Sampson is one of the most well-rounded, easy going, laid back dogs I’ve ever met. We took the time when he was younger to socialize him and expose him to as many things as possible.
We have a very quiet home life which I think is a big contributor to why he is such a mellow fellow.
Typically Sampson loves to have company over, but I do notice after a certain amount of time on the holidays, my mellow fellow will start chewing on a toy, or licking his paws. That’s when I can tell he’s had enough. If the party is still in full swing, I’ll lead him to the bedroom and settle him down, allowing him the peace and quiet he loves so well.
Despite our best efforts to expose him to as many situations as possible, we can’t expose him to all.
I found this out last week, just before I went on vacation.
The phone rang at the office and it was my mom. Something was beeping upstairs, did I know what it might be?
Well there is a smoke alarm up there. But this was not the slow, methodical chirp of a smoke alarm with a low battery, nor was it the piercing, continuous screech of the “oh shit I burned the dinner” alarm.
Yes, it was piercing and yes it was methodical as I could hear as soon as she opened the door to the upstairs.
The other sound I heard was the frantic and labored panting of a dog in distress.
Sampson was freaking out. And I was five minutes away and all alone in the office.
As soon as Sampson saw my mom, he knew his savior had arrived. Unfortunately, she couldn’t comfort him and in the process of trying, he scratched up her arm (she’s on Coumadin and her skin is very thin) he also tried to climb into her lap and in the process he stepped on her foot.
What could I do? I waited a few minutes hoping someone would come back to the office, but when no-one did, I locked the door and flew home.
My mom couldn’t disable the smoke detector, so I pulled it off the wall and pulled the battery. I took Sampson and Delilah outside, away from the source of the noise and let them relieve themselves. I brought them back inside, urged them to have a bit of water and then I had to get back to work. I felt horrible leaving them, but there was no-one at the office and I had to go back.
As soon as I had someone in the office, I went back home and grabbed Sampson and Delilah and brought them to the office with me. After about fifteen minutes, lying beside my desk, then and only then did my big guy settle down.
I like that peaceful, easy feeling.
It was a heart-wrenching experience both for my mom and me to watch Sampson panic like that. Thankfully my mom is on the mend and I think we both learned valuable lessons from the experience. Not the least of which (for me anyway) is no matter how much you think you’ve prepared your dog, you can’t prepare them for everything.
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We can so understand how panicky you must have felt. There is nothing worse than knowing that your babies are stressed out and of course you got to go and sort it out. We would have done exactly the same. Glad all was well in the end. Have a tremendous Thursday.
Best wishes Molly
I hate it when Donna is panicky too, which used to be more often with her thunder phobia, so I can understand about Sampson. Even if we can’t prepare for them for everything, at least we can prepare them for a portion of everything and that will have to be good enough. I hope your mom has healed! 🙂
Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee That was SCARY Indeed!!! Glad it all tuned out OKAY though.
Our dogs do not like that sound either. I think it must be the pitch. They get really nerved up if the smoke detector chirps because of low battery or goes off accidentally. Also our carbon monoxide detector chirps when it goes back on after a power outage. They kind of loose it for a bit if that happens. I can totally understand your stress.
Mom, being a realtor, has been in many foreclosed homes with the beeping smoke detectors. She feels for Sampson as it is like a Chinese Water Torture, it makes humans nuts and you know what it it. Poor pups! We are glad, though, the post is about the dogs and not your husband, although the part about “leading him up to the bedroom to relax” sounded a bit fishy at first. I think all the rain we are having has made our brains a bit soggy and odd! Remember! Change those batteries once a year and that shouldn’t happen again!
I hate nothing more than seeing one of my guys panic. I can imagine how you must have felt – hugs!
Hi Y’all!
Whoa! Y’all are lucky you can just pull a battery out! Our smoke alarms are hard wired and connected to the burglar alarms…so…
First, you can’t stop the noise until the smoke clears out, then you have to reset the alarm plus you get THE phone call from the alarm company. In the meantime, the noise is driving me crazy and the Humans too! In the mountains the alarm is so sensitive (there is an alarm in every room) it goes off whenever the Humans light the gas fireplace…no smoke involved there.
I hate the noise and try to hide as far from the noise as possible. It hurts my ears.
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
My guys freak out also when the alarm goes off…its the piercing sound as you described…must hurt their ears…why did yours goes off…would hate to think it would do that for no reason when no one is home…poor dogs..at least your mom was there this time…imagine any of our dogs home alone..jeesh
oh no how awful. Hope all is well now. That is a sweet picture. Have a great day.
Smoke detectors are the worst. Bailey has become storm reactive as he’s gotten older and of course many of them happen in the middle of the night. It is heart breaking and exhausting to deal with his stress knowing the storm has to pass before he can feel relief.
Poor Sampson! I’m not sure what either Moses or Alma would do in that situation. They’ve experienced the smoke detector going off a couple of times (cooking mishaps), but we’re always quick to shut it off.
Torrey is the same way. Anything out of the realm of ordinary will get her in a panic. Thankfully she is not as bad as she was when she was younger, but I never know.
Poor pup. Besides not being able to expose our dogs to everything when they’re young, they can become more sensitive to sounds over time. It happens to people. So it doesn’t surprise me to think it could happen to dogs.
Your post and all the comments make me think there might be a market for pet-friendly smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors. What pitch serves the purpose of waking humans without freaking out dogs? Or could the detectors add a chip that makes a less invasive sound when they’re reminding you to change the batteries instead of warning you to get out of the house before you die?
Glad Sampson was able to settle down eventually.
Oh wow! Poor Sampson! He must have been so scared to be panicked like that!!! I am glad you got him all settled at your office afterwards. But your absolutely right, we can’t possibly prepare them for every single thing in the world, no matter how hard we try!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Aw, poos Sampson…that sound would drive me batty too. Glad your mom is okay. My dad was on coumadin too and I know all to well how fragile that makes the skin.
that should read POOR 🙂
Awww. My own babies freak out like that when the smoke alarm goes off. It IS heartbreaking. I’m so sorry.
Oh gosh – the fire alarm chirp/siren/whatever noise it happens to be making – is the worst! Even I want to hide from it. Blueberry hates it. I’ve taken to just getting completely new alarms each year so I don’t have to worry about it going on the fritz when I am not around. Glad you were finally able to get them to a calmer environment!
So true. Our beagle Kobi was not scared of anything, nothing…..except the smoke detector. One day we came home and it was beeping, and he had had accidents upstairs in the bedroom. I felt SO BAD for him. But he bounced back pretty quickly, and we were extra careful to be sure they didn’t go off (which was far worse for him than the low battery beeping). I hate having to leave the dogs home alone, and that’s just one of the reasons why. But we have to work!