We adopted a stray dog from a friend last Christmas. The dog had shown up at her house (following her kids, of course). It was already trained – housebroken, leash trained, would sit on command, didn’t jump up on you, very well mannered. The friend advertised “found dog” all over but no responses.
She already had two dogs and asked if we’d like to adopt him, and we’d been thinking about being dog-less and agreed.
“Boomer” is a very nice dog but is terrified of loud (and semi-loud) noises. Thunderstorms will send him careening into your body – like he wishes he could crawl inside you.
The 4th of July was a nightmare – we wished we had earplugs for him – he just shook all night long at the neighborhood firecrackers, etc.
Actually, we’re starting to think the reason he was a stray is that someone trained him as a possible hunting companion – when the owner saw Boomer’s reaction to noise, maybe he just dumped him.
Anyway, does anyone know of a way to “cure” Boomer of this reaction? (We gave him the name before knowing of this idiosyncrasy.)
He reacts badly to any kind of sharp noises – they don’t have to be loud – it’s not a major problem for us, but I’d like him to not be so fearful of something we can’t control.
Help?