I recently had an experience with my dogs that I will never, ever forget and need to share what I learned with other dog owners for their dogs and other inside pets they may have.
When a smoke alarm's battery is about to die, it will beep nonstop until it is replaced. Some alarms are louder than others, we have two within our home.
Last year when one of the batteries died and started to beep, it was loud and scared all three of my dogs. I had to run outside to our detached garage, get a ladder, run back inside, climb up and remove the battery. It took a little longer than 3 minutes and my dogs were visibly shaken. I stopped the loud noise and it took several hours for my dogs to calm down.
Time passed and I took one of my dogs to PetSmart. While there, she heard the forklift in their warehouse area and completely fell apart in the store. She was shaking all over and was absolutely terrified. I've taken her back a few times and each time the same thing happened so I now shop at PetSmart alone.
I wrote on my calendar when to change the battery and actually will probably physically do so much earlier than I need too. I never want my dogs to be that terrified again. I felt like an unfit mother. It never occurred to me to change the second smoke alarm because it was wired into the ceiling. I didn't know that it had a back up battery in it.
Well to make a very long story short, I was taking a shower when it decided to die. All of my dogs jumped into the shower with me, literally, shaking. Ginger is 95 pounds, Emma 70 pounds, and Rosie 65 pounds. I had just put hair conditioner on when it happened. If this wasn't so sad, it would of been almost hysterical to watch. I rinsed off the cream rinse, jumped into a robe and ran out to the garage with all 3 dogs, soaking wet, fast on my heels to get the ladder. I left all three in the backyard and removed the battery from the ceiling smoke detector as fast as I could.
Thank God, I'm disabled and was actually home when this happened. If I was still able to work and this had happened while I was gone, my three dogs would have been extremely stressed, if not worse.
Afterwards, my now muddy dogs, each had to have a bath and it took several hours to clean up the house and bathroom after their desperate escape to get away from the shrieking alarm.
Due to this, all three now panic when they hear trucks backing up. There's nothing I can do, to undo how they react to the noise, but if I can help other owners and pets, this hint is well worth it.
By CPJ from Madison, AL
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You learned a very hard lesson. Your dogs surely are lucky that you were home when this happened. I also am unable to work and have had mine go off scaring my 2 dachshunds terribly, although luckily not as badly as yours. Mine just went out the back door (they made sure I knew to let them out) and way out to the back end of the yard. The "tips" say to change them at the same time you change your clocks for daylight savings time. I change my batteries at the start of every new season, spring, summer, fall, winter.
Where I am living at the owner is 67 years old and is single he is useing the smoke alarms to scare my dog who I keep in my room when I go to work is when he does this so when I get home she very scared and shaky and very happy I'm home and doesint leave my side when I'm home so i take her everywhere with me except when i go to work if he keeps doing this I'm afraid it's going to do some mental damage to my dog what can i do about this.
Thanks for all your info thought I was the only one going nuts with my dog I feel so bad that I can't help him more sorry for all u have been thru also thank u maybe I can deal with it now
Move immediately!
The is really good advice. Something I never though of. Thanks!
What great advice! I would never have thought of it. I tried hard not to snicker at the picture of all of you in the shower....I failed. Thanks so much for sharing.
I can just picture how terrified those poor babies were, how sad - although it IS funny to imagine having all of them jump in the shower with you! :D
It's too bad you can't use behavioral conditioning them to not be so afraid of it, especially since it's made them afraid f so many other similar sounds.It's scary to think what would happen to them if you weren't home & the alarm went off - or even worse, if there was an actual fire in the home.
Makes me think of my poor little 3yr old twin grandsons, when my husband & I were over at their house a couple of weeks ago, installing smoke alarms for their mom & dad. My husband accidentally set off the alarm while he was installing it.
The boys, who'd been standing close by watching their Grandpa were absolutely terrified. They threw their hands over their ears & ran for their lives, across the room to mine & their mom's side. One of the boys shakes all over like he's having seizures (he's not) when he's scared or upset. I know it wasn't funny, but as we were gathering them in our arms to console them, I was laughing hysterically.
When my husband got the thing shut off, there were 2 boys standing there glaring at him with accusing eyes & shouting "Boo-boo owie!". Forever more, smoke alarms are going to be called "boo-boo owies" in our family!
But on a serious note, I told my daughter that they really need to work with the boys so they aren't afraid & run hide when they hear that thing go off, so they don't hide if it ever goes off for real!
the new smoke detectors are very different. they are hard wired for 10 years. they dont have batteries. BUT THEY DO GO BAD. i have just had 3 new detectors installed hard wired at my house. so there is a button that i will be able to press to turn off the buzzer for a certain time to be able to replace. i plan on getting a stick to keep in the hallway that will be long enough and be able to turn off the alarm.
I wanted to add something else. You said there's nothing you can do to "undo how they react", but there is. When they hear a truck, siren, or other noise that upsets them, don't react by getting uptight or upset yourself, they pick up on how you feel . Don't rush to immediately console/soothe them - you are only reinforcing to them that this is something they SHOULD worry about, which only creates more anxiety. I know this may not always work, but here are a couple of suggestions on what to do:
Stay calm & try to project that calmness to them. Don't do it by petting them & telling them it's ok, do it by acting as if it's no big deal. At first they will keep looking at you to see how you react, they won't be sure what to do, but by staying calm yourself, they are more likely to eventually calm down themselves.
Or, do what my mom did when her 2 big Queensland mix dogs became so terrified of thunder that they cowered & crawled into her lap like a couple of tiny babies, where she would pet them over & over, telling them that it was ok - they only continued to get worse. When I told her to quit reacting the way she did, they quit being hysterical,but were still pretty upset. Following a suggestion I made, the next time it began to thunder, she started clapping her hands & saying "yaaay! yaaay!", like she was cheering something wonderful, like when they did something good. They looked at her like she'd lost her mind & didn't know what to do the first few times.
Eventually it became quite a game, so that whenever it thunders now, they wait for her to clap her hands & cheer, then they run outside in the rain to chase the thunder! They've even taught my dog to stop being such a weenie about the rain!
great advice!xxx
I have a rescued border collie who is terrified of thunder and fireworks etc. She would run and cower under the stairs as far away as she could find to escape the dreadful scary noise. Part of her problem was being beaten and screamed at before we got her also, so she had the emotional anguish to cope with too.
I made a big fuss of the noise in a good way, as one of the posts suggested. Beef jerky comes out (Fave food in the world!) toys, games and all the fun stuff I could think of. I also recorded the next lot of fireworks and played it every day, low volume, for a couple of hours, gradually increasing the volume. This worked really well in de-sensitising her to the sharp noise.
Now she gets startled and a little edgy, but one piece of beef jerky and a game has her back to normal. I feel the problem with your dogs needs to be treated with care, as to DE-sensitise is a good idea, but at the same time use it as an opportunity to train them to leave the house through their doggy door (?) when they hear the beeper going off. The last thing you want is to have them lose their fear of the noise, but stay happily in a burning house if you are not there to shepherd them out.
Good luck,
Vicki, Queensland, Australia
My dog is an Australian Shepard who totally freaked when my smoke director's battery was dying. It kept doing this chirping noise that really seemed to hurt my dog's ears-we had to leave the house cuz it obviously makes some noise only dog's hear cuz he was still goin crazy after I took the battery out. You have to reset the same thing-run it out without a battery in it by holding that button down. Once it runs out (you'll hear it) then you put in the new battery.
I know how horrible it is when your pet gets scare of a smoke detector. I was broiling in the Kitchen and the smoke detector went off. My dog a Chihuahua "Tinkie" 13 years old and partially disabled bolted out while I was not looking. I lived in an apartment and it was pouring rain. I looked all over the neighborhood for her for a day and 1/2 and I was sick I would never find her or find her dead somewhere.
I checked the pound and could not find her. I had almost given up when a Veterinarian called and someone had found her running across a four lane highway and fortunately she was not hurt. I made sure never to broil a steak again.
I'm so sorry this happened to you & your babies. Thank you for caring so much about them! You're an awesome Mom!
So, are the manufacturers doing anything to solve this issue. My dog has begun freaking out at our smoke alarms. I bought new alarms, same problem. As to why the battery alarm would go off after one month is another story. There must be an alarm maker who makes alarms with less freaky noises.
I agree. We've been through so many different smoke alarms trying to find ones that don't randomly go off. Not just when the battery is low. Our Jack Russell Terrier becomes completely unglued when they go off. Shuddering and panting heavily for hours. I'm still trying to find an alarm we can trust to not freak our dog out!
My little pooch freaks out whenever the smoke alarm batteries run out. It just happened again, which is how I found this site... Thanks Google!
She gets so stressed, she runs out her dog door and hovers in a corner of my yard, shivering. I can't take it! I feel so sorry for her.
Tonight I'm tempted to forego smoke and CO2 detectors. After reading some posts, I guess I'll replace the batteries every season, and make sure they are fresh. Thanks!
It is a huge issue at my house!!
My little rat terrier, who is not at all bothered by thunder or fireworks, and thinks popping a plastic bag three feet from her head is an invitation to play, just turned into a little ball of trembling terror from that chirp a smoke alarm battery makes when it dies -- and the smoke alarm was the plug-in type, hidden in my closet. Took me a couple of hours to find it, and in the meantime, I couldn't get her even to eat (and if you know rat terriers, you know how scared she was).
We weren't home when ours went off. It wasn't the battery - the detector sensor went bad. Our lab was shaking violently. The other detector went off, just one beep, and he jumped behind me and shook violently. I feel horrible!!
I recently discovered that the low battery beep from smoke detectors drive my poor dog straight outside toward the furthest corner of my yard. It took me a couple of times to put two and two together. Just like in 1st grade. If you notice a low battery warning pay attention to how you dog is reacting to it.
My foxie recently dug out under my fence and went missing for 2 days because of my smoke detector beeping from a low battery. I was at work so didnt realise until late in the afternoon. The noise must have really hurt her ears? Its so out of character for her to run away. It was incredibly stressful trying to find her, I never want to go through that again. Manufacturers really need to do something about this issue, surely they are aware its a problem.
I have an Australian shepherd/greyhound mix that was home alone all day when I was at work and the smoke alarm started chirpping. Ever since then she can't handle any kind of beeping sound. Birds chirpping outside freak her out. I can't watch any kind of movie in stereo as it will freak her out. It's so bad that every time she hears something she is up in your lap or trippimg you to get you to comfort her. She shakes so bad. Her pupils look so huge like she's on something. We've tried everything. Not giving her attention during it. Giving her more exercise. Getting doggy Prozac. Nothing, and I mean nothing stops her from freaking out at any kind of beeping sound. I feel so horrible for going from my nightshift job to a day job. If I were home this would not be as bad. But now I'm at my witts end. Ugh! I feel bad for her and just don't know what to do.
Omg my little dog as been petrified since 3 this morning more than 12 hours ago its horrible to see it should be that you can change straight away n nose gone but not in my house it was all night
Just read about nest.com smoke and co2 detectors. They don't beep when the batteries are low they use WiFi and contact an app on your phone. If the alarm is triggered it starts off with a voice telling you that there is a problem. Giving you the chance to deal with the issue before the alarm goes off. It can also contact your phone when it's been triggered so you can react even if out
I just experienced this. My female jack Russ was extremely stressed when I came home. Panting and shaking. The other 3 dogs were scared too but not as bad as my youngest,Cookie. I kept holding the 2 females and assuring them everything was ok. They'd calm down then once I think all is good they're both shaking and Cookie panting heavily. I walked out in the living room to see if they ate something they shouldn't have and that's when I heard the loud chirp from the smoke detector low battery warning. I put one and one together and finally figured it out. Thank god I did because I was getting worried. Needless to say I went straight to store and got new batteries. Now just gotta let time pass so they can calm down
Just had a similar incident last night where my Shiba Inu heard a smoke detector low battery sound and freaked out. She was shaking like a leaf, whining, and kept trying to jump into our newborn's bassinet to hide. Which isn't ideal with a two-month old baby.
I did some research and saw that Nest offers some great options that don't shriek when the battery is low. It's not cheap but I'm going to look into it. Wish they had some competition to drive the price down.
Well if you think about it, a dogs ear drums are extremely sensitive and can hear the tiniest sounds that us humans cannot. Sirens, smoke detectors, co detectors exc produce a loud enough sound that shocks us awake. But also it will have a higher pitch whine which basically pierces a dogs ear drum to its core. Imagine having the hearing of a dog and suddenly this high pitched whine pierces to ur ear drums core. Uld go nuts too.
This exactly happened to me! it was very werid because i was sleeping and the chirp was very quiet so couldnt hear it so i wake up to both my dogs shaking scared and once i got up they wouldnt leave my side i came on here to find out why they were so scared. Thank you for sharing your story. (ps: one of my dogs name is rosie)
The same thing happened with my Beagle.
Beagles love to eat food. It is probably their favorite thing in the world. The sound made him shake and not want to eat food.
My smoke detector starting beeping in the middle of the night and I woke up with my dog under the bed in my room. CHANGE SMOKE DETECTORS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE FOR YOU AND YOUR PETS!!!
Hi, I too can agree with this as it happened to my mother and her 15 year old dog, only a few weeks ago and if she hadn't been at home the shreik would've killed her dog, not mentioning the fear and panic my mother felt. The smoke alarms are both connected to the mains and when one went off, due to low battery, they both hid in the kitchen closing 2 doors behind them to wait for the bleeps to stop, once stopped my 73 year old mum called my husband to climb up a ladder to remove the battery. Why are these alarms connected to the mains why do they need to be so loud!? Please can someone campaign for these alarms to be tweaked? My mum's dog now shakes and panics at my cooker bleep so now when they come for tea I use a different timer, Brinn will never get over this.
Thank you so much. Our Jack is a 95 pound Gordon Setter-Chesapeake Bay Retriever. He is TERRIFIED and TREMBLING right now, beginning to pant, and is clinging to my side. Guess I'll be taking him to Wal-mart with me for some new batteries.
So glad I read this as it helped me realise what was upsetting my staffie. Disconnected the smoke detector and he's finally calming down again. My only problem, it's a sealed unit, so gonna have to go one night without the security of the smoke detector, but at least I have a happy pooch!
we have 2 cats, the smoke alarm causes them actual pain, there
has to be a better alarm sound that doesn't hurt pets
(and peoples) ears.
We also purchased new home alarm system. while this is very good advice to change batteries on smoke alarm, my fear is what will happened (pray never) when burglar enter house, thus alarm will sound, which will scare our cat, maybe dos too .... burglar won't close the door (window) behind himself .... before we or police arrive when are pets could be ? In better scenario shcaking under bed, worse escaped the house ? and don't want to return for that sound sake ? any thought pls ? I wonder if it worthy !
my dogs hate the loud beep too!also,i had a new smart meter put in-im slightly deaf,and didnt realise it also gave an audible warning(as well as a visual one)when your credit was getting low-my dogs were so freaked and i didnt know why!one even refused to come in the house after a walk-it took a friend calling,who said"whats that noise?"for me to put 2 and 2 together-this had gone on for a few months-every time my credit got low!i deleted the audible option,peace at last!my poor dogs!traumatised!xxx
When I got home from work yesterday my dog was so distressed as the smoke alarm had been chirping obviously starting after I left she just wanted to get out of the house it was awful to see and it took a while for her to calm down I felt awful - she wouldn't eat her tea and she is a Labrador!! Eventually she ate out side. One of my cats was also distressed although he is out most of the day he comes in to sleep so this must have upset him too! Just didnt realise this would have that effect!
Our beautiful lab was in the house wth a smoke alarm for hours before we came home...that was at least 3 weeks ago...I cant tell you how much it has changed him...it is so hard to get him to come in the house now...once in hes ok but we have to carry him or drag him or leave him out...its stressing me out...any suggestions?
Im glad I read this post! Our wire fox suffered from this for days and we could not figure it out! We would notice him panting and our carpets were wet from him licking them constantly, he looks down to the ground as if he hears something in the floor.
This happened years ago and now when the detector goes off from cooking it becomes worse! Its like hes traumatized from the beeping. Hes not scared but it makes him crazy for a while!
Exactly! I am 70 years old and have 19 foot ceilings in my entry hall. I came back from my beach house and found the smoke detector beeping. The dogs were freaking out. Even with my 5 foot step stool, I was too short to reach the darn thing. I called a handyman, who said he could be out in 3 days. I got the dogs back in the car, and went back to the beach house. My husband was going to be out of town for a week so I stayed away until he returned. There has to be a better place to put these detectors. Later, I found out you can turn off the hard-wired smoke detectors at the fuse box. Next time, I'll do that until the handyman can come out.
today the smoke alarm started chirping. we had just changed to new batteries about a month ago. our beagle is freaking out, panting shaking and walking around and around......this has happened a few times now and I am P*****.....so I ripped all 4 the hell out and threw them in the back of a detached building way away from the house.......I will take my chances from now on with no more smoke detectors in this house.
I've been looking into smoke detectors for the deaf which use strobe lights. Not sure if that means no sound or sound can be turned off. Anyone tried this?
We recently signed up for a whole house alert system, for smoke, heat, water and CO2. It came with a "bed shaker". The device goes under the mattress so it will shake the person awake in case of an emergency. All the alarms in the house make a sound and flash light at the same time. This is good for people who are hard of hearing or sleep very soundly. I'm sure there is a stand alone device like this that you can buy from your home improvement store.
Change smoke alarm batteries when you change clocks- twice a year.
I remember that happening to our senior Chihuahua mix rescue when we first brought her home after Christmas in 2018. Poor baby, I thought she'd have a heart attack. She still has a really difficult time with certain sounds. She regularly gets CBD oil for her nerves.
I firmly believe IF you can desensitize you should. There are so many sounds that can upset our fur family members. Our 'sensitive' dog even gets upset when the emergency broadcasting tests sound on the tv. He is 125#s, so having him sit in my lap is not practical. We have arranged a cozy spot in the basement with his bed. It is away from windows and there is a fan we run 24/7 as white noise. It helps, but he still has anxiety. We also have a prescription from the vet. (However, we try not to 'drug' him if we can get by without.) I have attempted to swaddle him, but his size makes that impractical as well. I did find when the storm was moving in if I sat next to him and stroked him and covered him with a heavy, bulky blanket it helped. For us, that is NOT unusual behavior, as we sit together, and he gets stroked, and hugged a lot. Sometimes you have to experiment with what will work in a given situation. But being proactive in considering all the possible scenarios makes good sense.
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