Cragar is afraid of the breadmaker

[cragarmom]

I just don't get it.

I made bread for this past weekend for Easter dinner. As soon as I plugged my breadmaker in and it beeped, Cragar started going nuts. He was tucking his tail, wimpering, shaking, and at my feet wherever I went. At first I thought it was just because there was a lot going on over the weekend - getting ready for people to come over and all, but...

Today I dragged out the breadmaker again to make more bread. As soon as he saw it, he started wimpering again. When I was adding the ingredients to the bread bucket, he was shaking. The whole time it was baking, he was a wimpering, shaking mess. The bread is done baking now, and each time I go into the kitchen now, he cries. I'm stumped. I haven't used the breadmaker since we got Cragar, so this weekend was his first "experience" with it, but I just don't get why he'd be so freaked about it.

Anyone else's dogs have "irrational fears" like that? If so, what do you do to get them over it?

Joanne

[Barrett]

Perhaps you could try putting it on the floor with out turning it on. Scatter food all around it and let him get the food at his own pace. If he gets closer to it he can pick up a kibble and get rewarded. Don't say anything to him and just let him investigate it on his own. Leave it there for a few days with the lid open so he can see inside and scatter a little food everyday. When he thinks nothing of it you can turn it on and scatter food again and see if he will come closer to it. Just slowly get him used to it.

Now I have to get my breadmaker out. I want pumpkin bread with sweet butter spread! LOL

[SizzleDog]

Does the beeping resemble any other negative sound that Cragar might be conditioned to fear/be wary of? I knew a dog that HATED alarm clocks, because the alarm clocks sounded similar to his bark collar's warning beep. So, whenever he heard the alarm clock he anticipated a shock, even if he wasn't wearing the bark collar.

[cragarmom]

I haven't tried setting it on the floor, but I tried giving him treats when he was out in the kitchen. He didn't want anything to do with the treats. Even his favorite freeze dried liver treats. When he's stressed about something, it's sometimes like he has tunnel vision - even food doesn't sway him. I'll try putting the breadmaker on the floor, though, and see how he responds.

He did have one negative experience with beeping - my BF pulled his car into the garage in the house and the small puff of exhaust set off the warning beep on the CO detector (one beep every 20 seconds or so). It happened to be before my BF left for work, so the darn thing was going off until I got home from work (about 3 hours). He didn't like that at all. That's probably why he's freaked.. He doesn't have an issue with the alarm clocks, though (and I can sleep right through mine sometimes, so sometimes they're beeping for a long time!! LOL). Maybe it's the frequency of that particular beep.

So, if it would be that negative experience that's causing it, and he's got tunnel-vision when it comes to distracting him from stuff like that, maybe just leaving the breadmaker on the floor for a couple of days might help?

Mmmmm - pumpkin bread - that sounds delicious!!!

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Was it just during the beeping or did he still react when it began to mix the bread? I know one of my girls has a terrible time with our bread maker when it starts to mix, something about the sound hurts her ears and I finally figured it out when I covered her ears while my hubby turned the machine on. She was fine until I uncovered her ears, totally freaked when she heard it and settled right back down when I covered her ears again.

[sunny98]

Wow! I would have never thought of the bread maker making a sound that hurt your dogs ears. I use to use mine a lot and never had a problem with Sunny who will bark at everything! Now bring out the vac and watch out! Sunny thinks it is evil and needs to be destroyed!

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Originally Posted by sunny98

Wow! I would have never thought of the bread maker making a sound that hurt your dogs ears. I use to use mine a lot and never had a problem with Sunny who will bark at everything! Now bring out the vac and watch out! Sunny thinks it is evil and needs to be destroyed!

lololol my Gabby was that way....she was hell on wheels when that thing came out! I lost count of how many I had to fix or replace. lol

[Purr]

Beethoven barks at the kitchen aid....LOL. He doesn't like the juicer much either. Bear doesn't care about anything. He's happy go lucky.

[Pugdawg1]

You could ditch the breadmaker and make it the old fashioned way.

[cragarmom]

He's scared of the whole process. I was surprised tonight, though, that just seeing it freaked him out.

He definitely did not like the mixing process - and I admit, it does make a lot of noise, but nothing like the noise of the vacuum cleaner, which he may run away from, but it doesn't make him shake and cry. Loud noises like the lawnmower don't bother him, either. The only other noises that he's scared of are thunder and fireworks.

When the bread was mixing tonight - I tried telling him that we're going to "take a nap" (I was tired anyway! LOL) - he jumped up on the bed, I even closed the bedroom door, and he still curled up in a ball, shaking, and laid half his body on my head!!!

Maybe these breadmakers emit a noise we can't hear but the dogs can? Dunno.

You could ditch the breadmaker and make it the old fashioned way.

LOL - I told my BF he was lucky he got more homemade bread because of a surprising urge of domesticity I had tonight. I think I did try to make bread the old-fashioned way once, and it turned out like a dense, flat hockey puck! LOL

[Purr]

OMG, Last night, my mom was using her Juice Man, and Beethoven got so freaked out, he let his anal glands go!!! The house smelled like rotten fish...Blah!

[Wolp8]

I can semi-relate to the breadmaker story. I set it on timer mode a few weeks ago, so it started up around 4:30 in the morning. As soon as the kneading started both Sheeva and Shawdow started growling and then barking in the bedroom. Freaked me out first because I didn't know what was going on until I remembered the timer. I walked with them into the kitchen, they growled some more, but then came back to bed. The thing with the breadmakers is that they are quiet for some time while the dough is resting and then start up again all of a sudden. Mine doesn't beep but once in the middle of the program to add nuts etc. But they are quite noisy and the dogs started up every time the machine started up again.
Now the vacuum is quite another story. As soon as they see me dragging it out, they are running out the back door and dont come back in for nothing until I shut it down and stow it away again.