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Teach Your Dog the Vacuum is Not a Monster

Q & A with Animal Expert Dr. Grey Stafford

Member Kathy in Mesa needs help with her fearful dog.

Dear Dr. Grey,

I have read the article of working with your animals during a storm, hoping it would help with one of my situations with one of my new puppies.  My challenge with one of my 4 miniature dachshunds is the vacuum.  He is fine during storms, but when the vacuum is turned on, he runs outside to the furthest part of the yard.  We have tried to have some one hold him while the vacuum is running but he is just too scared.  Any suggestions?

Dear Kathy,
Thanks for reading my pet training column!  Yes, I do have some reinforcement based training suggestions for you to try with your mini dachshund.

Unlike trying to control the weather, you do have complete control over when, where and how your vacuum appears.  So I'm optimistic about your odds of successfully teaching him to coexist with that noisy machine.  To begin, we have to teach him that the vacuum is his new best friend!

Here are the steps we're going to work through:

• Associate the quiet vacuum with fun things
• Keep it in plain sight
• Turn down the volume on the vacuum to help him adjust
• Step back if you advance too fast
• Merge sight and sound together
• Get the house cleaned without scaring him away

Associate the Quiet Vacuum with Fun Things
While the loud sound may be what originally caused his fear response and made him run away, the mere sight of the vacuum may now also cause him some anxiety.  So try to associate the vacuum with fun things for your pet such as placing it with the power off near the feeding bowl at dinner times.  How close should you place it near the bowl?  Depends on what your pet will accept.  Maybe it’s on the far side of the room or right next to the bowl.  This is one way you can begin to visually desensitize him to the vacuum.  Initially, just leave the vacuum nearby and then present the dog with his food and praise.  In time, as he becomes more relaxed, you can move it closer to the bowl or start to slowly mimic the movement of the vacuum with the power off as he eats.  Make sure you don't accidentally make the dog think the vacuum is chasing him.  Also make sure you don't immediately reward him anytime the vacuum is put back in the closet. You don't want him to take pleasure in making the vacuum go away.

Keep it in Plain Sight
In addition to feeding him near it, you can also have the vacuum out in high traffic areas of the home such as the TV room where the family relaxes, in the area where he engages in a doggie playtime, near his bed, or nearby while you surf mysweetconnection.com.  The goal is to make the vacuum a normal part of your pet's environment.

Turn Down the Volume
Now, about that loud noise.  Just like the thunder example from a few weeks ago, you need to be able to control the volume in order to teach him that loud, sustained, and frequent sounds are no big deal.  So, while your dog is away from home on a walk, consider making a tape or CD recording of your vacuum with the power on.  From there, you can play back the sound at much lower levels at opportune times such as feeding, play or even nap times.  Start at a volume that your pet barely notices – but remember, dogs have more sensitive hearing than we people do!  If he displays normal behavior at that level, you can turn up the volume in small increments over time.  During these vacuum sound encounters, be certain to pay attention only to the calm, normal, relaxed behaviors like sit, down, stay, play, sleep and so on.  Don't pay attention to him if he is acting nervous or restless.

Step Back
If you happen to over-estimate his ability during a session and raise the volume too high, (i.e. he shows avoidance and fear by running away etc.) ignore these responses as best as you can.  Pause a few seconds and then lower the sound back to a level at which he was successful. Once he settles back down, then give him praise and other reinforcement.

Merge Sight and Sound Together
Eventually, as he becomes more successful by running away less or not at all, it is time to merge these two training approaches (sight and sound) into one object—the working vacuum.  Again, start by presenting the vacuum on the other side of the room with the power off in conjunction with the recording at low volume—much lower than what he can handle with just the sound present.  Why?  By adding the sound to the sight of the vacuum, you’ve raised the bar by making things quite a bit tougher to succeed.  Since you don’t want him to fail, it is always a good idea to lower your individual (sight and sound) expectations as you begin to combine these sensations in one complex session.

Take Care When You Clean
As training progresses, reward him for staying put or even approaching the vacuum with its noise.  In the meantime, you’ll of course want to run the vacuum normally to clean your floors.  Rather than giving your dog the chance to display and reinforce his fearful responses by restraining him inside during cleaning, help him succeed by taking him outside, away from the vacuum, before you start to clean. Be sure to minimize his access to things like toys that may reward his avoidance behaviors while he is in the back yard and the vacuum is running normally.  This won’t help him learn to love the vacuum, but you will have at least minimized his discomfort and ability to rehearse fearful behaviors.  In other words, the problem shouldn’t get any worse and normal house cleaning won’t undermine all your training progress.

Good Luck!

Learn more about Dr. Grey Stafford

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