# Dog's Afaid of Heater!?!?!?!



## poohlp (Jul 10, 2007)

Here's a new one for you all. Hansel is afraid of the heater (central air type, not radiator). Whenever it kicks on he starts whining and crying and will try to run and stand by the door to get us to let him out. He is absolutely petrified of the sound. I assume he will be like this with the air conditioner as well.

Any ideas on how to handle this. We basically ignore him and don't let him out. I've also tried showing him the fan output so he knows there is no monster in there. He's been with us 2 months, so you'd think he'd be used to it by now, but no....that heater kicks on and the crying and whining begins....it's especially bad when I try to put him in his crate when the heater is on, he literally starts howling, and at night while we're sleeping.

Has anyone else encountered such a crazy fear in a dog? Any suggestions on how to overcome it? And in case you were going to suggest it, no, not running the heater or the air conditioner is not an option!


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

Can you pinpoint exactly what he may be whining to? Like, is it the air noise through the registers, or the sound of the flame (I'm assuming you have gas heating)? 

I would try running the ac and see what he does. If he continues to whine, at least you know it's the fan or air noise.

You have three options, the first two may not solve your problem, but may help. 1) Increase the size of your ducts and registers, and internally insulate the duct. You'll probably need a contractor to do this, but it's an attempt to quiet the air noise. You may even want to ask a contractor if a duct silencer can be installed onto your existing duct. 
2) You can replace your existing furnace with a quieter unit. Both option 1 and 2 can be very expensive. 3) Counter conditioning and desensitization. Does your system have an option to run the fan only? Or an option to control the fan speed? If so, you may be able to set of opportunities to run the fan for short intervals and starting at the lowest setting, feed your dog while the unit is running. You may want to look around online for fan noises that you can record to a CD and approach it that way.

Another option I just thought of, but don't know much about are doggie earmuffs. If you can condition your dog to wear these it may help his noise sensitivity, but I have yet to see this product to know how practical it may be.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Something else you can try...when it comes on, give him a really good treat..a large raw bone or a stuffed Kong and continue to act normally as if it's no big deal. The idea is to associate the noise with something good instead of somthing scary.


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## poohlp (Jul 10, 2007)

Curbside Prophet said:


> Can you pinpoint exactly what he may be whining to? Like, is it the air noise through the registers, or the sound of the flame (I'm assuming you have gas heating)?


I'm in the south so the heater is secondary to the air conditioner. It is all electric, central heating and air. We tried just running the fan and he flipped at that too, so I think it is the noise.



Curbside Prophet said:


> You have three options, the first two may not solve your problem, but may help. 1) Increase the size of your ducts and registers, and internally insulate the duct. You'll probably need a contractor to do this, but it's an attempt to quiet the air noise. You may even want to ask a contractor if a duct silencer can be installed onto your existing duct.
> 2) You can replace your existing furnace with a quieter unit. Both option 1 and 2 can be very expensive.


How much do I love my dogs.....hmmm, I'm not sure enough to rebuild my air conditioning system! Luckily, I don't have to find out bc we are moving to a new house we are building in a couple weeks. Hopefully, that unit will be newer/better/quieter.



Curbside Prophet said:


> 3) Counter conditioning and desensitization. Does your system have an option to run the fan only? Or an option to control the fan speed? If so, you may be able to set of opportunities to run the fan for short intervals and starting at the lowest setting, feed your dog while the unit is running. You may want to look around online for fan noises that you can record to a CD and approach it that way.


That is an interesting idea I hadn't thought of. He does like to eat...so long as it is meat...he has no use for anything non-meat based.



Curbside Prophet said:


> Another option I just thought of, but don't know much about are doggie earmuffs. If you can condition your dog to wear these it may help his noise sensitivity, but I have yet to see this product to know how practical it may be.


Now you are just fishing for a funny picture. I'd like to meet the person that could actually keep those on a dog. 

Thanks for the advice Curb.


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## jchantelau (Mar 6, 2008)

Curbside Prophet said:


> Can you pinpoint exactly what he may be whining to? Like, is it the air noise through the registers, or the sound of the flame (I'm assuming you have gas heating)?
> 
> I would try running the ac and see what he does. If he continues to whine, at least you know it's the fan or air noise.
> 
> ...


Do you really think those first two options are practical? Just a question.


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## digits mama (Jun 13, 2007)

Curb..you a regular informative comedian arent you


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

jchantelau said:


> Do you really think those first two options are practical? Just a question.


Practical? That's relative. I work in a rather affluent city, and you'd be amazed at what some people think *is* practical. poohlp could be first named on Bill Gates' will for all I know. 

But if it's possible, a duct silencer can be as cheap as a few hundred dollars. A few hundred dollars for silence would be a doGsend to some.


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## poohlp (Jul 10, 2007)

Curbside Prophet said:


> But if it's possible, a duct silencer can be as cheap as a few hundred dollars. A few hundred dollars for silence would be a doGsend to some.


I have to agree with Curb to an extent....the whining, which mainly occurs at night, is VERY annoying. If we weren't moving and nothing else worked, it _might _be very tempting....maybe....assuming I decided to keep this dog (I'm technically just fostering him right now).


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## jchantelau (Mar 6, 2008)

Curbside Prophet said:


> Practical? That's relative. I work in a rather affluent city, and you'd be amazed at what some people think *is* practical. poohlp could be first named on Bill Gates' will for all I know.
> 
> But if it's possible, a duct silencer can be as cheap as a few hundred dollars. A few hundred dollars for silence would be a doGsend to some.


That's fair. That would be heck of alot better then resizing the ducts.


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## arnoldgs (3 mo ago)

poohlp said:


> Here's a new one for you all. Hansel is afraid of the heater (central air type, not radiator). Whenever it kicks on he starts whining and crying and will try to run and stand by the door to get us to let him out. He is absolutely petrified of the sound. I assume he will be like this with the air conditioner as well. Any ideas on how to handle this. We basically ignore him and don't let him out. I've also tried showing him the fan output so he knows there is no monster in there. He's been with us 2 months, so you'd think he'd be used to it by now, but no....that heater kicks on and the crying and whining begins....it's especially bad when I try to put him in his crate when the heater is on, he literally starts howling, and at night while we're sleeping. Has anyone else encountered such a crazy fear in a dog? Any suggestions on how to overcome it? And in case you were going to suggest it, no, not running the heater or the air conditioner is not an option!


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## arnoldgs (3 mo ago)

poohlp said:


> Here's a new one for you all. Hansel is afraid of the heater (central air type, not radiator). Whenever it kicks on he starts whining and crying and will try to run and stand by the door to get us to let him out. He is absolutely petrified of the sound. I assume he will be like this with the air conditioner as well.
> 
> Any ideas on how to handle this. We basically ignore him and don't let him out. I've also tried showing him the fan output so he knows there is no monster in there. He's been with us 2 months, so you'd think he'd be used to it by now, but no....that heater kicks on and the crying and whining begins....it's especially bad when I try to put him in his crate when the heater is on, he literally starts howling, and at night while we're sleeping.
> 
> Has anyone else encountered such a crazy fear in a dog? Any suggestions on how to overcome it? And in case you were going to suggest it, no, not running the heater or the air conditioner is not an option!


As fate would have it, we have a 3-month old pup named Hans/Hansel, and he's afraid of the heater. It may be emitting sounds we can't hear but he can, or maybe the sound of the mechanism just scares him. Fortunately it's not so cold yet and we can keep the heater off, but I'm considering switching from gas to electric or having fireplaces installed. Whatever it is, I'm not keen on potentially triggering past trauma or possibly hurting him with sound that we can't hear. We met him at the emergency vet, where he was brought in as a stray with a traumatic brain injury at about 5 weeks of age. He's half German Shepherd, about 21% Neapolitan Mastiff, and small percentages of Boxer, Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Pitt and Polynesian Street Dog.


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## arnoldgs (3 mo ago)

arnoldgs said:


> As fate would have it, we have a 3-month old pup named Hans/Hansel, and he's afraid of the heater. It may be emitting sounds we can't hear but he can, or maybe the sound of the mechanism just scares him. Fortunately it's not so cold yet and we can keep the heater off, but I'm considering switching from gas to electric or having fireplaces installed. Whatever it is, I'm not keen on potentially triggering past trauma or possibly hurting him with sound that we can't hear. We met him at the emergency vet, where he was brought in as a stray with a traumatic brain injury at about 5 weeks of age. He's half German Shepherd, about 21% Neapolitan Mastiff, and small percentages of Boxer, Mastiff, Bullmastiff, Pitt and Polynesian Street Dog.


Ah, missed one diagnostic factor: the A/C doesn't bother him.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

This thread is from 2008 and the participants have not been active on this forum for a very long time. You are unlikely to get a response. Please fee free to start your own thread or participate in current discussions, but I'm closing this one to further replies to avoid confusion.


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