# Noise reactive :(



## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

Lola in general is well behaved, she has always been a bit on the reactive side though, when she was small she would bark at shadows, noises and unexpected object placement. We pretty much have her over that now, BUT... after moving to an apartment, (everything was fine early on, she loved to look out of the window to see what was going on out there,) then one day when she was looking out a head appeared in her vision. The guy underneath us came out onto his balcony and it totally freaked her out. Ever since then I have been battling to keep her calm about that window. The slightest noise causes her to run anxiously to the window, and either outright bark or try and be good and do lots of grumbling, whimpers, or quiet barking. Sometimes she makes us jump out of our skins with the sudden bark, it is making us anxious too, as we know even closing our laptops, or putting a coffee down makes the noise like the guy opening his door to his balcony. She does not bark continuously, she may bark once or twice then keep watch and grumbles a lot. 

Are there calming techniques to de-sensitize her to the window? I have tried the treat thing. Opening and closing the window with her beside it and giving her treats. Calling her to me for a treat. She happily does all of that, but would just return back to the window straight afterwards. She also is a clever one. She discovered that barking once at the window and then running to me gets her a treat, so she she started to do it more. We would be sitting down to dinner, she would sit in hope beside us, then she would run to the window bark and then run to me for a treat. That took her about a day.......
The water squirt stopped her active barking but she is still very anxious about the window.

Any suggestions? I will probably get a trainer in, but wanted to see if my SM friends could help first :grouphug:


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## uniquelovdolce (Mar 10, 2010)

no suggestions hon , as i go thru exact same thing but with the doorbell n buzzer , hoping the more knowledgable guys answer so i can learn too.


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## Katkoota (Feb 18, 2006)

I am not facing / did not face something similar with my malts as we live in a villa; all windows have the view of our fenced garden, but I know that as far as I would personally do if a similar case was to happen with the malts is exactly what you did: distract her! 

I would distract her just before it happens. I dont know if it would work with the malts, but from my reading of Lola, I say, I have no idea what I would do next. hmmm! how about not giving treats, but distracting her with a game of fetch just before she even think about the window? (I remember you mentioned that she is all for a game with toys). maybe engage her in a bit of a longer game until she consume mot energy and decides to sleep a lil instead? Or maybe engaging her in learning a new pup trick? don't for sure know what will best work, but wish you and precious Lola :wub: the best at this. I hope someone who would have come across something similar gives you some tips 

hugs
Kat


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## Canada (Jun 4, 2009)

I had a similar issue with Paris who is reactive and a large window.
What I have done is made the bottom two feet of the window opaque.
That way she isn't constantly visually bombarded with stressors.

She can still see out the window, if she decides to sit on a chair to see out.
If she barks, I say "No", and will sometimes close the blinds then reopen them later.

Her issue is that she is fearful, sees a person walking by and barks.
She sees the person go on their way and thinks her barking scared them off.
Very rewarding behaviour.
So I thought of the blocking off idea of the lower part of the window and a trainer agreed with that.

If she was only _mildy_ aggitated by objects out the window,
I would never had blocked it off, I would have tried more desensitizing with treats.
But for her, for now, this is working well for her.
Before she was being constantly bombarding with visual stressors that were too much all at once.

My goal has been to lower her overall stress load. 
I feel really confident for her, I know she will make small improvements slowly.
A few steps (paws) forward, then a step back, then a few steps forward, etc.


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

uniquelovdolce said:


> no suggestions hon , as i go thru exact same thing but with the doorbell n buzzer , hoping the more knowledgable guys answer so i can learn too.


Getting some good ideas I think  Hopefully something will work for you, it is frustrating.



Katkoota said:


> I am not facing / did not face something similar with my malts as we live in a villa; all windows have the view of our fenced garden, but I know that as far as I would personally do if a similar case was to happen with the malts is exactly what you did: distract her!
> 
> I would distract her just before it happens. I dont know if it would work with the malts, but from my reading of Lola, I say, I have no idea what I would do next. hmmm! how about not giving treats, but distracting her with a game of fetch just before she even think about the window? (I remember you mentioned that she is all for a game with toys). maybe engage her in a bit of a longer game until she consume mot energy and decides to sleep a lil instead? Or maybe engaging her in learning a new pup trick? don't for sure know what will best work, but wish you and precious Lola :wub: the best at this. I hope someone who would have come across something similar gives you some tips
> 
> ...


Thanks Kat :tender: I think you have some good ideas there. You are looking at the overall picture and not just the issue, which is that Lola isn't getting enough stimulation. She seems a bit bored and depressed lately, she isn't even playing ball much at the moment. I throw it for her and she may go a couple of times, then looks at me as if to say, "you think this is fun Mummy" she is a smart girl and needs to be stretched more. More exercise and more training would help a lot, preferably outdoors and maybe a training class. Spring now so should be easier. Can't really distract her beforehand as she is like a bullet flying to the window when she hears the noise, even when she is asleep sometimes, constantly on guard.

I know what will bring her out of her boredom. Another little girl :biggrin:



Canada said:


> I had a similar issue with Paris who is reactive and a large window.
> What I have done is made the bottom two feet of the window opaque.
> That way she isn't constantly visually bombarded with stressors.
> 
> ...


Ohhh! good idea. :thumbsup: I think I will block off the bottom of the window for now. It will work easily as the bottom window is only about a foot and a half high and separate from the upper part that opens. It will remove the stress because she can't see the man below even if she is up high on the chaise. We are up high and that is the only window downstairs that is floor to ceiling. It won't block our view, just hers.


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## tamizami (May 1, 2007)

distraction is a great suggestion - as soon as mine hear something coming down our street and they start their run outside, i can call them and they will turn around and come to me. of course, i have to have treats on me at first, then start to fade so now it is intermittent.

for the doorbell, i recorded the sound on my laptop (just held it up to the doorbell speaker). you start playing it at a very low volume and treat if they don't react, gradually increasing the volume over time. if they react, you have it too loud. you can also use the sound to "cue" any behavior you want (i.e. go lay in their bed, sit by the door, etc.). 

also, for any other sounds that you cannot record, i recommend the sound socialization CD from dogwise, here. it has detailed instructions.

hth, good luck with your fluffs!


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## silverhaven (Sep 6, 2009)

tamizami said:


> distraction is a great suggestion - as soon as mine hear something coming down our street and they start their run outside, i can call them and they will turn around and come to me. of course, i have to have treats on me at first, then start to fade so now it is intermittent.
> 
> hth, good luck with your fluffs!


Thanks,  I have tried to distract but she is totally focused and by the window as quick as lightning. She saw the man leaning over his balcony last night and pretty much had a fit..... I put her in her crate to calm her down, she was so upset she was growling and moaning even at me.

I had better cover those windows.


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## Canada (Jun 4, 2009)

silverhaven said:


> Thanks,  I have tried to distract but she is totally focused and by the window as quick as lightning. She saw the man leaning over his balcony last night and pretty much had a fit..... I put her in her crate to calm her down, she was so upset she was growling and moaning even at me.
> 
> I had better cover those windows.


 
What I used for window covering is actually sticky tack. :blush:
I had looked at the window glaze sticker rolls (different patterns) but most
of them you can still see out of.
There are few more opaque ones available, but it didn't match my window.
I saw them at Home Depot.

My window frames are a light wood colour,
so I bought faux wood grain sticky tack, and covered the bottom 2 feet of the window.
Its matches with the window frame.

Paris can't see out now.
My main concern with her window rage was redirrected aggression and I was concerned about it _possibly_ developing into displacement biting.
Meaning, she gets upset and highly aggitated and could unintentionally redirect her frusteration.
My fears were unfounded as this never happened, but I didn't want to take that chance.
She has been doing _much_ better recently.  :aktion033:


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