My sheltie freaks out when I sneeze

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dkovac1009

Forums Novice
I rescued a female and sneezing freaks her out. She runs around and barks and then lunges at whoever sneezes and nips at them. I have a bruise on my arm from her biting/pinching me after my husband sneezed! She doesnt like tinfoil or the toaster. I can handle the barking but I'm afraid to have company and they sneeze..watchout!
 
Our Shelties do have their funny fetishes! Hair dryers, lawn mowers, etc.

Indy goes on alert when I even start to sneeze....he knows the cue...and will instantly leap off the bed and bark. Why? Who knows.

But the aggressive behaviour is, I'm sure you know, unacceptable.

I think you might need to do some conditioning training on her.

In a nutshell, that means having your dog on leash and put into a sit/stay. Have your husband sneeze while to tell you dog to "hold" or "stay". If she cooperates than treat and praise.

If she rises up, then put her back down and start again. etc. etc.

Dogs can be irrational sometimes. Indy bit me a week ago. He has this thing about dogs walking by the backyard. I might be snuggled with the two of them and then a dog walks by and Indy's reaction is to first snarl at Bacca then go for the door. I intervened with my hand and got scraped instead. That's the job we are working on.

Good luck! She's not a lost cause, just needs redirection.
 
My Neechee boy developed a broad range of violent dislikes. Here's a partial list:
  • Cameras (with or without flash)
  • Flyswatters
  • Vacuum cleaners (he once attacked a Eureka badly enough that I had to have the bag part replaced)
  • Ringing telephones
  • My dad's laughing
  • Applause (can't tell you how many times we NQ'd in the obedience ring)
  • Thunder
  • Airplanes (we live in the flight path of a small but busy airport)
  • Road construction barrels
  • The "South Park" theme

They are wonderful, if sometimes neurotic little beasties. The Sheltie I have now, Bela, just takes everything in stride and only barks when she has something to say, and never tries to nip at all.

But yes, you do need to get a handle on the nipping.
 
I was watching animal planet one day, and Victoria Stillwell had an episode that dealt with this issue. And for the life of me I can't remember what she did to help the owner, but, maybe you could look the episode up
 
My last Sheltie, Jack would do the same thing when we sneezed. He was otherwise laid back and easy going for a Sheltie. It's hard because when you are in the middle of a sneeze you can't always defend yourself from a leaping, nipping dog. Jack only did this to the people he loved most(me, my husband and my mother) and ignored sneezes from everyone else. I can only guess that he thought he was protecting us from something. I never really found a solution but, I always thought of it as a funny quirk. Even though he passed away over a year ago, I still find myself trying to stifle my sneezes.
Maybe you could pretend to sneeze. Toss a treat just as you start to sneeze. Eventually sneeze will = treat. Just like a click from a clicker = treat.
 
Until today I thought our little Rusty had issues. Whenever we would describe his antics people would laugh, as they had never heard of a dog reacting to everything.
Thank you to everyone on the behavior thread! Having 2 very calm Shelties before Rusty, we thought it was just him.
He doesn't allow,
Sneezing
Only me blowing nose, I'll be hiding in the bathroom behind closed door, he'll run from where ever in house charging through door.
Can open (hand type)
Blender
Occasional laughing (me)
Mail carrier and mail
Throwing stuff in garbage
Picking up keys
These are just a few that I can think of. In addition to the usual, any movement outside, big trucks, hose.
Again, thank you for letting me know he's not the only one!
 
Yeah, the dreaded sneeze it is only allowed when others do it, but never me. If I sneeze Toffee does indeed go crazy, sometimes it's even before the sneeze at the sharp intake of breath just before a sneeze...

I have taught him to redirect his fury at his toy, I tell him right after the sneeze, yeah, thanks buddy, I am ok, and go get the thing (it's a cow milker...) he goes furiously looking for it, finds it and chomps down on it ferociously and brings it to me. I throw it we have a game and then I ask him to relax, usually calms him down ;)

It's fun to make a game out of it, I feel making a dog always sit in such a highly aroused state is not easy for you or the dog, it's easy to get them to redirect it on something they ARE allowed to do instead of trying to make them be so still.
Hope it helps :biggrin2:

Now if somebody would be able to get me to use that wisdom for when I brush my teeth that would be awesome LOL. I have had mediocre success at trying to change his conditioning for when I brush my teeth and he explodes through the door, lol Oh well I have time and I guess I never worked on it as hard as I did on the sneeze
 
Funny, I'm on my 6th sheltie now. All of us have done the sneezing game. Whenever I felt like it, I would sneeze, then the shelties would sneeze, then we all would sneeze. It would go on for a few seconds. They looked like they were laughing! Sorry, that it is a problem for you guys. Best of luck.
 
I would probably use my voice recorder (my phone has one) and then replay the sneeze alot (with volume up) while I work some simple obedience commands, using treats and praise. This could re-condition the sensitivity your dog has for the noise.

I have used a dog show recording (loud noises, the "din" of grooming dryers, voices, metal crates set up and collapsing) with some success on a friends noise sensitive shelties.
 
2GoodDogs said:
I would probably use my voice recorder (my phone has one) and then replay the sneeze alot (with volume up) while I work some simple obedience commands, using treats and praise. This could re-condition the sensitivity your dog has for the noise.

I have used a dog show recording (loud noises, the "din" of grooming dryers, voices, metal crates set up and collapsing) with some success on a friends noise sensitive shelties.
Click to expand...

RE: the voice recorder. I have to know if that works.

This summer I had recorded the absolutely nuts(!) red squirrel that woke me up every day, and when I felt like it would blast the squirrel talk out my entertainment system speakers. :biggrin2: It was hilarious how fast that guy would shoot out of the tree and onto the porch railing to stare in the house and scream back at his own voice. :lol:
 
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