# Scared of any Yelling



## we4elves (May 11, 2010)

So I have noticed something with Matty (9 1/2 months) and my husband....Whenever he is watching a "game" on TV...He tends to yell at the refs...as a lot of men do...But when he does this Matty seems to get nervous almost fearful and avoids being anywhere near him.....Even though he has rarely if ever even raised his voice at her,and has definitely never hurt or "spanked" her..

Do I just ignore this behavior...will it go away with age and confidence?


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Jax doesn't like it when I yell either. She slinks away to the back hall, in her crate or under the desk. My advice is to stop yelling. Or if I do yell at someone then I'll call her over to me and just touch her head so she knows it's not directed at her...but the best is just to stop yelling...animals don't do well with that.


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## we4elves (May 11, 2010)

There is no way my husband is going to stop yelling at the TV when he is watching a game!...Any other suggestions?


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

We had a GSD rescue, Chazzy, who spent football games in the bathroom. Even if hubby wasn't yelling, the crowd noises on the tv would send her right into the bathroom. Maybe if you get a big pile of treats for her, you can teach her to associate the treats to scoring a touch down. We were glad Lakota was fine with football, my hubby can get pretty loud too.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I know...it's the Great American Pastime! LOL Have him call him over to him so your dog knows it's not directed at him like I said I do with Jax.

But I bet he never really gets used to him yelling. They just don't like it.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

haha, funny topic. I recently watched my first Bears game with Cody around. like your husband, i was swearing at the Bears play calling, etc.. 

all the sudden i look over at Cody and his ears are back, and he's looking at me like "what did i do dad?"

so i called him over and pet him and all. i still yell a bit (try not to as much) but he seems to know now that it's not at him. it was only that 1st game where he was like "dang, why's dad mad at me?" haha


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I do the same thing when watching baseball (go White Sox), at first Sin thought I was yelling at him but now he gets that I am just crazy! 

Rogue doesn't like yelling though, he cowers, I'm trying to control my yelling but sometimes you just have to do it! :wild:


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## ZAYDA (Apr 22, 2010)

I usually work with my dog because when we do scold our dog or puppies sometime for their own protection it can be hard for them to come when called after hearing your voice raise. I try to recreate my stern voice for no reason and continue to real him/her in and then give big hugs and treat. Working so your puppy/dog will always be willing to come when called no matter what voice is used. After awhile I can look at my dogs across the room just doing nothing much and I say HEY! and I look very stern at them and then I smile as you see their tails wagging and they usually come to visit with no words spoken. Any way right or wrong it seems to create good eye contact and allowing them to trust me no matter what voice I use.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I've noticed a difference in Jax when I'm yelling compared to being at a soccer game and others are yelling. It is the connection to me, her thinking she's in trouble that causes her to hide...even though I've yelled at her like twice in 3 years. So you somehow have to let him know that hubby is yelling at the tv .


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## ZAYDA (Apr 22, 2010)

Keep her with you and share a bowl of pop corn with her while you watch the game for awhile and then let her go and call her back several times petting her and giving her something she will like. With any luck she will come to visit for more treats. Just take time away from the game to give her lots of hugs and treats.


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

Desensitize your pup.

It's best if your husband works with you, since he's the one doing all the yelling. Ask him to stand on the far end of the yard (or house) and yell just like he does when a game is on (as far away as possible) but a bit softer. Give your dog the BEST treat you can come up with. Not regular treats, but hot dogs, steak, chicken breast, liver, etc. The second he yells, pop the treat in her mouth. You should also give her positive verbal associations like "good girl! woo hoo! Yay!" Continue that for a 5 minute session, then stop. Later in the day (several hours have passed) , ask your husband to move forward about 3 feet and do it again for about 5 minutes. Then about 3 feet forward again (after several hours). 

If your dog looks stressed, stop. You need to go farther away, or he needs to "yell" softer. 

Then the next day, start at the place you left off, practice there a few times, then move closer. Leave it, then move closer. Then closer. When she can tolerate him "yelling" softly near her, ask him to move ALL THE WAY BACK and ask him to yell in his normal NFL (or NHL or whatever) game day voice and do the whole thing all over again. If it's NFL, obviously, the best time to start this is on a Tuesday evening, so you have all week to work up to Sunday game day. If you start when the two of you get home from work, you can probably get in three sessions a night, one right after work, one right after dinner, one right before you go to bed. 

Ideally, our dogs SHOULD be able to tolerate yelling and changes in our voices -- AND obey commands regardless of how we sound. I want my dogs to know that they're safe with me no matter what my voice sounds like. I don't "scold" my dogs as a general rule, not for their "safety. But if a dog is dashing after a squirrel and heading toward a street, I will shout out "FIDO, COME!!!" But I know that my voice will be louder and have more emotion than when I'm calling "Fido, come" across the back yard. So it's best that Fido be comfortable with my voice regardless of all of the tones it can assume. For that reason, I also practice whispering to my dogs. He needs to come (say, across the room) when I whisper to him as well. 

Or I may be laughing with a friend or my Dh and I'll call the dogs because my voice sounds different then as well... 

The more our dogs realize that they're SAFE with us no matter what, the more they'll respond to us. 

I think Matty just needs to be "trained" in this. Desensitization is a great way to do this. And I think that it would be a good idea for you and your husband to switch places, to ensure that she understands that you may shout and she's safe with you too.

But, (going on a tangent for a minute) yelling at or scolding dogs to reprimand them undermines what we're trying to train. I try very hard not to do it. In my household, the rule is, we tell the dog what he SHOULD do, not what he shouldn't. That changes how you approach the dog. And if the dog really messed up, probably, it's the human's fault. He's either 1. not trained as well as you think, 2. doesn't understand what you want, or 3. you gave too much freedom (and 2 & 3 basically mean that he's not as well trained as you think he is). 



Good luck with training Matty. I think that if your husband is a good sport about it (hooting and hollering for no reason can be a lot of fun ) , all three of you will have a good time doing this training. Be sure not to move too quickly so that it's not stressful to her, but you can make this fun.


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## IllinoisNative (Feb 2, 2010)

I had a Golden Retriever who would run away any time I raised my voice. When I got my Shepherd/Rottie mix, I did things differently. I wanted to teach him recall and I wanted him to come even if my voice was "stressed." Mostly because I know myself. LOL! I took him to the dog park on a 30 foot line (off peak hours), and practiced come when I could reinforce it. I said come in many different voices...angry, loud, soft, mean, scared, whatever. And every time he came to me, he was rewarded with a treat/affection/happy dance. He learned to come to me no matter what my vocal state was. As a result, he's not really scared of my angry voice. Which I have to tell you, does have it's drawbacks.:crazy: He happily trots to me when I'm angry. It makes me laugh every time.

It's not exactly the same thing, but this is how I desensitized my dog to tone and volume.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

stop yelling is the best solution. if your
husband isn't going to stop yelling put the dog
in another room. did you speak with your husband
about the yelling? explain to him that it makes
the dog nervous.



we4elves said:


> There is no way my husband is going to stop yelling at the TV when he is watching a game!...Any other suggestions?


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## ZAYDA (Apr 22, 2010)

IllinoisNative said:


> I had a Golden Retriever who would run away any time I raised my voice. When I got my Shepherd/Rottie mix, I did things differently. I wanted to teach him recall and I wanted him to come even if my voice was "stressed." Mostly because I know myself. LOL! I took him to the dog park on a 30 foot line (off peak hours), and practiced come when I could reinforce it. I said come in many different voices...angry, loud, soft, mean, scared, whatever. And every time he came to me, he was rewarded with a treat/affection/happy dance. He learned to come to me no matter what my vocal state was. As a result, he's not really scared of my angry voice. Which I have to tell you, does have it's drawbacks.:crazy: He happily trots to me when I'm angry. It makes me laugh every time.
> 
> It's not exactly the same thing, but this is how I desensitized my dog to tone and volume.


There is your answer , IllinoisNative just said it better than I did.


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