Your pet's irrational fears
Discussion
What irrational fears do your pets have?
My pup got frightened of a drunk father christmas who happened to walk past us whilst out on a late night walk - it was probably unconnected to the red suit but who knows? A normally quiet dog became quite scared and loud in telling him she didn't approve. Unfortunately its been difficult to do any conditioning training with Santa, so we'll have to wait until next year to see if this was a one-off or is a deep seated fear (we still got presents, so can't be that bad!).
She was also quite scared of road cones when she first saw them, but has realised that they aren't anything to be scared of.
The older dog doesn't like thunder, but I guess that isn't all that unusual or irrational.
My pup got frightened of a drunk father christmas who happened to walk past us whilst out on a late night walk - it was probably unconnected to the red suit but who knows? A normally quiet dog became quite scared and loud in telling him she didn't approve. Unfortunately its been difficult to do any conditioning training with Santa, so we'll have to wait until next year to see if this was a one-off or is a deep seated fear (we still got presents, so can't be that bad!).
She was also quite scared of road cones when she first saw them, but has realised that they aren't anything to be scared of.
The older dog doesn't like thunder, but I guess that isn't all that unusual or irrational.
With mine, I think it's a nervous uncertainty associated with seeing something different for the first time. Trafic cones, a snowman, an abandoned shopping trolley - all of these and some others have caused him to stop dead in his tracks, bark for a bit and it's only when he sees me approaching the object does he start to venture closer. Although the snowman did take a few days for him to get over (after that he peed on it quite happily!).
My 40kg Weim doesn't fear the cat (6kg); It's more a deep mistrust... and the cat plays on it. You should see him shake when the cat decides to groom his ears. Same goes for the hoover which also beliberatly winds him up. Other fears tend to be things he doesn't recognise especially if they do something suddenly. So a little boy in very thick glasses had him being cautious, but when the child put an umberella up he barked and bolted. A park gardener putting rubbish in a bin bag with a litter-picker (so the bag moves) got him threatening the bag. A little girl in a red riding hood cape who suddenly spread her arms and the cape just as he approched had him retreating pretty smartish.
His "irrational fear" though has to be the road salt bin opposite work that somedays he spots and goes nuts about. If you take him to it he'll wimper, shake etc... then remember it (been there every day for 4 years) and pretend it never happened.
His "irrational fear" though has to be the road salt bin opposite work that somedays he spots and goes nuts about. If you take him to it he'll wimper, shake etc... then remember it (been there every day for 4 years) and pretend it never happened.
Our Spaniel is scared of all sorts of things 
hoover, hairdryer, hosepipe, wrapping paper tubes, fireworks and probably more that I've forgotten - I swear if we hadn't had her since she was a tiny puppy I'd be convinced that she'd been beaten with a wrapping papertube by a hosepipe wielding maniac!
hoover, hairdryer, hosepipe, wrapping paper tubes, fireworks and probably more that I've forgotten - I swear if we hadn't had her since she was a tiny puppy I'd be convinced that she'd been beaten with a wrapping papertube by a hosepipe wielding maniac! Alan the cat refuses to walk on the rug in the lounge. He'll do anything to avoid it. Climbing bookcases, jumping sofas in a single bound. But put his feet on the rug! Never.
Scraggy on the other hand watched us put it down and pretty much instantly set about tearing fibres out of it before choosing to curl up on it...right in the way of everything.
Scraggy on the other hand watched us put it down and pretty much instantly set about tearing fibres out of it before choosing to curl up on it...right in the way of everything.
Lab no. 1, murph, is scared of most things when out on walkies - traffic, bikes, you name it, but is the complete opposite inside. That is, apart from the Hoover. He will scarper as oon as it fires up.
However, when I turn on the hair dryer, he walks up to me and demands I run it over him, even though he is bone dry- most odd!!
However, when I turn on the hair dryer, he walks up to me and demands I run it over him, even though he is bone dry- most odd!!
Our whippet Jimmy jumped a mile when he saw an odd lump on concrete once!
Somebody had obviously spilt some and left it (it was on the corner of some fencing) as we walked along the path he suddenly jumped back and away from the fence, I didn't have a clue why (calm dog usually) then I saw him looking over where this odd lump of concrete was.
I just calmly went over to it and touched the concrete, talking to Jimmy at the same time, he eventually came over and sniffed it, I gave him a treat and all was fine, didn't bother him after that.
He's jumped at odd things very occasionally before but this was quite an extreme reaction esp to an inert object!
Somebody had obviously spilt some and left it (it was on the corner of some fencing) as we walked along the path he suddenly jumped back and away from the fence, I didn't have a clue why (calm dog usually) then I saw him looking over where this odd lump of concrete was.
I just calmly went over to it and touched the concrete, talking to Jimmy at the same time, he eventually came over and sniffed it, I gave him a treat and all was fine, didn't bother him after that.
He's jumped at odd things very occasionally before but this was quite an extreme reaction esp to an inert object!
Munter said:
Alan the cat refuses to walk on the rug in the lounge. He'll do anything to avoid it. Climbing bookcases, jumping sofas in a single bound. But put his feet on the rug! Never.
Scraggy on the other hand watched us put it down and pretty much instantly set about tearing fibres out of it before choosing to curl up on it...right in the way of everything.
Alan Scraggy on the other hand watched us put it down and pretty much instantly set about tearing fibres out of it before choosing to curl up on it...right in the way of everything.
When I was a kid, I was fixated on the idea of getting a Ginger Tom and calling it Keith for some reason! Never did though...
Anyway, my normally docile and friendly cat sometimes goes a bit mental. We call it 'the cat's got the wind up her trousers'.
You can walk past her a million times with no reacton. But when she's got the wind up, you might go to walk past and she jumps up with wide-eyed terror, frantically looking for a route past you as quickly as possible, and then runs by as far away from you as she can at about a million miles an hour.
She also sometimes does this if you enter a room where she is. You push the door wide open, cat comes out at warp 9.
My mate reckons that when cats do that, it's a 'failed ambush attempt'
I made a Viking helmet (with horns etc...) for our youngest's school project - and the cat is terrified of it! best guess is that she sees the horns as cat 'ears' 
Our horses spook at the daftest things... but fireworks and even those Chinese lanterns are especially prone to setting 'em off.
Our horses spook at the daftest things... but fireworks and even those Chinese lanterns are especially prone to setting 'em off.
Another one from our Springer, when she was 8 or 9 weeks old, she was scared of her reflection at the bottom of her metal water bowl, it was the funniest thing I've ever seen, the little tiny puppy, barking and getting all ferocious with the other puppy at the bottom of bowl
At the same time, when we were crate training her, she kicked off at the water bowl overnight making a huge racket, I went to rescue her and found her soaking wet and terrified - the puppy at the bottom of the bowl had clearly attacked her Poor puppy, she is quite well balanced now!
At the same time, when we were crate training her, she kicked off at the water bowl overnight making a huge racket, I went to rescue her and found her soaking wet and terrified - the puppy at the bottom of the bowl had clearly attacked her
Poor puppy, she is quite well balanced now! Marf said:
Ray Luxury-Yacht said:
My Zebra's not keen on flying. It's murder when we all go on holiday.
Do they make you buy more than one seat for it?We just get it drunk on the plane by feeding it brandy. It normally then falls asleep halfway through the in-flight movie (although the headphones often fall off it's ears) and we just wake it up when we land.
Sometimes have a problem at Passport Control too, as it's passport is quite old now, and the stripes are a bit different in the photo.
Our dog has never liked yellow washing up gloves. As she has got older she is scared of bangs which did make taking her for a walk very awkward. As soon as she would hear a bang she would hide in the nerest bush and it was hard to get her out. Now she is a bit deaf she doesnt hear them anymore but is now too old to go for big walks.
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