and radio on at the same time, so that the noise of it is hardly noticeable (dogs obviously have a better sense of hearing than we do). As its only started fairly recently, something probably happened to scare her.

+1
Also be aware that it's not just the noise that scares them, it's the jet of air that come out from the outlet. Of my last 5 dogs, 3 had no issue with the Hoover, and 2 are mildly anxious about it but improving with experience, and me taking care not to overface them.

Firedance

My JRT is not too bad with the hoover, its the lawnmower that freaks him out! he scratches at it and does these squeeky barks, mad altogether, I always give him a treat after I've done the hoovering for behaving so well in an effort to ensure he doesn't develop a fear :-)

Karen91

Thanks for the replies, I feel a little better now that it seems to be common.

My parents had toy poodles when I was growing up and the hoover never bothered them so Daisy's reaction to the hoover is new for me, they bought their dogs from a show breeder and did put alot of effort socialising the pups and so on so she probably got them used to the hoover and that too.

Karen91

muddypaws wrote: »

If you've got a dog who isn't afraid of the hoover, you probably bought it as a pup from a good breeder who worked hard at socialising the litter.

OP, I'd try and work with the dog, leave the hoover out, don't put it on and treat her, you can then gradually have it on in another room, and treat, so that she can hear it, but at a distance, and then hopefully move it nearer and nearer. Try and give it a positive association, hoover means treats. Don't do it too fast, if she starts to stress when its on at a distance, try and make it even quieter, close doors perhaps, have the TV and radio on at the same time, so that the noise of it is hardly noticeable (dogs obviously have a better sense of hearing than we do). As its only started fairly recently, something probably happened to scare her.

Thanks for the advice I will try this with her! I don't know why its happened if something did scare her it was not on purpose.

ihatewinter

My dog headbutts the hoover to put it on it's side, so it can't move. Sometimes, she has a tendency of attacking the head of it and has it in her mouth and won't let go

patmac

I hope my pooches will never go to Doggy Hell(from Family Guy)

borderlinemeath

Firedance wrote: »

My JRT is not too bad with the hoover, its the lawnmower that freaks him out! he scratches at it and does these squeeky barks, mad altogether, I always give him a treat after I've done the hoovering for behaving so well in an effort to ensure he doesn't develop a fear :-)

One of mine uses the lawnmower to her advantage. She places balls in front of it so himself will have to stop the mower and throw the ball

keiserSose

put some chicken under the head of hoover for dog to eat,dogs will do anything for chicken, turn on hoover 1 second, then let him sniff the hoover,get him associate hoover noise with chicken, he will eventually do the hoovering for you

jonon9

endacl wrote: »

If you've a dog that isn't afraid of the hoover, you've got a weird dog.

My dog loves the hoover, loves chasing it around when I clean.

Ashbx

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Our guy (a lab X pointer) is terrified of the hoover... and the mop... and the brush... As soon as he sees them coming out it's like :eek::eek::eek: and off he goes, headed for the back door

So does mine! If its the hoover, they run and hide! If its the brush, they attack it!!

Esterhase

My wee girl's not a fan of the hoover, she's OK being close to it but the second I start pushing it in her direction she leaps out of the way and often leaves the room. Same with the sweeping brush. She doesn't get away with attacking them, so the only option left is to flee!

doubter

hoovering n my house is a total ordeal. I've 2 that will climb on the top of the table to avoid the hoover(lurcher and whippet), the rough collie will bark at it from a distant, my shep cross will give it grumpy looks and not move, my mal wants to eat it and the lab will chase it as soon as it moves.
I bought a broom...only one more carpet to replace.

Ashbx

doubter wrote: »

hoovering n my house is a total ordeal. I've 2 that will climb on the top of the table to avoid the hoover(lurcher and whippet), the rough collie will bark at it from a distant, my shep cross will give it grumpy looks and not move, my mal wants to eat it and the lab will chase it as soon as it moves.
I bought a broom...only one more carpet to replace.

Wow...you have a lot (and big!) furry friends in your house!

Galway K9

Systematic desensitization to the hoover as a type of Counter Conditioning would prob be your best bet.

Part one:

1) Be happy, good music on, be normal
2) Make no eye contact or gesture to your dog while going to get the hoover
3) When you get near the hoover and before your dog runs off or starts a negative reaction, just fire her a really good treat on the floor with no verbal praise (Make the treats really good not normal dog food)

Part two:
Do part 1 for couple days and couple times a day, make sure they go positive (if fear starts, not ready), then step into taking out the hoover fully and reward (dont turn on)...repeat for couple of days

Part Three:
All steps before then judge your dogs reaction, if he hasnt reacted as poorly as before and seems ok with the sight of the hoover, put the hoover nozzle up against a pillow (muffle the sound), then if the dog reacts well compared to normal....No verbal praise, but really nice treats from the floor.

Part Four:

After part three being practiced a few days and multiple times, then remove nozzle from pillow for a quick second for it to be loud, as you do thriow treats on floor near hoover and turn off hoover, leave the room and leave hoover out and food around it.

If the dog does not react positive to one of the steps, go back and gradually build up to it more slowly (went too fast), and start treating even the smallest positive signals or attitudes from the dog around the hoover.
Any negative response, abort and go back otherwise you compound the problem.

From an Article on Galway Dog Training website

berger89

That's completely normal! I'm sure if there was a giant standing over you with a loud and noisy sucky thing, you'd be scared too!!

Blogger50

My dog (German Shepherd) loves the hoover, in fact the brush part has teeth marks where she's tried to "kill it"! She barks and runs around like a loon when its turned on and when its off and left out she paws at it like a maniac so I will "make it go again"!

However, if you sneeze she's out of the room like a bullet!

Beer Assistant

My dog has absolutely no fear of the hoover, when it's turned on he rolls over on his back and waits for his belly to be hoovered. He must be one of the weird one's. I'll send him back.