This one is silly, I admit:
Do you have any insight as to why dogs react so strongly to human sneezing? It is, apparently, extremely common.
I’ve noticed my Doberman will, without fail, check on me if I sneeze. He will be away asleep on the couch and hear my sneeze in the night, then come in next to the bed as if “to check on me.” Usually his ears are back, and he looks somewhat burdened. As silly as it seems, I would say he was “concerned.”
I reassure him, he goes back to sleep in the other room. If I sneeze again later, he will come back to check on me again.
Once I realized it was a constant phenomenon, I checked it out online. It’s extremely common for dogs to react fearfully or with some kind of general concern to their human’s sneeze. Some dogs even act aggressive.
There is nothing but speculation from forum junkies as to why. The common thought is it’s a sudden and loud sound and startles the dog.
To test this, I said with the same volume and cadence of a sneeze “I’m SNEEZING!!!”
Doug did not react whatsoever.
I also attempted to bait him with a faked sneeze sound. This as well did not affect him.
So, it would seem it’s the actual act of an honest sneeze—and the sound of it, not my body reaction as he’s often not in the room to witness the convulsion or whatever else.
Any thoughts? Theories? Anyone dealt with this? Is Caesar Milan on the message board…?
our dog only reacts to the wife’s sneeze, not mine.
Dogs seem to do the sneezing thing when they are in an ambiguous situation around humans. I’ve noticed that if I pretend to do the same thing back at them, they get a very surprised, and I’d say apprehensive, look on their faces. If I continue to do it, they sort of shy away from me. I’m wondering if it’s a sort of defense mechanism for them, to relieve stress.
Just specualtion on my part, so I hesitate to post in GQ, but…Your dog is used to hearing your voice. Trying to fake a sneeze is still just your voice. But a sneeze involves a violent blow of air directed differently than normal vocalizations. Plus with a dog’s sensitive hearing he may be picking up on all sorts of high pitched noises and whistles produced by the sneeze that are out of our range of hearing. In short, the sneeze doesn’t sound like the dog expects us to sound / or the unexpected sound is mingled with our sound – and our sound is somewhat distressed. I’m guessing they are checking to see if some type of predator just grabbed us and the sneeze was our dying cry.
You may now return to the actual factual portion of the thread.
Hmmm…my dog doesn’t react at all when I sneeze. I noticed it the other day. She’s not deaf or anything…
Maybe she understands sneezes? She sneezes a lot, when she rolls around to scratch. I always say “bless you.” Maybe because of this she realizes what a sneeze is and it doesn’t scare her?
My dog looks at me strangely (if that’s possible) and leaves the room. She doesn’t like sneezes.
Cat data:
One of my cats meows when I sneeze. He meows in the same way that he does when he hears he curse.
I think it freaks them out/scares them to hear a sudden, strong and unsual sound out of a human. Also, a sneeze might sound like a bark to a dog.
I had a cat who would make “meeping” noises after hearing a sneeze. Funny thing was, if you tried to fake a sneeze, no meeps. She was somehow able to tell a real sneeze from a fake.
According to a vet in the UK:
*A Fear of humans sneezing is common in dogs. The most likely explanation is that the sound of a sneeze resembles a signal that dogs use themselves. A human sneeze is similar to a snort, cough or a “tooth-snap” in a dog or a wolf. Snorts are relatively neutral sounds that usually signal that something else is about to happen. Coughs and tooth snaps, however, are specific sounds that are used to communicate threat and defence. I suspect that your dog is misinterpreting the sound of your sneeze as if it is a threat. Try to control the volume of your sneezing and keep your post-sneezing behaviour quiet and calm, and see if this makes a difference. *
Two of my dogs do this sneezing/tooth-snapping behavior when they’re play-fighting. Sometimes it will just deteriorate into an uncontrollable fit of mutual sneezing that is something less than intimidating.
My husband’s dog is terrified of both his sneezes and his coughs but not of mine, while our youngest dog thinks my sneezes are funny and tries to play with them. The other two dogs are too old to hear sneezing or pretty much anything else. The cat just looks at both of us with unbridled contempt no matter what we’re doing.
We had a cat who would *whimper *if anyone sneezed.
My dog sneezes all the time (sniffsniffsniffSNEEZEsniffsniffsniffSNEEZE) so, you know, watch your shirt around him. He’s startled when I sneeze, but then he’s startled about a lot of things. He’s kind of a neurotic dog. He doesn’t come looking for me in another room when I do it or anything.
Hmmm. I banged my shin on a table last night and let out a human yelp (OUCH! Dammit!). My dog ran over to me, sniffed the spot I banged, laid her ears down and looked up at me as if to say, “You okay?” I swear she checked on me.
I haven’t noticed her reacting to my sneezing (I’m allergic to stuff, so I sneeze a lot), but I have noticed that she will sneeze if she’s getting frisky on the leash and is testing me for leadership. I usually say “bless you” which isn’t in her vocabulary in terms of whatever I’ve trained her on so far.
She does react to my coughing (I have asthma as well), which probably sounds a bit like barking to her. I use a vocal correction technique, which is a very low, growly “BAH!” My cough sounds similar to my BAH at least to my ears anyway. She will stop whatever she is doing when I cough, which is how she responds to the BAH. She’s learning to distinguish between a correction and an involuntary cough, though.
I’ve never noticed any strange reaction to sneezing from dogs, but my cat goes absolutely insane when I sneeze. Seriously, I have to be careful when I sneeze! No matter where he is in the house, if I sneeze he comes running to sniff around and stare at me, obviously alerted. At this point, if I bring my hands anywhere near my face or head, HE ATTACKS!
I play fight with him all the time, and he can get a bit worked-up, but it’s usually quite casual and laid back. But if I sneeze and then move my hands near my head, he goes into full-on primal mode and strikes faster than the speed of light. It’s usually a quick clawing to the hand (or face, if he misses), and then an equally fast retreat as if he were trying to deliver a death blow to a cobra. If I’m sitting at the time, the worst injuries usually come from his hind claws digging into my legs as he quickly pounces on me, strikes, and retreats all in one blindingly fast motion.
Whenever I sneeze I have to be conscious to not bring my hands near my face, so if I have to blow my nose or whatever, I have to make sure to stand up or otherwise get out of range of his pounce. But as long as I don’t bring my hands near my head, he’s fine. He’ll even come up to my face and casually sniff my nose with no signs of aggression or apprehension, just curiosity.
I would LOVE to know what’s going on in his mind. I’m sure he’s very self-satisfied that he just protected me from the sneeze-monster and wonders why I’m not thanking him for saving me.
My German Shepherd used to make a sneezy noise when she wanted my attention. Like if she needed to go out, and I was reading the paper so that she needed to get my eyes on her - She’d make the sneezy snort, and then when I looked at her she’d say “Owwwwww.”
Likewise if anyone else sneezed she’d come in and see whether they wanted her.
I don’t recall any of the Huskies responding to sneezes or using them to communicate.
Voltaire - try tossing a balled-up tissue on the floor and see if it gets the same treatment. . . I’m betting the cat has become trained to expect a toy to be in your hands and is trying to grab it.
Our cats invariably run away if I sneeze. We get the impression that they think I’m roaring at them, as if I’m extremely angry.
science can be adorable.
this is very interesting. thanks.
Whenever I sneeze, my dog turns her head toward me and gives me a look that says, “Hey, you’re disturbing me so don’t do that again!”
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been assuming. A dog disciplines a lower-ranked dog with a short, sharp noise. We have two dogs, and the one who is most closely bonded to me flattens herself to the ground instantly if I sneeze violently.