A lot of dogs get scared of things- like thunder when it rains, or fireworks during Fourth of July. Luckily, none of the dogs in my life have had these problems. Snickers had the fear of vacuums when he was younger... which was partly my fault. I used to chase him around the house with the vacuum when he was a puppy, so I guess you can't blame the guy.
Cooper and Bear have never displayed these sorts of fears before... until tonight.
Brian broke out the guitar (for the first time since we moved!) and the boys have never seen or heard it. He started strumming away, and Cooper was not having it. He high-tailed it to the other room and decided not to come back. He was hiding under the dining room table then on the other side of the couch when I came to look for him. We tried luring him back into the living room, with kind words of praise, but he wasn't having it.
We finally brought the guitar to the front room where Coop was hiding, laid it on the floor, and sat down to see if he'd come out. He did, circled it a few times, but refused to get near it. We had the ingenious idea of putting their favorite "good dog treats" on the guitar to see if he'd get near it. Now, this was absolute torture of Bear, who didn't really care about the guitar, only about the treat. Brian held Bear back, while Cooper sniffed the guitar/treat. Coop eventually reached the treat, but that did not cure his fear. We tried the treat tactic a few more times, but Coop is still deathly afraid of the guitar.
After the treats were put up, Coop decided to go outside and refused to come back into the house until Brian had put his guitar away. It broke my heart that he was so scared of the guitar. He is normally the braver of the two brothers (especially at the dog park) but that little guitar drove him crazy.
I'm sure we'll bust out these "exercises" with their treats on the guitar again real soon, so I hope Coop gets over his fear fast, or else we'll have a pretty fat Bear :)
Cooper and Bear have never displayed these sorts of fears before... until tonight.
Brian broke out the guitar (for the first time since we moved!) and the boys have never seen or heard it. He started strumming away, and Cooper was not having it. He high-tailed it to the other room and decided not to come back. He was hiding under the dining room table then on the other side of the couch when I came to look for him. We tried luring him back into the living room, with kind words of praise, but he wasn't having it.
We finally brought the guitar to the front room where Coop was hiding, laid it on the floor, and sat down to see if he'd come out. He did, circled it a few times, but refused to get near it. We had the ingenious idea of putting their favorite "good dog treats" on the guitar to see if he'd get near it. Now, this was absolute torture of Bear, who didn't really care about the guitar, only about the treat. Brian held Bear back, while Cooper sniffed the guitar/treat. Coop eventually reached the treat, but that did not cure his fear. We tried the treat tactic a few more times, but Coop is still deathly afraid of the guitar.
After the treats were put up, Coop decided to go outside and refused to come back into the house until Brian had put his guitar away. It broke my heart that he was so scared of the guitar. He is normally the braver of the two brothers (especially at the dog park) but that little guitar drove him crazy.
I'm sure we'll bust out these "exercises" with their treats on the guitar again real soon, so I hope Coop gets over his fear fast, or else we'll have a pretty fat Bear :)
It's funny that this 'broke your heart.' Dork!
ReplyDeletehaha it did! poor little guy was petrified!
ReplyDeleteWhen we play the piano, tiger always gets upset and meows. Think the sound waves must hurt their ears? Or maybe it was because Brian hasn't played for so many months and it was extremely out of tune!
ReplyDelete