When Noise Annoys – a Case Study
Thunderstorms, fireworks and other similar noises plague many pets. While the solutions can be difficult they are by no means impossible.
Let’s look at the solutions to noise-fears by examining a case study from my files.
Whizzer is a five-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier that lives with his ‘parents’ in an elevated location not far from Southbank Parklands. The house is also adjacent to a school.
Being in an elevated location, he is ‘in the clouds’ when storms approach and suffers the full impact of thunderstorms. The Southbank fireworks are a common torment and the school next door uses starting pistols regularly in sporting events.
Whizzer’s parents work business hours and they live with their favourite pooch in a two-storey brick house.
Whizzer’s fear is classified as severe.
The biggest problems occur when Whizzer’s parents are at work. Noises cause profound escaping – he scales two metre fences, rips palings from the fence and has pulled the gate off its hinges several times. He has chewed most of the window frames and door jambs while trying to get inside the home during a storm. He has also fractured a canine tooth and has ripped his claws from his feet with his frantic chewing and scratching and has had surgery for panic-inflicted injuries.
His concerned owners are as frantic for a solution as Whizzer is.
The solution to this severe problem involves solving his fears when the owners are away, getting the owners to handle him properly when they are home, using medications and pheromones to reduce the anxiety and attempting to desensitise him to the noises that terrify him.