Post by Aussienot on Jan 26, 2007 16:37:39 GMT -5
As part of my Delta studies, I have to observe and then instruct puppy classes (8 - 16 weeks). In the class I am currently observing/assisting, the instructor uses a 'scary sounds' CD as background music. The CDs have recordings of thunder, fireworks, gun shot, vacuum cleaner, sirens, smoke detectors, timers, etc.
In the first week the CD is played very low. In the second week the puppies can hear it but humans can only barely make it out. By the third week it's at a low background level, and in the fifth and sixth weeks it is played loudly for a few minutes several times per class while the puppies do something easy like sit for stranger petting or happy recalls.
The idea is that the puppies experience the sound in a non-threatening envirornment, become accustom to the sound and will not develop noise phobia later in life. It also helps the puppies learn to focus in a distracting environment.
I'm of two minds about it. Most of the puppies did bark at the sounds and then got over it, so there is some element of desensitising at work. But part of the scariness of thunder is the change in air pressure, with gun shot there is the reverberation, and with lighting there is the electricity. So there are other elements of scary noises that the dog senses besides the sound.
Plus there is the environment factor. The puppies become used to the sound in the classroom, but may bark at the first siren that goes by the house because they have learned to ignore the sound in only one context. Which I suppose you could get around by selling the CDs to continue home training.
Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea or just a gimick?
In the first week the CD is played very low. In the second week the puppies can hear it but humans can only barely make it out. By the third week it's at a low background level, and in the fifth and sixth weeks it is played loudly for a few minutes several times per class while the puppies do something easy like sit for stranger petting or happy recalls.
The idea is that the puppies experience the sound in a non-threatening envirornment, become accustom to the sound and will not develop noise phobia later in life. It also helps the puppies learn to focus in a distracting environment.
I'm of two minds about it. Most of the puppies did bark at the sounds and then got over it, so there is some element of desensitising at work. But part of the scariness of thunder is the change in air pressure, with gun shot there is the reverberation, and with lighting there is the electricity. So there are other elements of scary noises that the dog senses besides the sound.
Plus there is the environment factor. The puppies become used to the sound in the classroom, but may bark at the first siren that goes by the house because they have learned to ignore the sound in only one context. Which I suppose you could get around by selling the CDs to continue home training.
Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea or just a gimick?