Canine Fear Of Loud Noises

If you know me personally, you would know that I had a dog, Dino, who suffered from anxiety which was brought on by loud noises and which almost always throw him into a series of seizures. Although he is no longer here with me, dying from complications after a terrible bout of fits, I continue to research on canine issues, particularly those that plagued Dino. Perhaps it is for knowledge, perhaps it is to punish myself with the things that I could have done for Dino to help him with his anxiety or fits. Whatever it is, it doesn't change the fact that my beloved Dino is no longer here anymore.

Just now, I came across this article “The sound of fear: Noise phobias torment dogs” on MSNBC.com, addressing just this issue of canine phobia for noise. I particularly remember there was one time when we had a new neighbor and the lady's car did not have an automatic control of the gate and each time she returned home, she would sound her honk so that her maid would open the electronic gate from inside of the house. My poor Dino was startled from sleep quite a few times by her and since then, he started to be fearful of many different kinds of noises.

There was once when my brother had a bad cough and of course, coughs don't go away in a day or two. By the end of the second week, my Dino was so strung up that he fell into a bout of fits.

I remember that my Dino only developed a fear of thunderstorm about two years ago and with each passing storm, he would be more and more anxious until he goes into fits. I fear along side him each time there was a storm and living in my area did not help him at all since this is an area that is overly prone of thunderstorms.

Anyway, if you, unfortunately, have a dog that also suffered from anxiety, do check out the article for some suggestions to help keep your dog calm.

How Old Is My Dog In Dog Years?

I have been so depressed since my beloved pet dog, Dino, left me so suddenly on 6th June, 2008. Human years, he was 13.5 years old and everyone tells me that it is considered “old” for a dog.

My vet tells me that to calculate dog age, the first year is eight human years while each subsequent year is equivalent to seven human years. So to calculate a dog’s age, we multiple the number of years by seven and add one.

Interestingly, I read in the Daily Mail that it is a myth that one dog year equals to seven human years. This report did not mention how we can calculate dog years, then, even though they say that it is a myth.

Still, knowing this does not bring back my Dino.

MYTH: ONE DOG YEAR EQUALS SEVEN HUMAN YEARS

FACT: This is a simple question of mathematics. The current, global human life-expectancy is around 67.5 years. The average life-expectancy for a dog is 12.8 years.

So a dog year is actually a little over five human years. But not all humans, or dogs, have the same life-expectancy.

By and large, the smaller the dog, the longer it lives. An average Irish wolfhound will only last for about six years, whereas a toy poodle or miniature dachshund will breeze past 14 with no trouble.

Similarly, a citizen of Andorra can expect to reach the grand old age of 83, whereas an inhabitant of Swaziland has an average of only 39 years on the planet. So a wolfhound year is equivalent to almost 14 Andorran years, whereas a dachshund year is about two-and-a-half Swazi years.

And there's another, biological factor. A dog is fully developed by its first birthday, whereas we humans do not, traditionally, reach full adulthood until our 21st birthdays. So that first dog year equals two whole human decades.