Gomez Is Afraid Of The Kitchen...

[Gomez the Norfolk]

Not sure exactly what is going on, but for the past couple of months Gomez has been having and odd reaction to the kitchen in general, and especially the oven and the drawers underneath which hold the baking pans and pots, etc...

Our living/kitchen area is completely open plan, so usually in the evenings we will sit on the sofas and he has his bed right next to us, sometimes he's on the sofa....

As soon as one of us goes to the kitchen area his ears perk up, if I turn on the oven or open the door to the oven, or one of the pan cabinets, he gets up and with his tail down, slinks off slowly to the bedroom and nestles into his crate (where he sleeps at night with the door open)

If I'm just prepping food or cooking on the stovetop, he sometimes stands in the area with me, hoping for stuff to be dropped, but as soon as I even move towards the oven, off he goes...

If I say "cookie" he will come back, take the treat and then goes again...

Sometimes even if I'm emptying the dishwasher and putting stuff away he will also go and hide...

Now, all the appliances in here are brand new, so nothing is amking a strange noise, and in London, his bed used to be right under the oven and he loved sleeping in there, as it was a big separate room and we were in there a lot of the time...

Some of you have met Gomez and you know he is not a "shy" or "scaredy" dog, he is usually very self-assured and confident, it's just this kitchen has him spooked for some reason...

Nothing has changed in the home or in his life -

I don't know even where to start with this one, but I feel something is stressing him out and I need to do something about it...

Any ideas?

[luvabull]

Maybe when you take the pots/pans out of the draw they make loud noises which may have startled him

[Gomez the Norfolk]

They do make loud noises, but they always have and he's never been afraid of noises before... fireworks, shotguns, banging pans, nothing used to faze him -

he's still fine with fireworks, we had some tonight and he sat on the balcony with us...

[luvabull]

Hmmmm I'm stumped

It seems like something has scared him and now he's associating the kitchen with that feeling.

It's good that he still goes into the kitchen when your there. Maybe you could bend down near the oven and offer him a treat he really loves to entice him to come near it and associate the oven not as stressful but as rewarding :p

[Gomez the Norfolk]

I know, I'm stumped also...

I do give him treats, and he'll come near the open oven even for just a bit of kibble, this guy will do anything for food! but then he slinks away again...

He's so odd.... I wish I knew what is stressing him out so much in there...

[Mooper]

One of my parents' dogs is scared of the extractor fan in the kitchen. After much thinking, we traced it back to the fact that whenever Mum burns to toast (frequently :p) she turns on the extractor fan and usually the smoke detector goes off regardless.

It's the most odd association, but it's all we could come up with. They've desensitised him by turning the fan on for brief periods, with treats in-hand, and rewarding him for calm behaviour. At first, the rewards were immediate. They gradually lengthened the time over which he needed to remain calm, then gave him a reward. And now he's apparently no longer bothered by the fan.

Could it be some link like that? Has Gomez ever burned himself on the oven door, been near a saucepan lid when it dropped, got his tail caught in the dishwasher door as it closed ... ? Or is he making a comment on your cooking?

[Tonymc]

Gomez,what age is the Dog?Myself I would not be concerned at all.Its important to be very casual and nonchalant yourself.When the Dog gets into the fearful behaviour,ignore it totally.Ignore the behaviour act casual and the Dog will come around. Tony

[Gomez the Norfolk]

Mooper, he's never had an accident in the kitchen, and he better not be making a comment on my cooking, chef won't feed him anymore!

Tonymc, he is 3 years old in a few weeks - Am I rewarding him for the fear behaviour now?

[skip]

Since he's so calm about other things maybe he'll come round.

Must be some connection there but not easy to see. My small girl spent her first 8 months locked up till I got her. She coped with coming out and about. But after 2 years she does have some behaviour I'd rather she didn't.

I am normally very calm and don't raise my voice ( in anger anyway ). But I did swear loudly on two occasions when I spilt a drink in the lounge room. Then I found this dog will disappear quickly off the lounge if I sit with a drink near her. But this is mild considering she is also runs outside and won't come in if there is a blowfly in the house! I have a rented house with some screens missing so this is common lately. Maybe she hates the flyspray I use sometimes but I think its more because I get annoyed if a blowie comes in.

And lastly she hates my cooking! If smoke happens or the stove sizzles she goes behind the lounge if outside is not an option.

I can encourage her to come out from behind the lounge with food but she is straight back behind again. And if she won't come in cause of flys I can't get near her. Lately I let the other one in and if she doesn't come in I leave her outside till later. Once she is at the door I let her in.

I've got no idea and lately I've just ignored her. I know you shouldn't fuss. She seems to get over it and normally she is full of energy and spark?

Sorry I can't help. It is just your dogs behaviour reminds me of hers. My dog has had a bad start but was coming along. I find it a worry as I'd like her to be perky like she normally is all the time.

Maybe he'll get over what ever it was in a while? I'd be interested to know if anything helps.

[Gomez the Norfolk]

It's good to see I'm not alone!

We have had Gomez since he was 8 weeks old, so we have been lucky enough to have control over his environment - but who knows what has gotten to him lately -

I hope yours will come about soon also!

[peibe]

My female Shar Pei is afraid of the oven timer.

It only started when she was about 3 years old for no reason that I could work out

[Aphra]

The trail of association might be some distance back and not connected to the kitchen in any real way at all.

As an example. One of my dogs goes right off and barks like a loon when I turn on the food processor. In fact he will start making a fuss if he hears me put the lid on the food processor, or even if he thinks I'm getting the parts of the food processor out of the cupboard.

The natural conclusion might be that he was afraid of the food processor or didn't like the noise, but that's not at all what's going on.

Years ago when my old dog was losing his hearing he seemed to find the sound of the food processor particularly annoying, and being the old grouch that he was, he'd take it out on Rupert. So Rupert learned to associate the sound of the food processor with getting a hard time from my old boy.

Eventually the old guy lost most of his hearing and didn't care about the noise at all, and he's been dead for nearly two years now, but Rupert still reacts to the sound.

So possibly your dog associates whatever the action or sound you're making in the kitchen with some negative experience. It might have nothing to do with the kitchen, but oven sounds like something which upset him.