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Posted on 05/16/2009 7:38:10 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel
A Chicago police dog named Bear should be given a new moniker: Houdini, his handler said.
The German shepherd has been missing since Wednesday night after he was spooked by thunder and climbed a fence near the officer's Southwest Side home, Canine Unit Officer Rick King said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Anyway, I hope this dog finds his way back fine.
Also, he's not "black & tan" but clearly sable of the washed-out light-tan salt&pepper variety.
This is a low-volume list………so don’t worry!
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Changes in barometric pressure and ions before and during electrical storms can affect sensitive dogs.
I hope they get him back and have his ears checked.
He may have some middle/inner ear problems that make thunderstorms especially troublesome for him.
I mean, perhaps I am wrong saying “nerves”. I've suspected that about my old dog.
She was (originally) the opposite of stated here - afraid of gunfire (and anything like it), but not thunder (until she linked it with fireworks; gunfire = fireworks = thunder).
She was scared of guns early - a breeder big into Euro dogs checked her after we bought her, at 3 mos, and declared her a coward and untrustworthy.
Well, he was dead wrong. She was a tough nut who only had a couple Achilles heels, and she NEVER was untrustworthy or even showed she might be.
I suspect sometimes Shana had extremely good hearing.
Meanwhile, my current dog never could’ve cared about gunfire - but she was indeed a coward at the start. Afraid of shadows, bags, etc. She's actually better as I nurtured her, but she is a poor German Shepherd.
I also suspect (not from this but many other things) that Tara has so-so hearing (for a dog).
So now, I really wonder how much is “cowardice” and how much is just “pain”.
Nonetheless, it still isn't good to have a serious working dog afraid of a common occurrence!
I am surprised that a working dog has not been acclimated/desensitized to such things..... or perhaps it’s one with bad nerves.
I know, maybe the dog just leaned that Obama was in the White House and knew from instinct, developed during the Hitler days, that getting back to Germany might be a good thing to do.
That LEO has got to be crazy over this.
I have only had 3 dogs since Sept 2001.. all three are/were terrified of thunder, guns(canons at reenactments), and fireworks. I guess I thought it was all dogs.
two german shep mixes & one golden mix.
I would be nuts if my German Shepherd Pup was out there lost! He is scared of the thunder here in Georgia but he is only 4 months old! I will be saying some prayers for that GSD and the K-9 Officer that is looking for him! Thank you for the ping!
I’ve spent 20 years living with Ibizans.
They are a “3 way” hunting dog.
Sight, scent *and* sound.
Having spent my whole life Dobermans, I was not prepared for living with these walking bats.
In the middle of the night, I’ll be shocked awake by their unique insane, screaming “hunting bay”.
[not great for the nerves]
I’ll jump up, sure that we’re being invading by lord knows what, only to find that the dogs have heard a deer eating an apple that’s fallen from the neighbor’s tree.
[My walls are ~18” thick~ logs!]
How they can hear that deer gently nibbling an apple is a mystery.
Even worse is if they hear harvest mice in the walls.
Harvest mice are sadistic little ventriloquists with a weird sense of humor.
They can actually “throw their voice” and the dogs scramble madly from one side of the room to another, *sure* that the mouse is somehow moving at the speed of sound through the walls.
Out of the 4, 3 come unhinged during storms.
[and gun shots, fireworks, cars backfiring, etc, etc etc]
The other likes to sit on the art supply cabinet below the picture window and watch, as did my first one.
I have not seen what the Portuguese Podengo will do as we have not had any bad storms since she came here.
[she had a horrible childhood and randomly reacts to *some* kinds of loud noises in a totally unpredictable fashion so I can’t even make a guess]
None of my Dobermans cared about storms unless they happened to be getting rained on.
I don’t know whether the Dobermans were just inherently calmer dogs or not but I do know that Ibizans have incredibly acute hearing.
If a dog overeacts to loud noises, the first thing I do is have a vet check their ears.
[subclinical ear infections can present as sensitivity to sharp noises]
If nothing pans out on that test, I just assume they’ve have traumatic experiences that I’m not aware of, involving noise [most of mine had abominable puppyhoods] *or*, they’ve just got really sensitive hearing.
This is a hard thing to do when your dog is obviously terrified *but* if there are no underlying ear problems, when the dog reacts to a storm the best thing to do is ignore your instincts to “comfort” it and ignore the dog instead.
“Coddling” the dog rewards innapropriate behavior and being the clever opportunists that they are, they *will* learn to solicit comfort and attention by displaying “fear”.
I actually “cured” an Ibizan I was babysitting of a severe storm phobia by standing out in the storm with her so she could *see* what the noise was and learn that it could not harm her.
When she went home, her owner went right back to the “poor baby” routine and the dog reverted to a nervous wreck again.
Oh well.
She enjoyed 13 stress-free months here, any way.
When we have a whomping good storm, I let the dogs out prior to the rain starting and then bring them back in where they can see it happening out the window.
Over the years, their tolerance to storms has improved a lot.
I don’t expect perfection because of the “acute hearing” issue, though.
Thanks! Good news.
Cemetery? Sounds like MY dogs, who would know how their master loves graveyards...maybe she’ll be there!
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