Walking, socialisation .. and the lawn mower?

Chiquito has been on his third walk this afternoon ...

On the walks he has met
- lots of children from little to big and a few grandparents (happily sat and received lots of pats from all)
- two bush turkeys (we had to sit and watch these for a loooooong while )
- a pram, some skateboards and a bike (all sniff worthy but taken in stride)

and last but not least ..... A LAWN MOWER, three of them actually (one each day), and his reaction to them has gotten worse each time. He literally goes from walking calmly beside me to crying, jumping, loony puppy as soon as the noise starts.

For fear of sounding bonkers .... any suggestions as to how to socialise with a lawn mower ????

Really just through repeated exposure, although not much you can do if it's someone else's mower.

Leave the mower outside and in his view so he can get used to it. Start it up for a short time and just keep repeating the process. If he is calm you can give a treat. We went through a similar issue with Suki and the vaccum

Ive been through a similar scenario with Shéara and the hoover.

Would be ideal if you could leave one in view so he gets used to it and reward for calm behaviour. It only 'cos its something new and noisy he's not to sure

I have the lawnmower issue with Steff and I have tried everything If I leave it out in view she will obsess over it and attack it.. It has never got any better so if you find a solution be sure to let me know

jstaff wrote:Really just through repeated exposure, although not much you can do if it's someone else's mower.

Leave the mower outside and in his view so he can get used to it. Start it up for a short time and just keep repeating the process. If he is calm you can give a treat. We went through a similar issue with Suki and the vaccum

kita90 wrote:Ive been through a similar scenario with Shéara and the hoover.

Would be ideal if you could leave one in view so he gets used to it and reward for calm behaviour. It only 'cos its something new and noisy he's not to sure

Thanks ... hadn't even thought of that - will put it out in the yard tomorrow.

The first day when he did this, I told him to sit, gave him a treat when he did so, watched the person mowing for a little while (until he was ready to start moving again) and gave him another treat and lots of loving once we had walked past. Reaction the second day was worse, we did the same thing though and he complied ... today though he just refused to go past the sit bit - just sat there, ears back, hairs on his back up and stared at the mower/person (scared??). When I got his attention again he just stared at me and continued to refuse to budge, so we turned around and walked the other way ....

Kylie wrote:I have the lawnmower issue with Steff and I have tried everything If I leave it out in view she will obsess over it and attack it.. It has never got any better so if you find a solution be sure to let me know

Will be sure to let you know if we find something .. hope you don't mind, but I also will take some satisfaction in knowing he is not the only one if we don't though

Sorry cannot help much with the lawn mower issue, we dont have any grass just paving in our garden

Why not come and start a diary for Chiquito ? Have a quick read through some - we do try to make them fun and I'm sure all the experiences are beneficial to others too.

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f73-your-staffordshire-bull-terrier-s-diary

Darcy is the same with the Hoover, I've tried everything so any revelations will be much appreciated

We used to keep the hoover in a cuboard and Shéara associated it with 'the monster in the closet', he would panik when we opened the cuboard door. We then left it out permanently sohe could have a good sniff and ignored all his barks and whines at it. over time he got bored, he finally realised it wasnt hurting anybody, you just need a little patience whilst they're getting used to it

Just continue. He's finding it scary and noisy, but when you walk past them, be calm and act as though it's completely normal; don't give him any affection or comfort him, because he'll see that as being praised for being scared. When in reality, you want to make him see that you're not scared and that it's nothing to be scared of. Repeat exposure should help, or stand there and watch the lawnmower from a distance (a distance he feels comfortable with). That's what I did when Loki was scared of vans (he was freaked out by the noise of people unloading them), we backed up a bit and watched.

Kell wrote:

Kylie wrote:I have the lawnmower issue with Steff and I have tried everything If I leave it out in view she will obsess over it and attack it.. It has never got any better so if you find a solution be sure to let me know

Will be sure to let you know if we find something .. hope you don't mind, but I also will take some satisfaction in knowing he is not the only one if we don't though

No worries But I hope you find a solution as for now she is locked in my room while we mow the lawns and she gets that stressed out by it that she usually leaves a trail of destruction, she even tore my pillow apart

we've been through it with hoovers , lawnmowers etc , and the easiest thing is just to relax , treat them whilst they are out , if it is your stuff then make sure they have somewhere to seek sanctuary when its out and running

Thank you for the replies .. have put the lawn mower out - he is giving it a wide birth at the moment but it is only day one

You have all scared me off getting the hoover out though

Tara wrote:Just continue. He's finding it scary and noisy, but when you walk past them, be calm and act as though it's completely normal; don't give him any affection or comfort him, because he'll see that as being praised for being scared. When in reality, you want to make him see that you're not scared and that it's nothing to be scared of. Repeat exposure should help, or stand there and watch the lawnmower from a distance (a distance he feels comfortable with). That's what I did when Loki was scared of vans (he was freaked out by the noise of people unloading them), we backed up a bit and watched.

Thanks Tara - I was concerned I had done the wrong thing when he got worse each time, will work with this method instead for all future encounters

Hope it goes well for you. It's usually just a matter of patience and consistancy.