# My Dog (Or Cat) Is Afraid Of...And I Don't Know Why **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 28, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221 "2009-06-28T00:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/21 "2009-06-28T16:44:24Z")
My cats don’t seem to have consistent fears…except for air freshener or room spray cans…but they have these weird temporary fears that are so amusing. Today, for instance, Tweak is afraid of two of my pillows on the bed.The same two pillows she walks on everyday to climb up onto the window ledge. Today, she is totally and completely freaked out by them. I guess I didn’t help matters by, when I noticed her being a scaredy-cat, picking her up and tossing her onto the pillows. I just went and tested her. Three hours later, she’s still freaked out…but only by one of the two identical pillows. Perhaps I should be more worried that the pillow is actually possessed and that she’s not just being weird. But now that I’ve reversed which pillow is in top…she seems much happier. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/22 "2009-06-28T16:48:24Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > I wonder if some some items there are sound being produced that we can’t hear, but they can and it’s irritating. I have read that it’s common for cats and dogs to be irritated by ultrasonic noises we can’t hear. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/23 "2009-06-28T19:02:24Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > When people visit us she’ll disappear for the duration. The easiest way for the cat to overcome this is invite a friend over who HATES cat and have him announce that he detests and despises cats. Then the cat will deliberately come out to annoy your guest. Note: this only will work if the company HATES cats, they can sense if someone is faking > [@Cazzle](#): > > Hoover was terrified of flies. This is kind of amusing but it would be downright funny if “Hoover (the cat)” was afraid of vacuums ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/24 "2009-06-28T19:20:45Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > This is kind of amusing but it would be downright funny if “Hoover (the cat)” was afraid of vacuums Or of FBI agents. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/25 "2009-06-28T20:16:29Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Or of FBI agents. 😃 Or guys from Delta house… ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/26 "2009-06-28T21:18:59Z")
My dog is has no problems with thunder or firecrackers, but she hates the sound of gunshots.\* She is also afraid of vacuum cleaners, ballons, yoga balls, guitars, and her biggist fear of all is skateboards. I have no illusions that she will protect me from anything. When there is a knock at the door she will bark and then hide behind me. \*I work in a theatre that often has guns firing blanks in the shows. She sometimes comes to work and when the scenes with the guns are rehearsed she will cower behind me growling. If I am near the guns she will run and find someone else she trust and cower behind them. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/27 "2009-06-28T22:05:04Z")
My dog has decided to be deathly afraid of some bird in the desert who starts singing at 4 am. She whines and pants and either wedges herself behind the toilet or tries to dig a hole in the carpet by the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/28 "2009-06-28T23:08:32Z")
My cat used to be afraid of popcorn bags. When I would shake the popped bag to distribute the butter, he would do the super-puffed-up Halloween cat pose. I found this so hilarious that I would chase him shaking the bag whenever I made popcorn. Eventually he figured out the popcorn was not going to attack and now he is no longer afraid. Damn! I also had a greyhound that was afraid of everything. Loud noises, soft noises, distant noises, near noises, newspapers, strangers, Spanish-speaking people, the list went on and on. The one, though, that was really inexplicable was his fear of toddlers. When he saw a toddler approaching, he would completely freak out, rearing up and twisting his head back and forth in an attempt to escape his leash and run away. He was a good head taller and four times as heavy as the average toddler. Was he tormented by toddlers during his brief stint on a Mexican racetrack? We never knew. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/29 "2009-06-29T14:58:32Z")
My do (female Australian Shepherd) will not enter the basement. When try to force her, the hackles rise up and she growls. I don’t know why-perhaps the basement is haunted (house was built in 1923). ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/30 "2009-06-29T15:11:29Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > One of my cats (the stupid one) is afraid of long cylindrical objects, basically anything that vaguely resembles a broomstick. And no, he has never been beaten with a broom. He is also afraid of a flushing toilet, despite never having been put into one. So is my boy, but he may very well have been beaten with a stick. He is adopted and had been a stray for quite a while, perhaps several years. Anything that resembles a stick must be slowly put down while he watches before he will approach; otherwise he trembles and tries to hide. ---
**Author:** ![taxi78cab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@taxi78cab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taxi78cab)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/31 "2009-06-29T16:30:36Z")
Our cat’s afraid of the ceiling fan. Any ceiling fan. It started in the first apartment where she lived with me, which had 12’ ceilings so the fan was really high and really far away from her. Didn’t matter, she was terrified. New apartment, lower ceiling, fan over the dining room table. That helped a little, but she’d still watch it apprehensively. Now our new house has 3 ceiling fans, including one over our bed. She’s getting used to them since they’re on nearly all summer. But every once in a while we’ll still see her look up at the moving fan, head sort of moving in a circle as she tracks the fan, before she scoots out of the room. I adopted her as an adult so I don’t know what might have happened to her in the first ~4 years of her life. But I have a hard time imagining what _could_ have happened with a ceiling fan. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/32 "2009-06-29T17:18:01Z")
> [@Rufus\_Xavier](#): > > When I walk my dog, and I try to approach a garbage can, she completely stiffens up and will refuse to get close to it. I have no idea why this is. She will go up to one on her own initiative to sniff it, but if I try to take her towards one, she becomes terrified. She’s not particularly skittish, although she does fear the Roomba. My dog is weird around the roomba, but I don’t think she’s afraid of it attacking. I think she’s nervous that it’s another animal establishing dominance on her turf. She circles it, checking it out, and about the third time it makes her move out of its way she starts looking worried and stalking it from the back. She’s bitten its backside several times and pulled the dust bin off of it at least once. That last seemed to satisfy her temporarily. It was still just as uppity the next time though, only then she got cautioned when she started to stalk - which she seemed to interpret as favoritism on my part. Now she always looks a little hurt when I take its side over hers. ---
**Author:** ![Arglefraster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/33 "2009-06-29T18:30:59Z")
My dog is afraid of the garden hose, and of being submerged in water. The dog I had growing up used to love playing in the garden hose, but Zoe wants nothing whatsoever to do with it. When we took her to the doggie beach she’d go out in the water if we went with her, but she looked miserable and confused. She loved running up and down the beach with the other dogs, but would get stand at the edge of the water and whine when a dog she was running with went out into the water. When we give her baths we put her in the tub and dump cups of water over her to wet her and rinse her off. That she doesn’t mind at all. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/34 "2009-06-29T20:31:31Z")
My dog gets really nervous in the car for no good reason. We’ve only had him for a few months, but I put him in the car all the time to get him used to going to nice places (in other words, not just the vet’s.) He pants and pants and pants and pants and shakes and then sometimes he makes the saddest little howl. Then he’s absolutely thrilled to get out and see my dad. Then he obediently gets back into the back seat and starts to pant and shiver again. He freaked the hell out at his obedience class last week, but that makes more sense - it’s in the middle of a Pet Smart, so not only are there dogs and people but there’s also food and gerbils and parakeets and stuff. But he howled and shook and panted and made monkey noises through the whole class, so we all had to yell over him. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/35 "2009-06-29T22:36:52Z")
You should look up cats and roomba on YouTube, there’s tons of videos of kitty cats jumping on the roombas and using them as personal aracde rides ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221/36 "2009-06-30T00:05:12Z")
Our dog is afraid of thunder. Our bird is afraid of balloons and ceiling fans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dog-or-cat-is-afraid-of-and-i-dont-know-why/501221.md?page=1)