[Mrs O]

We have a collie (24 months - had since 5 months)and a collie cross (21 months had since 11 months)both boys who get on really well. Collie has always been scared of fireworks and gunshots. We walk them on the roads once a day and they get let off their leads once a day in the park or woods. Since bonfire night last year the collie has been getting increasingly nervous when we go out, at the slightest noise he sits and refuses to move until you take him home.  We think somebody is shooting locally at all hours, there also seemed to be a lot of fireworks between bonfire night and the new year.  Now he is often refusing to go outside even for the toilet. Has Anybody else had a similar experience that could advise. Tried the hormone collar and if anything it's made him worse. Sarah

[SheepCrazy!]

My Collie is 2 years old and yesterday he was scared of the stuff dog toy at the local rescues fund raiser    Hackles up tail up barking  and growling  How I deal with that is slowly walk him up to the object with me in front I touch it he then smells it and works out its not going to eat him or me alive!
That has worked so far for me with him for bin bags, balloons and all other strange and dangerous objects.

I never use punishment methods ie water sprays loud noises ect as I took him to a puppy socialization group and the trainer sprayed him with water, Toby completely panicked and the guy told me I was being to soft with him! Even though he'd scared my ten week old pup half to death. I didn't go back.
Sometimes it doesn't matter how much socialiation you do with a Collie they will be scared.

I would try with your dogs exercising them with one or more  high energy confident dogs ( like golden retrievers) to distract him from any loud noises hopefully! Or use his favourite toy or food when he's scared to coax him out of that mind set. Try and distract him any way you can and see if it helps.

The other thing you could try is desensatising him  to noises in the home ie start with not to loud a sound, maybe a wooden spoon on a pot and have someone feed him at the same moment eventually the dog should begin to associate loud noises with a treat. As you increase the volume. Maybe you could play a recording of fireworks going off.

I'm no expert but these are things that I would try with my dog if I had a similar problem. I hope you find a solution.

[SallyintNorth]

Collies have really sensitive ears, these bangs are probably very painful for him.  I had a collie cross developed a fear of bangs, he never improved until he became old and deaf .  But he was only frightened when there were fireworks or gunfire about, he was fine the rest of the time.

Hopefully Mammyshaz, Doganjo or someone will be along soon with a raft of ideas for how you can help him.

Oh, SheepCrazy has just posted one approach to try. 

There's a really good book, Your Problem Dog, by John Cree - that may have this problem in it, I can't remember and I can't put my hands on my copy of the book, I'm afraid.  I will have a look in Barbara Sykes' Understanding Border Collies for you.

[Mrs O]

My Collie is 2 years old and yesterday he was scared of the stuff dog toy at the local rescues fund raiser    Hackles up tail up barking  and growling  How I deal with that is slowly walk him up to the object with me in front I touch it he then smells it and works out its not going to eat him or me alive!
That has worked so far for me with him for bin bags, balloons and all other strange and dangerous objects.

I never use punishment methods ie water sprays loud noises ect as I took him to a puppy socialization group and the trainer sprayed him with water, Toby completely panicked and the guy told me I was being to soft with him! Even though he'd scared my ten week old pup half to death. I didn't go back.
Sometimes it doesn't matter how much socialiation you do with a Collie they will be scared.

I would try with your dogs exercising them with one or more  high energy confident dogs ( like golden retrievers) to distract him from any loud noises hopefully! Or use his favourite toy or food when he's scared to coax him out of that mind set. Try and distract him any way you can and see if it helps.

The other thing you could try is desensatising him  to noises in the home ie start with not to loud a sound, maybe a wooden spoon on a pot and have someone feed him at the same moment eventually the dog should begin to associate loud noises with a treat. As you increase the volume. Maybe you could play a recording of fireworks going off.

I'm no expert but these are things that I would try with my dog if I had a similar problem. I hope you find a solution.

Thanks SheepCrazy - We haven't used any type of punishment methods either - I agree it may be one of those things where he will always be scared.  When they are off the leads in the park they run with all the other dogs (both are very social), even when they run with the really confident dogs as soon as he hears a bang he is fearful.  One day he ran 3/4's of the way home (on his own) because he was scared.  We have to watch for the signs now, as soon as he hears a bang and sits down, we put him back on the lead.
I was thinking of de-sensitising him, when we move house there is a clay pidgeon shooting range close by, so its a problem that won't go away and its stopping us going to some of the woods they like to run in.  I wasn't sure if I should look at taking him to places on the lead where noise occurs - but I don't wont to stress him further or make the problem worst. Good idea - Maybe I could try a cd with gunshots or fireworks playing quietly and see how he gets on in his home environment.

[Mrs O]

Collies have really sensitive ears, these bangs are probably very painful for him.  I had a collie cross developed a fear of bangs, he never improved until he became old and deaf .  But he was only frightened when there were fireworks or gunfire about, he was fine the rest of the time.

Hopefully Mammyshaz, Doganjo or someone will be along soon with a raft of ideas for how you can help him.

Oh, SheepCrazy has just posted one approach to try. 

There's a really good book, Your Problem Dog, by John Cree - that may have this problem in it, I can't remember and I can't put my hands on my copy of the book, I'm afraid.  I will have a look in Barbara Sykes' Understanding Border Collies for you.

Thanks SallyIntNorth - I have often thought it will get better if he goes deaf .
I will look up those books and see if they can offer any help.
Thanks Again.

[Mrs O]

Collies have really sensitive ears
I am thinking there must be a market out their for doggy ear defenders - if there are any inventors out there. 
The bonus is the dog won't hear the other dogs laughing at him, when they see him in them.
 

[in the hills]

We are finding that our collie pup is very sensitive to / aware of some types of sound. Trying to take her out and about to get her used to noise since it is so quiet where we live. Using our mad Flat coat to give her confidence.


We have had retriever pups wary of bin lorries, bin bags etc. We tried to spot any potential things that we knew they would be afraid of before they did and then distracted ...... treats or running and being generally silly with them so they had gone past the thing before having chance to focus their attention on it.


Gundogs are exposed gradually to gunfire using starting pistols/ dummy launchers which are fired a long way from the dog and very slowly distance is reduced. Not sure if this approach would work with a collie  , especially an older dog.

[Old Shep]

You can buy cd's with recordings of the most common noises, which you could start at a very low volume and work up - with treats at the same time.  However I would be wary of doing this where your dog's safe place is (ie where he runs to if there is a noise, eg kitchen)  I would always keep this place safe - otherwise he may start bolting elsewhere.  Fear of noise is one reason a lot of dogs get lost - so if in doubt when out and about keep the lead on.  Can you get him to go outside with a toy? what does he really like? toys / treats?  Keep your voice light and happy and make a game of it if you can.
My collie x is terrified of the smoke alarm, which always went off when OH cooks breakfast!  He now hides everytime OH does something in the kitchen which looks like cooking!

[SallyintNorth]

My collie x is terrified of the smoke alarm, which always went off when OH cooks breakfast!  He now hides everytime OH does something in the kitchen which looks like cooking!

  I love that story, thanks for posting 

[happygolucky]

Shep, thats so funny and such a good excuse for him not to cook breakfast!!!!

[Marches Farmer]

Dogs that are naturally submissive will tend to react this way.  That's almost impossible to change as they'll have been bottom of the pecking order since puppyhood.  Unless you can gradually replace his negative conditioning (loud bang = scared) with a positive one (loud bang = lots of fuss) the outlook is poor, I'm afraid.

[Old Shep]

Shep, thats so funny and such a good excuse for him not to cook breakfast!!!!

But OH's breakfastsare what keeps me going - so i fixed the smoke alarm with a bobble hat and an elastic band
 

[Alistair]

Dogs that are naturally submissive will tend to react this way.  That's almost impossible to change as they'll have been bottom of the pecking order since puppyhood.  Unless you can gradually replace his negative conditioning (loud bang = scared) with a positive one (loud bang = lots of fuss) the outlook is poor, I'm afraid.

Or in the case of one of my collies, loud bang = scared = lots of fuss so in his head scared = lots of fuss, so got scareder, so we tried diazipan last bonfire night week, not scared, just quiet and the vet reckons that as there's no negative reinforcement it breaks the cycle, New Year's Eve fireworks, no diazipan and he wasn't scared.. Not sure if this helps, anyway collies are naturally obsessive and IMO they are all scared of something - it's part of their inbred ocd

[Mrs O]

Thanks everybody - loads of very good advice to think about and try.
Two refusals today when we went for walks, but I got him in the garden for about 10 minutes tonight (he likes the snow )   and I have got him in the garden a few times through the day with our other dog.  He's also been running around with his brother all day like a couple of silly puppies.
I may try something to relax him before his walks to see if we can break the cycle. Tried all his favorite toys before - he is tennis ball obsessed, but even that didn't work at the weekend. 
Thanks again everybody.
 
 

[SheepCrazy!]

That's a good idea Alistair with the Diazipan to break the cycle!