My dog is scared of everything.

[MadPoet]

On New Years Eve we let off those party popper things, and ever since then my dog has been petrified of loud noises. I guess we should have known not to let them off in front of him, but he's never been afraid of loud noises before.

If you clap, he starts shaking and runs and hides. Same thing if you snap your fingers, or if he's chewing his bone and it makes a loud noise, or if something falls on the floor.

He either curls up and shakes or he runs into the dining room and hides under the table. One time he ran downstairs and wouldn't come back up.

He's never been like this before, and it just started a week ago. Is there anything that may have started it, or anything we can do to stop him from being so afraid of these noises? Any help is appreciated

[Pelios]

My dog is like that too I can't really give you any advise. What I do is I encourage him to do things like I will sit him infront of something he is afraid of and encourage him to go get closer and give him like a treat if he does. I do hope someday he will be less and less scared.

[Alex xox]

my dogs the same we cant even vaccum mope iron any household jobs cant be done near him

but thats because he was a rescue and the person they got him off never let him inside the house so he was a nervou wreck

[TheLittleNinja]

Always remember that dogs have a very acute sense of hearing - you can whisper commands to your dog a little way away, and they should still be able to hear you! So imagine what it's like having an explosion going off, or a object crashing down to near ones head.

A continued fear to loud noises can be an almost conditioned behaviour - you have trained the response into the dog, simply by comforting them you are giving them love and attention when scared. So they learn that by being scared by loud noises they get attention.

You could also try and train the behaviour out of your dog - this is what I'm doing with my spaniel at the moment. Basically, you reward the calm mentality of the dog in a fearful situation.

Start off with a low level of fear, so maybe clicking you fingers, and reward your dog for staying calm. Then move on to a louder noise, maybe hitting two spoons together, and praise that calm behaviour. It's often difficult to get the timing of this just right, and you don't want to be praising the good behaviour - therefore I recommend seeing a behaviourist :]

For more info on the idea I just gave you though, here I is the doggie site I use, and my question I posed them , with their training ideas :] (Bear in mind, my dog is scared of other dogs, not loud noises) http://www.agilitybits.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2875

I hope this helps,
And I hope your doggie doesn't stay scared. If it something that has happened recently, it shouldn't be too hard to help the doggie :]

[Awakening]

Was he liked locked in a room where there was a bunch of loud noises and he couldnt get away? If he was hit that can also do that to dogs.

I'd just try and be patient he may get over it in a little while.

[MadPoet]

Thanks for the advice guys :]
& No, he wasn't locked in one room. He actually ran and hid in the bedroom, and when he got super scared we took him outside in the backyard (he wouldn't come in after we did that, so we had to pick him up and carry him inside).