How to stop you dog from being scared of fire?
The good news is that you can help your dog to overcome their fear of fire.
I think that you should only do this if your dog’s fear is a major disruption to your life or your dog’s life.
For instance if in your house you use a log burner frequently throughout the winter and a BBQ for much of the summer and you have a dog who is petrified of both then these are behaviours to overcome.
If on the other hand, you don’t have an open fire at home and you don’t use a BBQ but your dog was scared witless by an open fire at a friend’s house, then perhaps any training isn’t worth the effort because the situation doesn’t occur frequently enough to be a pain.
But it is important to recognise that it will take lots of work and commitment on your side.
If your dog’s fear of fire has been an issue for a long time then the training will take longer to succeed than if the dog’s fear is a relatively recent development.
What you need to do is think about what your aim is and then break it down into small steps.
For instance, if your dog has a fear of the log burner in your sitting room and refuses to even enter the room when it is alight, you need to figure out what your goal is.
It could be that you want your dog to lie down and go to sleep in front of it.
So the easy way to break this down into small steps is to work out where the dog normally goes to when you light the log burner and then to work backwards.
Every step in this process will be a literal step closer to the log burner.
It might be that you have to sit on the floor with your dog in order to get them to move closer but that doesn’t matter.
If they are motivated by a ball or a toy use that to get your dog 1 step closer.
You are trying to distract your dog from the fear it has and replace that fear with another more positive emotion
Now this might seem a bit stupid or silly to divide it all up into such small chunks but the reason behind all of this is to make the task as easy to succeed as possible.
If the training works then what happens is that there is a lot of praise and positive interactions and fun and your dog will begin to associate this activity with it being fun.
You can even chuck a treat in there for good measure.
As I mentioned in a previous post about dog fear, praise is a drug and both you and your dog benefit from it.
The flip side of the small step approach is that you try and achieve too much, too soon.
For instance in the first session you want your dog to come to within four feet of the log burner.
When your dog starts to get really anxious, you get frustrated because the dog isn’t doing as it’s told and you feel like you are failing.
Your frustration levels rise together with your dog’s anxiety levels.
Everyone has failed and nobody wants to do it again.
You stop doing it and you are back to square one. As soon as you light the log burner the dog disappears out of the room.
Or it is even worse if your dog displays fear not by running away but by whining!
So whereas the first approach will clearly take much more time, your chances of success are so much higher.
What are the biggest symptoms of a dog being fearful?
Some of the biggest hints that you may get that your dog is scared of fire include:
Dear Karen: Two very pretty, young cats were dropped off at the farm where I work that were abandoned by former tenants of a local apartment who moved. The caretaker of the apartment complex brought them here. They are roughly 7 to 9 months old and used to living indoors. Ive called every place I can think of to find them a nice warm home, but no luck. Im worried they may get sick from the other farm cats. Any ideas? Dottie – Dillsburg
If you aren’t sure, try placing a lit candle in the fireplace and see how he reacts. If he’s cool with that, try burning small scraps of paper. If all goes well, add one log and go from there. Try not to push him over his threshold and praise him for remaining calm. Work on “mini fires” before working up to a full blaze.
From this point on only good things happen during the fire building process. Save the yummiest treats (bits of steak, cheese) for these occasions or anything else that motivates him such as a favorite toy or game. Heap on the praise and food rewards when he is calm and speak in high pitched happy tones. Remain cool, confident and assertive. Remember he’s taking cues from you.
Brush up on your basic obedience and start using the leash indoors. Practice down stays and walk him through the house by the fireplace working up to the point you can walk him by with a small fire or flame visible. Once again, issue your commands assertively rewarding the calm behavior you want. Do this slowly in steps.
However, if the farm owner agreed to take them, he has accepted ownership and is responsible for their welfare. While less than an ideal situation, cats are fairly resourceful when it comes to finding warm places to sleep in a barn, etc. and the best you can do is keep an eye on them and assure the owner is providing food and veterinary care to cats on the property. Local organizations can help with low cost/spay neuter services if needed. At least the kitties have each other and a roof over their heads. Such is not the case for many cats abandoned along the side of a road or worse.