# Beeping Smoke Detectors and small dogs



## Sparhawk (Jul 26, 2014)

I don’t know if anyone else has had an experience like this. But I wanted to share it and at the very least maybe warn some of you what can happen. 
I have a 17 year old Chihuahua named Rocko. My smoke detector is chirping every couple of minutes but I just ignored it and rolled over. A little while later he wakes me up and he is shaking and agitated. I take him outside and he just kind of wonders around a little. So we sit on the couch and I start watching TV because I can’t go back to sleep. He continued to shake and act odd, but finally relaxes and falls asleep and so did I. He was out of sorts for most of the day, but was back to his normal self by that evening. The next morning he wakes me again about 3:30 in the morning. He is in real distress now, shaking, panting and just looking like he is not doing well. The smoke detector is now going off every 30 seconds or so and it was driving me crazy. I pull the detector off the wall to try and silence that and take Rocko outside. He wonders around aimlessly doesn’t come when I call him, he is acting very incoherent I had to chase him down and carry him back in the house. We get in the house and the detector starts beeping again, every 20 seconds or so. Whenever it beeps his shaking gets worse for a few seconds. I finally figure out to get the battery out of the damn thing. As old as he is his shaking was scaring me, he was acting so odd I really thought I was on the verge of losing him. He finally goes to sleep for a while but when he wakes up he trots across the room and starts doing his business on the floor. He is house broken so this is way out of character for him. That and he has diarrhea, he barely looks at me when I call him. So I know something is very wrong with him. He seems to recover before I can get him to the vet. Later that day I’m talking to the maintenance guy in our building and tell him the story. (Actually I was trying to talk him out of a new battery). He says he sees that all the time especially with small dogs.
That pitch must really scramble the brains of some dogs, so be aware.


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## WonderBreadDots (Jun 26, 2012)

Your dog is scared of the smoke detector and you let it chirp all night and day? Of course the dog has diarrhea, he has been stressed out all night and day and he is 17. Poor thing.


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## Sparhawk (Jul 26, 2014)

No, it only chirped 3 or 4 times then stopped. Then started again the next morning until I disabled it.


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

it wont chirp if you replace the battery... id rather replace the battery aand potentially save my and my dogs life.


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## Gally (Jan 11, 2012)

It's not "scrambling his brain." He is scared of the noise it makes.


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## Sparhawk (Jul 26, 2014)

Thank you all for the well thought out and intelligent replies.


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## So Cavalier (Jul 23, 2010)

My dogs hate the chirping too. When they start acting nervous...we search for the chirping detector and switch out the battery. Usually they let us know before we can even hear the chirping ourselves. We have smoke detectors all over the house. Sometimes it takes a while to find the offending device as the chirping is random. "They" always say to replace the batteries when you switch from daylight savings to standard time and then back again so you will always have good batteries. That is good advice in your case as you won't have to deal with the chirping ever. If you don't live in area where the time changes....just switch out the batteries every six months. The cost of the batteries will be less than a vet visit I can guarantee you that!


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

My dogs do not like the chirping my smoke detector makes when the batteries get low and neither do I so the first "chirp" and it is off the wall and new batteries put into it. It is a very high pitched noise and probably hurts their ears like those sonic devices do. Hearing it continually for as long as your dog had to and not be able to get away from it would drive me "nuts" too. The noise is there for a reason that is why they make it so annoying so you will do something about it.


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

I'd never thought of that.....unless I was in a quiet house and on the verge of sleep, I probably wouldn't notice ours doing the "out of battery chirp", or I'd at least tune it out, but I'm sure Caeda, or any dog would. I do agree, when it starts chirping, its best to switch it out right away (or switch it out on a regular schedule so it never starts chirping). It is an interesting reminder though that some noises that just don't bug us in the least can be absolutely horrid for our dogs. I doubt its just small dogs that have that problem though, I'm sure some big ones would take issue as well.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Penny gets veryvery nervous when the smoke detector beeps. Once the one in the basement was beeping and I couldn't hear it and wondered why she was acting so weird. Willow would get even worse, wouldn't eat, shaking/drooling, etc.---sounds a lot like your dog. Just make sure the batteries stay fresh and hopefully your dog will get over it quickly!


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## Foresthund (Jul 17, 2013)

Change batteries,if you have the type I once had that would chirp once every couple of hours no matter what than I would replace the whole thing. Raggy has never seemed bothered over it,but I imagine a more noise sensitive dog acting that way. Sense he never seemed very upset if it went off either. I cannot stand the beeping myself though,it bothers me any time of the day. I think I`m more noise sensitive than my dog.


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

Sparhawk said:


> Thank you all for the well thought out and intelligent replies.


TThank you for a rude and passive aggressive response.


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## gingerkid (Jul 11, 2012)

Sparhawk said:


> Thank you all for the well thought out and intelligent replies.


No, thank YOU for the sarcasm.

At 17, I wouldn't be surprised if your dog was developing dementia, regardless of the smoke detector.


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## xoxluvablexox (Apr 10, 2007)

My dog does not like smoke detectors. He doesn't start acting weird, like drooling and that type of stuff, but he gets really upset. Even if it just beeps he'll start scratching at the floor.... he thinks the noise comes from the floor. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQW3P4Wjqi4&list=UUXqhwMHJoAHTC7BrjkcPPYw

I'm laughing because it's really funny but my SO was trying to stop the noise. You kind of just have to wave something under it and open doors and stuff to let the smoke out. There's a wood burning stove in the basement that backed up or something and the living room was filled with smoke. Took a while so I grabbed my camera to put on facebook because I'm pretty sure no other dog reacts to a fire alarm like this lol.

ETA: ok think I figured the video thing out now... I hope.


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## petpeeve (Jun 10, 2010)

> The next morning he wakes me again about 3:30 in the morning. He is in real distress now, shaking, panting and just looking like he is not doing well.





> He wonders around aimlessly doesn’t come when I call him, he is acting very incoherent I had to chase him down and carry him back in the house.





> As old as he is his shaking was scaring me, he was acting so odd I really thought I was on the verge of losing him.





> when he wakes up he trots across the room and starts doing his business on the floor. He is house broken so this is way out of character for him. That and he has diarrhea, he barely looks at me when I call him. So I know something is very wrong with him.





> He seems to recover before I can get him to the vet.


 Whether he seems to have recovered or not, whether it is in fact the smoke detector causing this or not ... your dog still needs to see a vet asap. 

He's 17 years old, he has diarrhea, and even you yourself thought that you were going to lose him at one point. Stop presuming, and take him to the vet regardless.


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## Sparhawk (Jul 26, 2014)

petpeeve said:


> Whether he seems to have recovered or not, whether it is in fact the smoke detector causing this or not ... your dog still needs to see a vet asap.
> 
> He's 17 years old, he has diarrhea, and even you yourself thought that you were going to lose him at one point. Stop presuming, and take him to the vet regardless.


I have had him checked out by our vet. The vet was not surprised at all. She told me she see's this often.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

So Cavalier said:


> My dogs hate the chirping too. When they start acting nervous...we search for the chirping detector and switch out the battery. Usually they let us know before we can even hear the chirping ourselves. We have smoke detectors all over the house. Sometimes it takes a while to find the offending device as the chirping is random. "They" always say to replace the batteries when you switch from daylight savings to standard time and then back again so you will always have good batteries. That is good advice in your case as you won't have to deal with the chirping ever. If you don't live in area where the time changes....just switch out the batteries every six months. The cost of the batteries will be less than a vet visit I can guarantee you that!


Jackson is the same way. I feel so bad, it really scares him.


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