Positive Sound Exposure and Desensitisation

Some breeds are genetically more sound sensitive than others. Border Collies and German Shepherds come to mind. 

However, by far the most common reasons dogs develop anxiety, fear and phobias of sounds is because of a lack of ‘sound acceptance’ training when they were under 16 weeks of age or sometimes because of a trauma event. 

For a dog to function in a human world we expect them to just adapt to what we see at the norm. However, because a dog's senses are so much more heightened than ours, it can be difficult for us to understand why some dogs react to certain sounds. 

This may be because of the: 
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• Intensity of the sound
• Longevity of the sound
• Pitch of the sound
• Other associated experiences with the sound e.g vibrations, light, smell
• The reactions of others around them – people/dogs

So in order for a dog to feel comfortable with these sounds it takes positive association training in that window of opportunity before they are 16 weeks of age. After this time, any sounds that your dog is not positively associated with or desensitised to, could be deemed as a potential ‘threat’ and therefore one of 3 innate reactions must occur:
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• Flight
• Freeze
• Fight

Most young dogs or any that lack confidence first choose the ‘Flight’ option, as it makes more sense and it is less conflicting. However if this option is removed (by either the dog being on lead or contained in an area/garden where they do not feel secure) then the most common action is the ‘Fight’ option. Some dogs may freeze but as this puts them at the mercy of the sound, they often soon realise that it is not the best option.

The Fight option means a display or an act of aggression may occur. For many dogs, this involves barking. If (and it only takes once), when they bark the very thing they are afraid of either moves away or stops (and it can be coincidental), then in their mind they realise that it is the most effective method for stopping the threat. 

This can progress quickly if not handled appropriately at the beginning. Many dogs actually gain a lot of confidence from rehearsing this behaviour.

How to Implement Sound Desensitisation Programme

Desensitisation is a way of very slowly getting your dog used to the sounds he is anxious about by very small repeated exposures until he no longer takes any notice of them.

The Right Set Up:

1. Choose an environment where your dog feels most comfortable and secure, such as your crate or his favourite room
2. Choose a time of day when you are going to be home for at least 4 hours
3. Select the recorded sounds you feel most closely match the ones your dog worries about (this could be by downloading the sounds from the Dog’s Trust UK website or other online, or by recording them directly yourselves on your phone or similar).

Stage 1:

1. Put the volume on your player to the very lowest setting – there should be nothing coming out of the speakers at this lowest setting.
2. Now sit down and relax for a few minutes before playing the recording
3. Now place your hand on the volume control and watch your dog closely
4. Very slowly raise the volume until you get the faintest recognition from your dog – this may include your dog pricking his ears, tilting his head. This means your dog has heard the sound.
5. Now leave it at this volume for at least 3 days, leaving it to play for as long as possible (ideally 24 hours but if not possible at least 4 hours in the initial exposure).
6. The more the recording is played over and over again in the first three days the better it works.

Stage 2:

1. Only when your dog is showing no response to the sound, after the 3 days, can you slowly start to raise the volume on a daily basis until you reach the volume that most closely resembles the level your dog would normally hear it at in the environment.
2. Only when your dog shows no fear response to the sound inside your house when the recording is played can you move to the next stage.

Stage 3:

1. Put the player in another room or upstairs above where the dog is, so that now the sound is muffled by the interior of the house.
2. You may have to drop the volume down a bit for the first few days when you first do this.
3. Now repeat what you did above in Stage 2

Stage 4:

1. Place the  players/speakers just outside the window near your dog, so your dog hears the sounds coming from the outside environment.
2. You may have to drop the volume down a bit for the first few days when you first do this.

Stage 5:

1. The final stage is to now take those recorded sounds to lots of different locations to expose your dog to the sounds in more natural environments.

The Do’s and Don’ts of the Programme

• During the programme you must not show any signs of fear or anxiety in your own behaviour. Dogs will mimIc your behaviour if you act calm and ignore them.
• This program can be used for any sound that triggers a fear response, including fireworks, thunder, hair dryers, traffic, vacuum cleaners etc.
• It can also be used to desensitise a dog to your doorbell or someone knocking on your door.
• Some dogs also need desensitising in the same way with a any associated stimuli e.g lightening,(use a strobe light outside and an air ioniser to simulate the change in electrical charge in the atmosphere)
• You can implement this into your program only when the sound part has been completed successfully.

BUILD A POSITIVE RESPONSE WITH OR WITHOUT FOOD?

• If you want the dog to pay particular attention to a sound and be excited by it – e.g a gunshot (for a gundog) or to stop your dog barking at the doorbell, then you must pair the sound with a food or toy reward within 2 seconds of the sound
• If you want the dog to just ignore the sound then the key is not to pay any particular attention to it yourself, and not to pair it with food.

Common Sounds & Movements That Can Worry/Excite Dogs – for example:

• TV
• Vacuum Cleaner
• Hairdryer
• Motorbikes
• Scooters/skateboards
• Thunder/Lightning
• Gunshot
• Nail gun
• Drill
• Many of these also have associated stimuli of ‘sight’ by their movement and ‘smell’. To really desensitise they need gradual exposure to all the senses.

We have put together a FREE Sound Cloud library of sounds for you to access whenever you choose to go with the above advice. The more you do this, the better and start as early as possible with puppies.