Despite the opinion in our society that dogs are strong, fearless and brave friends of people, pets have their own fears and phobias, and they depend on many factors.
About this tells Ukr.Media.
Strong fear for most dogs can be an unpleasant episode, but some animals can develop another, chronic form - phobias. This can be caused by poor heredity, lack of socialization and past experiences. Outwardly, when experiencing fear, the dog becomes stiff and tense, it begins to tremble, and sometimes salivation increases. In some cases, fear can take the form of unrestrained barking and even serious aggression.
What scares dogs the most? There are not many most common phobias - we suggest you familiarize yourself with a list of ten of the most significant.
Thunder
This is one of the most common dog phobias. The severity of brontophobia can vary significantly: some dogs, when thunder rumbles, only tremble slightly, with their ears and tail tucked in and their eyes wide open, others begin to literally shake, try to hide, chew their tail and even lose control of their bowels or bladder
Fireworks
Fear of fireworks is another common phobia in dogs: the unpredictable sounds and bright flashes of fireworks cause many dogs to tremble in fear. Sometimes the fear of fireworks is so strong that dogs get lost, trying to get as far away as possible to hide from the irritant.
Loneliness
We are talking more about the fear of separation, the strong feelings that arise in an animal when a significant person leaves home. Dogs prone to this fear, when left alone, often display destructive behavior, barking, howling, scratching doors in an attempt to go in search of the owner.
Ride in a car
Most often, dogs are afraid to ride in a car due to lack of relevant experience, but fear can also develop as a result of negative experiences associated with a car. This could be discomfort due to motion sickness or memories of a trip to the shelter where the dog was abandoned.
Visit to the veterinarian
Many dogs are afraid to go to the veterinarian, since the dog's first contact with the doctor is usually associated with strange smells, new, unfamiliar sensations, and often also with restriction of freedom and pain from injections.
Fear of going up and down stairs
This phobia in the vast majority of cases arises due to poor socialization or due to lack of necessary experience. An adult dog who never climbed stairs as a puppy will likely become frightened when faced with having to go up or down stairs.
Fear of men
Quite often dogs are afraid of men. Only sometimes is this fear caused by violence from the stronger sex: much more often the cause is a lack of socialization.
Fear of strangers
Fear of strangers is very similar to fear of men, the only difference is that the dog is afraid of any person it does not know, regardless of gender or age. Despite its simplicity, overcoming this fear is extremely difficult, since teaching a dog to calmly treat all possible new people is a task close to impossible.
Fear of children
This phobia develops in dogs for many reasons, the most obvious of which is lack of early contact with children. By getting a dog before becoming parents and not giving it the opportunity to communicate closely with children, owners create serious preconditions for fear.
Fear of specific objects
This category includes phobias associated with certain objects: vacuum cleaners, holiday decorations, children's toys, construction equipment. In everyday life, such fears most often do not create serious discomfort for the dog, since many frightening objects can simply be removed from its field of vision.
Let us remind you that earlier “Apostrophe” published an impressive video of courageous dog rescue from the freezing cold water in Ukraine.