Ridiculous Stuff that TERRIFIES Your Pet

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I’m not talking thunder storms, fireworks or vacuum cleaners here. I’m talking stuff that no one else’s pet would even notice but your pet goes into fits about.

I just had an appliance repair guy come out to replace the relay on my fridge. The fridge had started making a clicking noise. It has always made clicking noises. The thermostat for the furnace makes the same clicking noise. Apparently this clicking noise is new and my dog Grady goes into full thunderstorm meltdown when he hears it. He often hears it at 6 AM, when he comes to the bed and starts clawing at my face.

The appliance guy said he’s not sure if the new relay will “fix” the problem, as it’s doing what relays do. But I said $160 to TRY to fix it works for me. The appliance guy was very nice. He said his dog has the same reaction to his family’s bread machine when it beeps.

Speaking of beeps, Grady is also afraid of Amazon trucks, because they beep a lot (backup beeps). He has recognized that the one that often delivers down the street beeps the most, and now runs and hides when he sees it (beeping or not). And if there’s an Amazon truck on the street while we’re walking, he always keeps an eye on it, sometimes trying to retreat. He has no reaction to FedEx trucks, mail truck, UPS trucks or white sprinter vans, just the Amazon truck.

Lastly, he’s afraid of the tiny dog next door. Not because she’s a scary dog, but because she’s hard-of-hearing and my neighbor has to shout to get her to come in. Grady thinks the neighbor is shouting at him. If he’s outside and the neighbor dog comes out, he runs back inside.

My girl dog DGAF about anything. She thinks he’s nuts.

My previous dog was terrified of the Windows XP shut-down noise. I determined that Windows shut down meant I was shutting off the computer, which only happened when there was going to be a thunder storm. So she thought it meant “pending storm.” I had to disable it on all of my computers.

Grady would definitely be a contender for the Badminster Dog Show, in the “Shaking Group.”

2

My large Bernese Mountain Dog (varied between 110 to 120 pounds) was very friendly and generally fearless. He totally ignores cats, and once chased a skunk to the point of getting himself thoroughly sprayed.

But one time he was out in the back yard and encountered that most fearsome of all creatures: a bunny rabbit. It was weeks before I could get him to spend any time outside. He would go out to do his business and then rush right back in, for fear that the long-eared demon might show up again.

3

If I happen to be standing in the same room as my dog or even just passing through and I catch his eye and suddenly freeze in place when our eyes meet and continue to stay frozen my dog will look confused at first and then suddenly loose his mind and growl and bark at me like I just shapshifted into a complete stranger.

4

We had a cat who was scared of only one thing: Slinkys.

5

Our cats are terrified if someone knocks at the door. A soft knock and both cats rocket to the furthest end of the house, bellies on the floor and hide under the bed. Doesn’t matter what they were doing when the knock occurs, its like a switch goes off in their brain.

6

Hula hoops. I thought the dogs would enjoy an agility course, but they were terrified to even approach a hoop. Position of the hoop didn’t matter – upright, on the ground, food in the middle, all invoked absolute terror. Would love to know why because they were otherwise fearless – approach a bear with no hesitation, but cringe from a hula hoop. Weird creatures.

7

My last dog was terrified by a stuffed bison one of my kids got. Just took him a long time to stop barking/growling at it.

We let our dogs lick out many pans. He got his tags caught up in the handle of a square baking pan and essentially flung it across the kitchen. Ever after that he would refuse to lick that pan out. We took to calling int “the scary pan.”

One dog before that - we were on vacation in Custer State Park. We woke up and there were several mule deer grazing right in front of our cabin. We let the dog out and she went tearing towards them. They just looked at her but didn’t move otherwise, and she turned tail and ran back to us.

My current dog gets all bent out of shape when there is something new in the yard. Recently we didn’t know what he was barking at. Then we realized there was a plastic bag against the back fence. He pretends like he is so brave, but he is such a chicken. We’ll hear him barking and look out, and he’s skittering towards the house barking back over his shoulder.

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He must have seen the “killer bunny” scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

9

Tiny insects.

My dog, Eva, will try to eat bees, will chase animals of any kind, and will follow spiders around curiously, but if a tiny fruit fly is in the room, she jumps out of her bed, terrified and after looking around with great concern, which cannot be allayed, she goes downstairs to hide in the spare bedroom.

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Little Lhasa apso next door demands to come over to see my husband who dispenses treats (don’t tell the dog they are cat treats!). Dog sits down peacefully.

Then, the clock on the fireplace mantel strikes the hour, and he loses his mind. Barks barks barks at the clock. Growls. Stands up and threatens the clock. If it’s noon, he cannot stand it and has to go right home. It’s not a loud clock at all but dog says clock MUST STOP CHIMING. Cats of course are staring at them as if he’s crazy. They only lose their minds when the doorbell rings and they must hide immediately.

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Ack! I forgot Grady is terrified of flies in the house! It seems to only be houseflies, not gnats or fruitflies. I suspect he gets upset that he hears them but he doesn’t see them (he’s not blind, they’re just, you know, fast). He will freak out and beg to go outside, and then not come back in under any circumstance. Usually I have to go outside and retrieve him with a leash.

Nothing worse than when I get the inside fly killed, and end up letting in a new fly while I’m begging him to come back in.

12

We have a rental car right now because ours is in the shop. Our dog Hank was having none of it! Did we not see that stranger’s car, right in the garage? We started having to let him out by a different door. He would then run around to the garage and bark at that bad car.
Over the last couple of weeks, he’s gotten to where he can cope. After all, the scary car hasn’t killed any of the other dogs. I think we’re going to have a problem now when we get our real car back!

13

My current cat is the same way. She’s also been known to do the “hide under the covers” freakout if the windows are open to get some fresher air into the place.

Our previous bird was terrified of laser pointers. Current bird doesn’t seem bothered by them.

14

I have a bluetooth speaker. When the laptop disconnects/connects there is an electronic voice that says “xxxxxx connected” (or disconnected). The dog will run away whenever the voice starts.
And some phone text alert sounds on the TV will make the dog will run away.

15

We have a cat who will jump high if he sees something new in the house, down on the floor. Like a box.

16

I had a dog that was afraid of his own (audible) farts. He’d cut one, look around in panic and run out of the room. He was also afraid of my husband’s farts, but at least that one I understand.

Another dog of ours would freak out if we tried using our surround sound system for movies. We figured out the problem was street noise - music and voices in a quiet room were fine, but if there was a street scene in a movie with cars driving by, he’d run in circles and act all distressed. He was also the one who lost it one day when there was a praying mantis on the deck. He was dancing around and barking furiously at it, while it just tilted its head back and forth as if it was confused about all the fuss.

Our last dog at first did not want to get into our new van. The old van was fine, and he loved going places, but there was something about the new one that made him not want to hop in. We finally got him over that will lots of encouragement and treats. He was not a fearful dog in any way, so that one was especially odd.

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Our cat, Vienna, is afraid of the gentle rustling of plastic grocery store bags. We have to be so careful when bringing stuff home from the supermarket and putting things away.

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Oh, so many.
The Siamese cats freak out over plastic sacks, opening the freezer not the fridge, that’s where treats hide, the pantry door clicking shut, the ice maker dropping ice, the gate alarm, a certain Blue buffalo ad on TV, rustling newspaper, aluminum foil being pulled out, a certain can opener, one is ok, the dishwasher on heat dry, blow dryer, the tractor starting, the lawn mower close to the house, the lil’wrekkers electric toothbrush, mine doesn’t bother them.

I believe they have as many phobias as myself.

Bayliss is always wary of strangers but there’s this one guy Son-of-a-wrek often has over that Bayliss loses his shit over. I don’t trust that guy.

19

Nothing bothers Mauser the dachshund. But I myself am the only human that my cat Atilla will tolerate. As soon as a visitor arrives the cat is outta there. hiding somewhere. My family loves cats and Atilla doesn’t know how much lovin’ he’s missed in the last fourteen years.

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They might think it is s snake. Like cats and cucumbers: