ceiling fan and blinds

K

kfischer4

Forums Novice
hello everyone! you guys were so wonderful when i had a question about my puppy barking (thank goodness for the spray bottle!) that i thought i'd ask if any of you have had this problem!

our sheltie (she is 9 months old!) is TERRIFIED of the ceiling fan, whether it is off or on, and also blinds! if you even lightly tap the blinds, she goes ballistic. sometimes she will bark at the fan when it's off, definitely when it's on, and if you touch the chain on it.

i don't know what to do!! nothing stops her, and she will keep going for a few minutes... we can't keep letting her bark at it, because we have a neighbor upstairs and i think the next door neighbors are getting angry about it... plus sometimes she randomly barks at it at about 6:30 am or 11 pm!

please help! :D
 
I'd try putting the fan on low speed and holding her right up to it; let her satisfy her curiosity to the greatest extent possible and get her inured to it.

Herding dogs apparently need to be sensitive to every thing in their environment. Mine doesn't bark a lot, but he's curious about every little detail in his space. When encountering something unfamiliar he gets worked up, and if it's something big I need to take him to it and let him poke about until he's satisfied it's not a threat. That done, he accepts it as part of the norm.
 
One of our Shelties is reactive. Our trainer said to need to associate yummy, fun stuff with scary things like the ceiling fan and blinds, etc.

Get some cooked steak or chicken and cut it up into tiny pieces and start feeding, then have your hubby, friend, etc. slowly open the blinds. If your Sheltie freaks out then stop using the blinds and back your Sheltie up a few feet. Keep doing this until you're at a distance where you can feed her the treats and she doesn't freak out. It may take weeks of doing this before she's finally comfortable in these situations. If this advice doesn't work, please consult with a professional trainer (not PetsMart types) who has experience working with reactive dogs. You want to nip this in the bud before it goes much further.

Best of luck.
 
lovemyshelties said:
One of our Shelties is reactive. Our trainer said to need to associate yummy, fun stuff with scary things like the ceiling fan and blinds, etc.

Get some cooked steak or chicken and cut it up into tiny pieces and start feeding, then have your hubby, friend, etc. slowly open the blinds. If your Sheltie freaks out then stop using the blinds and back your Sheltie up a few feet.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Used this method to get my terrified of thunder guy to stop freaking out at t-storms. Worked like a charm. Associate sound with high value treat should work for all kinds of stuff..
 
Mignarda said:
I'd try putting the fan on low speed and holding her right up to it; let her satisfy her curiosity to the greatest extent possible and get her inured to it.

Herding dogs apparently need to be sensitive to every thing in their environment. Mine doesn't bark a lot, but he's curious about every little detail in his space. When encountering something unfamiliar he gets worked up, and if it's something big I need to take him to it and let him poke about until he's satisfied it's not a threat. That done, he accepts it as part of the norm.
Click to expand...
Yep, I ordered a tire changer and had it opened in the living room. Spitfire was totally upset about the monster in the living room. Sca could have cared less and even liked it when he figured out he could walk on it and Spitfire was to scared to follow. Eventually he chased Sca across then it was not scary anymore :lol:
 
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