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Is anybody else's dog afraid of smoke or steam?


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I have recently figured out that Willow is afraid of the sight of smoke and steam. We have had situations in the past when we have been out and about and she would freak out but I could never figure out exactly what was causing the behavior in all of the instances.

 

We went to a meeting and it was dark out when we left. Somebody in front of us lit a cigarette and you could see the smoke from the cigarette going up into the air. Willow freaked out. It is almost like she doesn't know where to go or what to do. She was on leash and acted like she was temporarily blinded...I don't know how else to describe it. It was like she didn't know which way to go, she went to the left, to the right, backwards, then to the left, etc in a very hectic manner. Almost disoriented. She was really shook up and when we got in the car she was shaking. I've seen this behavior before but couldn't always identify the cause.

 

Normally the dogs are not allowed on the couch, but I have been sick the past two days and missed work. I let Willow cuddle with me on the couch. My husband made me some chicken noodle soup and he brought it over to me on the couch. It was steaming hot. Willow's eyes got huge and she had the look of fear on her face. She jumped off and ran upstairs. I called her downstairs and she did come back down but wouldn't move from the bottom of the stairs. All the other dogs were sniffing my soup.

 

Is anybody else's dog afraid of the sight of smoke/steam? Is it one of those weird things like chasing shadows or do you think it may be something from her past? She was a stray, so I know nothing of it. We don't smoke or hang around with many smokers. I normally eat at the table, which is bar height, so she really hasn't seen steaming food all that often either. It is only now that I have connected her fear with the smoke/steam.

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My dog's one and only fear is the smell of smoke. Not cigarette smoke, he doesn't care about that kind of smoke. But the smell of something burned on the stove makes him go straight for the balcony, ask to get out, and lay down outside carefully observing what's happening in the house. He learned that where there's smoke, there's surely a smoke alarm :rolleyes: Yes, that tells you a lot about my cooking :D :D :D We're now used to looking at Ouzo as our smoke alarm, telling us when we better turn on the fan and open a window when cooking :D

 

Plus, when he was just two and a half months old, there was a fire in a building across the street, and though he didn't actually see the fire, he did get pretty impressed with the array of fire trucks and police cars with the afferent sirens. Maybe he smelled the fire/smoke? Don't know. He's not afraid of sirens, he's actually like a lil' boy always running to the window to watch any passing fire trucks/ambulances/police cars. If we dare act like we didn't notice the sirens, he makes sure to point it out to us that there's an AMAZING show outside that we all need to watch :D

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I think smoke usally makes most dogs freak out. It makes Black Jack run like heck when he smells it. But that's my cooking too :D:rolleyes:

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We went to a meeting and it was dark out when we left. Somebody in front of us lit a cigarette and you could see the smoke from the cigarette going up into the air.

Senneca hates cigarettes and will growl and bark at people holding a cigarette. She has gone totally wild just at the sight of someone lighting a cigarette two lanes away while we were stopped at traffic lights. She's a rescue, so I assume that she experienced something bad connected with cigarettes or a cigarette smoker.

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