# What's "thing" Is Your Dog Afraid Of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836 "2010-01-13T21:05:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/41 "2010-01-14T12:07:17Z")
Flies or other flying bugs on the ceiling. She’s fine as long as they’re flying in the middle airspace in a room, but as soon as they get up on or near the ceiling and start doing that bumping-looking-for-a-way-out thing, she’s terrified. Trembles, stress yawns, pants, the whole 9 yards. Same with a flashlight beam on the ceiling, insta-terror! She’s also terrified of fireworks, snow and ice falling off of the roof of the car while we’re driving (that slushy noise it makes when it hits the windshield?), and tiny pebbles hitting the windshield. She’s another vacuum attacker, or at least she used to be until I used Cesar (what’s his last name?) the Dog Whisperer’s method. Now she’s okay with it. She’s also terrified of the cockatiel’s “spoiled whine”. Oh yes, and carwashes. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/42 "2010-01-14T14:53:54Z")
Two out of three cats in my home are terrified of my Star Wars Force FX Lightsaber (Anakin Skywalker version). They will flee in terror when it’s turned on. The third one couldn’t care less and just glowers at me, as if to say “Yur powerz iz weak, old man” ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/43 "2010-01-14T14:54:08Z")
Baum’s Blue Bonnie (aka, Ranger) is a bluetick beagle. She is absolutely infuriated with anything that has wheels. She attacks the lawnmowers (riding and pushmower). She chases any kid on a bicycle. When my youngest would ride his little electric John Deere tractor, she would snip at the wheels, much to my son’s amusement. ---
**Author:** ![Arglefraster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/44 "2010-01-14T14:59:56Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Another of our cats was terrified when we hooked a windsock to her collar. I figured it would just annoy her to have it dragging along, but she apparently interpreted it as something chasing her intently, and ran like mad all over the house (with me chasing her) until she finally, exhausted, crammed herself under Mom’s bed and I was able to take it off. My first cat, I would sometimes put a small piece of tape on his tail. He’d run around in circles for a bit before he finally caught it and pulled it off. Good times. Then I tried the same thing on my second cat. Complete and utter panic. Took the better part of an hour before I finally caught him and pulled the tape off for him. The same cat was also terrified of balloons after he once “caught” one and it popped underneath him. My parents have a terrier, who will of course chase the hell out of any small animal that comes into her yard. Once she was chasing a baby rabbit. The baby rabbit tried to escape through one of the holes in their chain link fence and got stuck. The terrier apparently thought the widdle baby bunny was making a stand, and ran the other way with her tail between her legs. Our 50lb german shepherd mix is afraid of the next door neighbor’s cats. She’s fine with our cats, but if the neighbors cats are hanging out on their back porch, our dog won’t go outside to pee unless we go with her. She’s also scared of the garden hose for some reason. Every other dog I’ve ever been around loved to play in or drink the spray from the garden hose. Nope, she runs from it. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/45 "2010-01-14T15:01:30Z")
Regarding vacuum cleaners, there’s a (mock) organization: [Pitbulls Against Vacuums](http://www.cafepress.com/sk/PAVUSA) ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/46 "2010-01-14T15:11:32Z")
My dog used to hate the vacuum, but doesn’t mind it so much anymore. He used to bark and snap at it. He does still bark when I use the hand blender. He is also scared of the laundry basket. If it’s sitting on top of the bench in the area where his bed is, he will refuse to go in there. I think it may have fallen on him once. **Khadaji** , my dog hates being brushed, too. He looks so sad while you’re brushing him and when you’re done, he will run laps around the coffee table (same thing happens after the bath). If he sees you holding the brush, there’s no way he’s coming anywhere near you! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/47 "2010-01-14T15:41:26Z")
> [@MitzeKatze](#): > > My dog is afraid of so many things. We rescued him from a shelter when he was approx. 10 months old and have had him for 10 years- during which time he has never been anything but spoiled and loved, never experiencing anything even close to abuse, yet he is still terrified of:. I’m with you there. My rescue boy is afraid of everything. The other day I spilled some _salt_ and he ran away. He is definitely terrified of anything resembling a stick – rake, shovel, mop, broom – and of course the vacuum is the evil one. The rescue girl is afraid of being stepped on or kicked. > [@C3](#): > > My dog Charlie, who died a couple years ago, was completely terrified of balloons. Not all balloons - just helium ones the day after they’d been inflated and were sort of floating just a couple feet off the ground. Freaked her out. She’d cry and hide under the bed. All my corgis have been afraid of balloons. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Like **justrob** ’s german shepard, Dolly has something she’s not so much afraid of but extremely angry with. The Goodyear Blimp. We live between Akron and Cleveland, and whenever the blimp is going from its hangar to Cleveland, it goes over our house. Dolly will hear it coming while inside, bark crazily to go outside, then bark her head off at the blimp until she “chases it away.” We also live in the blimp path and I love to go outside and listen to it. The dogs are not very interested. I point up and say “Look!” and they just look at me. Crazy woman. > [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh, yeah, add “tape measure” to the list. It _infuriated_ my dear late dog, though - he wasn’t afraid of it, he wanted to kill the shit out of it. My first corgi was afraid of the tape measure. If he was bad we would threaten to measure him. We would say “Some people are afraid of heights? He’s afraid of lengths.” ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/48 "2010-01-15T06:19:54Z")
Lab/pit mix - 95 pounds of muscle. Hates the vacuum cleaner, and most things with wheels (had a fit the first time we brought home a baby stroller). Runs in abject terror from all forms of artificially flowing water – hoses, sprinklers, or faucets (once cornered in the bathroom, however, he will slouch over and jump into the tub by himself, then look at me with that “why do you hate me?” look. Loves the vet, submits peaceably to shots, exams, and thermometers, but it takes three or four people to trim his nails. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/49 "2010-01-15T08:44:56Z")
Golden Retriever: fear of laundry baskets. I was passing by with one once, and she peed herself. She’s also afraid of ghosts. She can hear something, but can’t see something to explain the noise, then she gets scared. We call it ghosts. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/50 "2010-01-15T12:49:57Z")
Sudden noises – fireworks, gun shots, rubberbands snapping ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/51 "2010-01-15T14:39:11Z")
If you want to see a big, scary Doberman cower, show our [Lilith](http://www.flickr.com/photos/45215582@N06/4153785968/) a white plastic bottle (such as a bottle of contact lens solution). In fact, even the word bottle usually causes her to leave the room. This is because her ear-cleaning solution comes in such a container and she does not wish to be cleaned. She will also flee from squirt bottles. She doesn’t mind baths or water in any other form, but droplets flying through the air? Aieeee! My bad-ass tough cat Bruno fears nothing…except the sound of a lawnmower. If he’s on the porch and a neighbor starts in to mow the lawn, he goes to the glass door and performs Frantic Cat Dying of Panic. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/52 "2010-01-15T14:51:23Z")
Actually, I forgot one: we had a rabbit visiting with us for a while and the cats zoomed all over the place trying to stay away from it. I think they even took turns sleeping so it couldn’t “get” them. ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/53 "2010-01-15T16:15:48Z")
Where to start? My Australian Shepherd is a fraidy dog when it comes to inanimate objects. She’s afraid of the vacuum, umbrellas, hats (she’s gotten better about this one), hair dryers (or anything that makes a weird noise), cell phones, anything you point at her, any kind of costume, her agility tunnel, and thunderstorms, though we’ve been working with her on that one and it’s gotten a LOT better. Oddly, our Sheltie, who’s afraid of pretty much all people but my husband and I (unless they have food), is much braver about things. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/54 "2010-01-15T16:47:28Z")
The package delivery truck. Any other truck she is fine with, but she goes bonkers for the FedEx or UPS truck. No idea why, but at Christmas when the trucks are driving around constantly, my poor dog is a nervous wreck. ---
**Author:** ![Deereman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Deereman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deereman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/55 "2010-01-15T17:01:51Z")
Our dog is afraid of STEPS. She will not go down the basement stairs. She has figured out the porch steps, but the basement is a no no. She was carried down there once, whining the whole time, and I believe had to be carried back up too. WILL NOT go down them. She loves to drop her ball down the steps though (bounce bounce bounce). I think because she knows we’ll get it eventually. She was also afraid of water for a good two years…and she’s a LAB. One day she decided she wanted to go in and has been fine since. ---
**Author:** ![DiggitCamara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@DiggitCamara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiggitCamara)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/56 "2010-01-15T17:14:33Z")
Our dog hated, HATED any motorcycle which started right next to our fence. She’d wait for it to start and would bark furiously, running after it. (The pizza delivery person, for instance) She’d usually ignore any other motorcycle, though. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/57 "2010-01-15T17:18:15Z")
We have one dog that started, about two years ago, hating large waves hitting the shore. Never bothered her before, but now she barks and barks whenever the water gets rough (ruff) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/58 "2010-01-15T23:01:24Z")
I had a female Cavalier that was afraid of ceiling fans, windshield wipers and balloons. These phobias may all have been connected to a primal fear of large predatory birds (she was, after all, a small dog). To really set her off, we found that taking her for a car ride with the windshield wipers and radio going would do the trick. Anticipating a visit to the vet/kennel while dealing with predatory windshield wipers and voices coming out of the dashboard produced some very strange reactions and noises. Our cocker spaniel had a fear and loathing of vacuum cleaners, and _hated_ it when I would stalk a house fly with the goal of swatting it (even if she was across the room). As I poised for the swat, her growling would reach a crescendo and then as I whacked the fly, she’d lunge at me, growling and snapping. She was nuts. ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/59 "2010-01-17T22:51:15Z")
My 5-month-old malamute is terrified beyond reason of the [wacky waver](http://www.inflatablewavers.com/images/balloon-man-red-waver.jpg) that’s used by the local car wash. It’s usually put away by the time we’re on our way to the dog park each day (about 5:30-ish), but if it’s still out there and turned on he’s terrified. Last time he slipped his collar and ran across four lanes of heavy traffic before I could catch and subdue him. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836/60 "2010-01-18T02:05:01Z")
Duke, our oversized Brittany, was a chicken-dog. He was terrified of thunderstorms, and while he would bark at people coming to the door, he would do so from _under_ the table on the porch. But the thing that scared the piss out of him, literally, was the dragon. It was big, and floated in the air, and it roared when it breathed fire! When looked at that way, the hot air balloon phobia made sense. (We lived in an area that seemed to get two or three low flying balloons coming through every year. Duke never got used to the dragons.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-thing-is-your-dog-afraid-of/524836.md?page=4)