Work today went by fast. The highlight came early on when I taught a functional training class.
I’ve loved subbing for the instructor who usually teaches the class while she has been out for the past few weeks and I’m hoping I can regularly teach a similar class when the group exercise schedule permanently changes at our gym at the end of August.
Lunch
Lunch today was enjoyed in the break room.
I packed tuna salad that I ate wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with sugar snap peas and a banana on the side.
Once work was done for the day, I drove to Great Clips to put my coupon to good use and got a trim.
It was nothing fancy, but my ends needed it!
By the time I made it home, the daily summer thunderstorm rolled in, so a psychotic Sadie greeted me. She recently developed a fear of thunder that never plagued her as a puppy. Her body shakes and she crawls all over me, panting like crazy when it thunders. She used to only get like this when we crossed bridges (weird, I know), so Ryan and I are quite confused. Why, at the age of five, is she now scared of thunder?
Her Thundershirt seems to help a little, but I’m hoping this fear of thunder thing is something Sadie will grow out of sometime soon. Seeing her all spastic breaks my heart!
Other things that make Sadie freak out:
- The floating toy in our pool (aka “Bob Barker”)
- The man that runs around our neighborhood in a yellow t-shirt and Vibrams
- Skateboards
- The smoke alarm
- The bathtub
Question of the Afternoon
- Pet owners: What freaks out your pet?
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Thank goodness for cats. Compaired to the dogs in he above comments my cats are fearless. Trouble hates the vet but other than that only the fire alarm bugs her. She just walks in the other room to get away. When I make cookies she would see me get up to take them out an pre-emptavly leave the room. Once I learned to turn the fan on before opening the door she stopped. If it goes off randomly she doesn’t care she just hates it going off every 10 min while baking cookies.
When we do eventually get a dog though such antics won’t be tolerated. I like Ceasers methods and plan on implementing them. I am the leader. There is no need to worry and be anxious if I am in charge. Calm, submissive. As silly as it sounds we raised our cats the same way. They can be bathed, blow-dried, leased, whatever. They trust us because we’re confident and in charge. Trouble got scared of a man in a hat once, I corrected the behavior and now they don’t even phase her. I am sure with proper exposure and training Sadie could get over her fears. Being anxious and scared is a sad state of mind to live in.
Well I don’t have pets, but thunderstorms or loud claps of thunder/strong lightning always scare me too! hah!
Yay for teaching fitness. I knew you’d love it <3
Umbrellas and hats freak out my little love-bug! Dogs are so silly but so loving, and he makes my life better every single day.
My dog has always terrified of thunderstorms. Or even a cloudy rainy day and she’s very scared of fireworks also.
Haha, poor Sadie. My college roommate’s dog was finicky over lots of random stuff.
My two, Cairn Terriers, aren’t so much afraid of stuff as they are angry at it. My oldest, Mr. Gatsby gets so PISSED at thunder and ruuuuuns outside barking like a mad man. One day he’s going to get it. Hatter, my little one, gets made when my dad raises his arms. Like, she goes berserk and won’t go near him; she protects me from them and tries to get me mad at him, too. Terriers are a different set of dogs, though, and are totally full of themselves.
Dogs are hilarious. Maddie loves the mailman but when it comes to the UPS guy she thinks he is a murderer…
Thunderstorms!
Taking out the trash and trash bags freak my Weimaraner, Bailey, out. Every time we take out the trash and have to open the new trash bag to put in the can she cowers down and hides. I have no idea why this happens. You would think we beat her with a trash bag by the way she acts.
nothing really freaks zoey out but she has really bad allergies and we can’t figure out what they are stemmed from… we have tried everything… food specific allergy diet, allergy shots, etc. and nothing seems to work so we are contemplating a thundershirt to see if her scratching/biting/itching stems from anxiety
My dog hates…and I mean HATES the vacuum. He seems to think it’s some sort of creature. Oh and he also freaks out when anyone hugs or is affectionate at all. Seems to think he deserves all the lovin’ 😉
Wow, it’s such a coincidence you wrote this today about Sadie and thunder, because I literally JUST encountered this late this afternoon with my dog, Oliver! When he was younger, he wasn’t as afraid as he is now around thunder, but today, he was very fearful. He tends to get nervous around most loud noises, and usually in order to calm him, I’ll hold him and pet him, and try to put the TV on to distract him. I’ve been curious about the thundershirt though, because I have heard good things about it, but wasn’t sure if I should try it on him or not.
the thundershirts are amazing!! trust me
I have a gsp and she has been afraid of storms all her life. She pants heavy and just scrambles to get on top of you when the storm hits. She hates the smoke alarm…she does her tail butt-tuck move and shivers with big eyes…breaks your heart 🙁 She also hates when we cook in the oven…if we set the oven above 375 degrees she sits in the living room and has these body shivers like she does when it storms….maybe she thinks the fire alarm will soon be going off…I have been known to burn a few pizzas! “) Oh and she hates the curtains in our bedroom! All other curtains in the house she is fine with! She doesn’t like when I pull them up in the morning….she peels outta there! So quirky but gotta love her!!!
I have a horse who is completely fearless and if she could, she would conquer the world. BUT………she is scared of one thing, and one thing alone………BALLOONS! I have no idea where the fear came from, but just regular, birthday size helium balloons make her FREAK out. It is the saddest yet funniest thing to see.
Our horse likes to think she is the fearless know it all but the one thing she is scared of…other horses! Vehicles, children, the dogs, no problem. Took her in the ring once and nope! She picked up her pace and started almost running around in circles trying to find a way out as I tried to rein her in slow her down. Poor girl!
My beagle mix, Hurley has several random fears. If a fly gets in the house he hides under the bed. So random! Windshield wipers; if he’s in the car and we have to use the wipers he shivers and is unconsolable. He also freaks out during thunderstorms. Luckily my shepherd mix, Dex isn’t spooked by much. It balances out Hurley’s neurosis. 🙂
Haha. Poor Sadie! Our dog Truckee freaks out oddly enough at my husband’s star wars lunch box. (Yes, he has one, and yes he’s an adult/13 year old at heart). It literally makes our dog shake and run around the house and bark at it if we set it down on the floor. I have no idea what the deal is!! Yoda isn’t THAT scary!!
Aww poor Sadie! 🙁 Even though it breaks your heart, is it kind of cute at the same time? 😉 I kind of secretly love it when my cat is scared of things. Then she comes to me for protection and it always reassures me that she trusts and loves me. I hope this is just a phase for Sadie. 🙂
My precious mutt, Smeegle, freaks out about:
1) Baths. He knows the word “bath” even when it’s spelled; he also seems to sense when we are even thinking about giving him a bath;
2) Suitcases. He doesn’t freak, but he gets majorly depressed because he knows a suitcase means someone is getting ready to disappear for a while.
3) Rides in the car. This freaks him out in a good way. The opportunity to ride in the car sends him into fits of joy, complete with a happy dance and full facial kisses for the benefactor!
Charlie freaks out about the weirdest things too. He is afraid of guitars (my brother watches him while we are out of town and plays a guitar), and today he freaked out because of a long cylindrical package that came for me in the mail. ::sigh::
Rita: vaccum cleaner, lawn mower, ladders
Dooley: vaccum cleaner and thunder. He’s a rescue and came to us that way. So needless to say summer in FL is his least favorite season!
Our 3 dogs are universally terrified of thunder and fireworks! But one of them who is extra skiddish has a newfound fear when the ice machine is on in the freezer! One drop of ice and boom instant panting and shaking! Treats are a good distraction 🙂
There is a guy who practices his bagpipes in the park down the street. I like the music, but it makes my dog go bananas. Those things are so loud, the dude has never even noticed her barking her brains out.
I have a yellow lab, who’s scared of dark-haired men (not sure why..seems to be fine with blondes/brunettes), the vacuum cleaner, and garden hose. He’ll run away from all three things.
Oh my gosh! Dogs and their fears. You feel so bad for them, but at the same time just want to shake them into understanding!
Sparty used to be fine in the car – we lived in Ohio when we first got him and would drive home to see our families in Michigan (about 4 hours). He would just lay down in the back seat and sleep. Ever since we moved to NC and had the 10+ hour long car ride down he hates car rides. He gets all shaky, panty and droolie. If I go in the backseat with him to calm him down he gets as close to me as he can and crawls all over me.
My dog, Chance, can really get into the zone when he is outside sniffing around. If a squirrel or human approaches him quickly from behind, he literally jumps. It is highly amusing.
I have no idea why, but Sadie’s fear of your neighborhood man that runs in yellow and vibrams just cracked me up! I can only imagine what that must look like for a dog.
I don’t have pets anymore (well my parents have 3 dogs that I guess are still partially mine). But growing up we had a pug who got freaked out by car washes. If she was in the car while we got one she would bury herself behind you or climb down on the floor under the seat.
Flashlights & the reflection off of a watch face onto a wall freak out my pal Oreo. Makes him absolutely batty!
Hey Julie! My poodle (Sandy) was never afraid of thunder as a younger dog, but it wasn’t until a few years ago (she’s 12 now) that she developed a fear of storms. She shakes and crawls all over whoever is nearby. I don’t understand what the turning point was for her. Hopefully Sadie will settle down again. 🙂
I have a 7 lb chihuahua, and she gets freaked out by smoke detectors too, but it’s the low battery beep that gets her. Ever notice how the batteries only seem to die in the middle of the night? I never hear the beep, I get woken up Pita shivering like the boogeyman’s going to get her lol. I love being a big dog owner vicariously through your Sadie posts, she seems like such a sweetie!
Absolutely nothing but she’s an English mastiff and pushing 175lbs 🙂
Our black lab is about 8 and he never used to be afraid of thunder either or any of the following for that matter. Although sometimes we’re confused, sometimes its hard rain and he’s panting and pacing. Other things that freak him out: fireworks, guns (even when he sees it not just the sound), and whenever the oven is on. I think it’s because he knows that its been on when the smoke detector has gone off before…idk weird.
The bathtub?? That it too funny! Poor thing! Does she howl at full moons? Our dogs are outside, and they are SO loud!
My dogs also hate the smoke alarm. They go crazy barking for 5 min straight after they hear it. My westie also barks like a mad dog at the windshield wipers in the car. It is so bad that we try to go as long as possible before we turn them on. Just recently he goes crazy when I spray my dry shampoo on my hair. Not sure what that is about. Silly puppies!
My boxers are scared of balloons and our broom…it’s sad to see them so frightened 🙁
My lab Chase is terrified of balloons! Like, jump in my arms scared (it should be noted that he is 100 pounds). He also does this thing when we start out on a run where he’ll tuck his tail between his legs, and swing his body around so he can look behind us. I’m convinced that he thinks we are running FROM something every time we start out. It cracks me up every time!
My pup ran under the table for shelter over the weekend. Very curious to see if I can buy some type of comfort for her, such as the Thundershirt.
My dog growing up was absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. We lived on the coast of NC, and multiple hurricanes in the same month are what triggered it when she was a few years old. She did the same things; began trembling, would hide under the computer desk & in the bathtub, her HR increased tremendously, and she would run through the house. She could sense a storm coming about 30 minutes before it hit. We tried calming methods that the vet told us to use, but nothing did the trick. We ended up getting her a prescription for puppy Valium, and would give her half a dose for long storms. During short summer storms we would just hold her (all 55lbs) and that calmed her a bit. Drugging her seemed over the top, but it was so much better than seeing her suffer through the anxiety.
My aussie, Dusty, was always scared of T-storms, but now he is so old he can’t hear them! It is funny and nice because he doesn’t tremble anymore. The bad thing is that everything scares him 10 ft off the ground now because he doesn’t hear us walking around or coming up to pet him! Poor buddy, he is an old man at 13 yrs.
Other than that, as a puppy he loved to chase cats and deer but once he cornered them he ran away scared as can be. He was like OMG I forgot they had claws and antlers!
Rhett and Reina hate the vacuum cleaner AND balloons with helium in them. Their bad habits rub off on each other– joy joy 🙂
Good luck with the thunder fears- poor pup!
Our dog is a pretty timid dog as it is but he is scared of trash cans/bag (walking on trash day is always fun) and anything sort of cleaning mop/broom. But he the best most cuddly dog in the world so its ok.
I kid you not, my corgi Allie gets seriously freaked out when you do Matthew Mcconaughey impressions. If you say “Alright alright alright” that way he does, she flips out and starts barking at you and getting upset. It’s freaky! She also hates when you say my cats name (Mr. Biscuits) or sing that new Sheryl Crow country song. Plus the basic dog fears, like vacuuming. She’s such a little weirdo!
Awww…poor Sadie! I can’t quite blame her though, I’m not a fan of thunderstorms these days either. Hopefully, she’ll grow out of it though!!
Our dog is scared of the vacuum cleaner. She doesn’t freak out but she keeps her distance and keeps a close eye on the vacuum until you put it away!
Our 3 year old beagle/terrier mix never was afraid of thunder until we moved to a new house. Now she does the same things as Sadie; shaking uncontrollably, panting, hiding… The Thundershirt helps sometimes, but not always. NO idea what changed!
Another weird thing – she gets excited about motorcycles, and even tries to pull towards them on walks, but anything non-motorized with wheeles (rollerblades, skateboards, scooters) she is terrified of.
Our lab is 5 as well, and has recently developed a fear of thunderstorms, too. When she was a puppy, we wondered if she even heard them because she never flinched when it thundered. Now she wants to be right near us during storms, and snuggles up to us. Our method of dealing with it is to ignore it. I’ll even talk to her in an excited voice, and play with her so she’ll see that storms are nothing to worry about. Good luck! 🙂
Thunder and fireworks are the two main ones for my dog, but she also has a fear of snow sleds! Whenever I was younger, she would always try to run after me and bite the sled and pull it out from under me to try to “save me.” Guess that’s just a part of dogs’ loyalty that we can’t help but love!
When we first got our puppy the first thunderstorm she ever experienced made her poop 5 times! I don’t know where all that came from. But she is fine now thank goodness!
You can break Sadie of her fear of thunderstorms!! First of all, it’s good to know that dogs have certain times in their lives when a “fear imprint” can occur, so probably what happened was she was home alone and there was an extra loud clap of thunder. What you should do is get a recording of a thunderstorm (or a white noise app for your phone) and turn it up loud. Walk her around the house, giving her treats and distracting her from the sound. The key is to do this OFTEN and eventually the sounds will be no big deal. Good luck!
Haha this reminds me of Marley and Me when they come back after a week and the babysitter said it thundered all week. I have what I like to call a little scardy cat. He jumps at everything, and it isn’t because he was abused when he was younger, I’ve had him since a baby and he has been spoiled rotten, it’s just who he is. I don’t believe you can train the fear out of a pet, just comfort them when they are scared. I’m glad her thunder blanket works though!
I also have a vizsla. He’s terrified of bag clips (those things to keep your chip bags closed). Yup, he hates seeing the chips come out. He is also afraid of every new toy I bring home for him for at least a few minutes. He always manages to get past being afraid of the new toys though.