# My Dog Is Afraid of the Surround Sound?



## CrescentRose (Feb 20, 2015)

So my family bought my dad a surround system bar for the TV that sits in front of it and two pieces that split off and can be placed around the room. Each time my family wants to use it while watching a movie our dog gets scared and walks off around the house away from where we are and usually digs our beds and bath mats. Once when we left the sliding door open a little bit he went outside and dug in the dirt making himself dirty so we had to bathe him.

It's a bit annoying when we want to enjoy our movie and he keeps making us pause it, haha. I understand he's scared so I want to know if there is a way to lower his anxiety some way and if not then how can we keep him from getting into things. The best I can think of is to close the sliding door and tell him no when he wants to go outside. This sound bar cost a fair bit and we want to be able get some use out of it since we have it. By the way our dog is a shih-tzu if that has any importance.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

CrescentRose said:


> So my family bought my dad a surround system bar for the TV that sits in front of it and two pieces that split off and can be placed around the room. Each time my family wants to use it while watching a movie our dog gets scared and walks off around the house away from where we are and usually digs our beds and bath mats. Once when we left the sliding door open a little bit he went outside and dug in the dirt making himself dirty so we had to bathe him.
> 
> It's a bit annoying when we want to enjoy our movie and he keeps making us pause it, haha. I understand he's scared so I want to know if there is a way to lower his anxiety some way and if not then how can we keep him from getting into things. The best I can think of is to close the sliding door and tell him no when he wants to go outside. This sound bar cost a fair bit and we want to be able get some use out of it since we have it. By the way our dog is a shih-tzu if that has any importance.


Often the digging is a stress/anxiety response to something they are afraid of,
I have one who will do it when fireworks start, or there is a thunderstorm.

If she/he really isnt happy when the surround sounds on, then I would make a safe area away from it on the occasions you want to watch it. Give her an area with a bed, and maybe leave her with something to self amuse and keep her occupied that will act as a reward too. Chewing is a de-stresser for dogs, so a safe type of long lasting chew would be good perhaps. Or you can get kongs solid hard rubber hollow toys that, you can fill with wet food if the kong classic or kibble if the kong wobbler, you can also fill the kong wobbler with allsorts of good things details on the links below. I would take her there and settle her with the Kong or chew, before you turn on the surround sound.

Kong Stuffing Ideas - Kong Recipes - Kong Dog Toy - Kong Stuffing

Wobbler - KONG






It may be worth considering trying an adaptil plug in diffuser it emits an artificial version of the pheromone dogs emit to calm and soothe pups, and can help dogs in times of stress. Cheapest place to buy those are at on line reputable vet pharmacies, if you want to read more on those.
Adaptil helps dogs and puppys learn settle travel and in kennels

Only other suggestion to try to get her used to the surround sound, is to try to desensitise her to it. Im assuming when you put it on its up loud which probably freaks her out all the strange noises coming from different places and directions that doesn't normally occur.

The idea for desensitisation is usually that you get special CDs with sounds that freak a dog out, you can get various ones, which you play at low barely audible levels when the dog is doing something pleasureable, playing with a toy, eating a chew or kong, doing some training with treats as rewards.
Maybe you can utilise this idea, by starting with short sessions of the surround sound down at low barely audible levels, then if and when she carries on ignoring it whilst doing something with one of the above suggestions, you then go to the next stage doing more sessions with it turned up very slightly, when she is OK at that volume then up a tiny big more, and so on. You would need to do it very slowly at a pace she can cope with each time before moving on, rush it at any stage and blast it up too loud too soon it will fail. It is something that can take a lot of time and patience over fairly long periods but it might be worth trying.


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