Is Your Doodle Scared of Dumb Stuff?

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Today, I had to take Vern to the vet to check his incision. He got neutered last week on Wednesday and the area looked redder and more swollen today. Vern has not been completely following the doctor's orders of rest and relaxation, especially when he sees the cat. Anyway, I took him into the office and he immediately peed on the floor when I was signing in. I guess I can understand this since last week he came in with more body parts then he left with and I think he was making sure they knew he still used what was left.

Well, while waiting in the lobby, he spotted a picture on the wall of a big dog and started growling and barking. Next, they took us to the room in the back and on that wall was a poster of a tabby cat and he would not take his eyes off of it and continued to growl and bark. They offered to move us to another room, but I reminded them that at our last visit, the other room had a picture of a vicious bird (wink, wink) and he did not like that either. He stayed on full alert the entire office visit and was too busy keeping his eyes on the tabby cat to worry about the exam.

Now, we were very careful to socialize Vern with people, kids, dogs, places, etc., but not once did we think to socialize him with large pictures of animals :) On the way out the vet's office, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and almost had a stroke at the hairy beast looking back at him.

For the most part, I try and ignore him when he does this stuff, but today I actually was tapping on the glass and saying, "Vern, look it is a picture."  What response I was hoping for, I don't know.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to handle this behavior and/or does anyone else have a dog doing similar things?   Thank you!!

[Margot]

Woof - Jennings turned 2 in March, and I try to have him avoid the full-length mirror whenever possible since I refer to it as "the other puppy in the room".... he has always growled at it, and I suspect he always will! He is also terrified of large mylar balloons, orange construction cones and trash cans (but only in the dark). I met a Dad of a Doodle puppy at a park recently, and that puppy is also afraid of the balloons and trash cans...... go figure!

[Doris]

Don't worry about peeing at the vet's office. While we were there last week, three other dogs peed. Of course, not Bodi - he was too busy acting like Cujo. HE scared the other dogs and their owners. Our vet said he was just protecting me. Still - embarrasing.

A springer spaniel I had chewed up a photograph of another springer that the family had "ooh-d and ahhhd" over earlier in the day. So dogs do weird things . . . .but we love them!!

[Kathy Spyker]

Funny story ;-) but I hope Vern is doing OK. Over the winter we built a snowman in the back yard with our granddaughter and when Lilly went out she circled and barked at it for 30 min. She would not come in, and to make matters worse the sun was out and it was starting to melt so a little bit at a time it would move. It took her a long time but she finally went up and smelled it and seen it was not a real person.;-)

[Kyoko]

Charlie barked at the huge tree roots that was left laying from the storm. It was funny, but I fugure that she had no idea what it was and scared her....

[Corinna and Krimmi]

Just yesterday, I took Krimmi (almost 2 yr old Aussiedoodle) for a walk and there was a girl jogging towards us on the other side of the road. Many a joggers have passed us in the past and it's no problem but she happened to stop at a street sign and leaned against it stretching. Well Krimmi started barking and growling at her (how embarassing) She gave me the dirtiest look because of my "vicious" dog. Little did she know that he was terrified of her because he couldn't figure out what "that" was. Goofy dogs!!

[Beth Lord]

I've seen all these sorts of reactions to pictures (like movie posters), mirrors, and especially statues in the pups I've raised. So hang in there, I think it's pretty normal! I try to desensitize them to it thru short, repeated exposures over time, since as working dogs they'll need to learn to remain calm...even if the mannequin dog at Old Navy DOES look threatening (which it apparently did to my Alfie just last week, haha!) He calmed down, but never truly accepted it. We'll just revisit it until he gets over it. Yeah, fear does seem to go by stages. Also, it's very common for a dog's level of confidence and training to slide right after neutering -- we call it "regression" -- but don't worry, it's not permanent! :-) I'm sure he'll be just fine. :-)

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I dont think Cooper has ever seem big pictures of other animals, but she has seen herself in the mirror before.

DH was in bed sleeping, both cats were cuddling with me on the couch and Cooper kept growling. Sometimes she does this to let us know she thinks someone is outside and I have to open the front door and show her theres noone thee and shes quiet. But it didnt work this time. I finally noticed she could see her reflection in the mirror. I stood next to her and gave her cuddles so she could see us both in the mirror. She still looks at herself in the mirror, but now knows its not another doggy in her home!

[ej]

My doodle, Koda seems rather fearless. But my GR, Zooey is the biggest wuss! She is afraid of the wind - whenever there is a strong gust of wind blowing through, she would seek us out for comfort and cramp herself right next to us.

[Carol and Banjo]

I'm sorry I can't offer any suggestions....but that was such a funny story....funny Vern!! I'm sure you'll find answers here. Best of luck!