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I have an observation I’d like to share with you this week and ask if anyone has had a similar experience.
My dog is afraid of ringtones from my cellphone. I’m not sure exactly when this began but I believe over time she has been “sensitized” to the point that she frantically runs for the door when I get a text. It’s not so much the ring of an incoming call, but the text and voicemail notifications which seem to cause her distress. It’s the “brrrr-ing!” or the honks or bells that we use for alerts, reminders, etc.
At first I thought that she may have experienced something at the same time the tone went off setting up a negative association. But I not longer believe that. I have changed the tones many times and her behavior is the same. Could there be a frequency accompanying the notifications that causes the dogs discomfort? Something they can hear...or feel?
BTW, in trying to research this online, I came across a number of videos that people made of their dogs exhibiting fear of cellphones. FYI... not funny. Why would anyone find watching a dog in distress to be entertaining?
As for my husband and I, we have turned off the sound of our cellphones in the house and keep our phones in our pockets on vibrate until we can figure this out. We don’t want the situation to keep escalating.
Oh, and did I mention my second dog has now started displaying similar behavior for the first time? What the heck is going on!
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