Ask Me Help Desk - My dog hates when I'm cooking!

My dog hates when I'm cooking!

I have a two year old male Pomeranian/chihuahua mix dog who absolutely freaks out when my boyfriend or I cook anything in the kitchen. We try to talk soothingly to him, scratch him, hold him and even sometimes give him a great but nothing calms him down. He will shake and pant hysterically until we are completely done cooking and we are sitting down to eat. I've looked to see if this happened with other dogs as well and all I can find online is dogs freaking out when lamb is being cooked. That doesn't even help me much because my dog spazzes

**rest of question**

When we cook ANYTHING! If anyone knows of a way that we could calm him down, please share! I hate to see him so distressed!

What happens in your kitchen? Is it exceptionally noisy, pots clanging and such.
Has he always done this? Has something changed?
Have you moved? Or has he been accidentally injured or frightened by something while you were cooking?

Start feeding him in the kitchen. If you start making him associate good with what he's afraid of, it might help him calm down a bit.

If you decide this way, stand strong. He may go on a hunger strike. Of he goes 4 days of not eating, than change where he eats. But really work at it. Give him canned food, table scraps, the whole 9 yards...

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadySam

What happens in your kitchen? Is it exceptionally noisy, pots clanging and such.
Has he always done this? Has something changed?
Have you moved? or has he been accidently injured or frightened by something while you were cooking?

Usually the noisiest it gets while we're cooking is moderate sizzling coming from whatever we've got on the stove. He's usually fine with pots and pans banging around, because that happens almost every day when I empty the dishwasher. Nothing's happened to him that could have traumatized him and we've been in the same location for the whole time he's been with us.

His hysterics have only gotten to a point where it concerns my boyfriend and I within the last several months or so, and for the life of either of us, we can't figure out what's freaking him out so bad!

Did he get spattered by grease once maybe as he walked past the stove?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucky098

Start feeding him in the kitchen. If you start making him associate good with what he's afraid of, it might help him calm down a bit.

If you decide this way, stand strong. He may go on a hunger strike. Of he goes 4 days of not eating, than change where he eats. But really work at it. Give him canned food, table scraps, the whole 9 yards...

I do give him a slice of cheese or lunch meat while we're cooking, since he's usually standing nearby, but he just eats it right up and then returns to freaking out.

The only thing that I can think of is that he doesn't like when we're not all in the living room. He's the kind of dog that gets VERY used to a specific schedule, and tends to get a bit spastic if we stray from that schedule at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Did he get spattered by grease once maybe as he walked past the stove?

I don't think he has. I'm pretty protective of him AND my boyfriend, as I don't really like cooking with a ton of grease but he does. I try to make sure they're not close enough where they could get caught by some flying grease or whatnot. It would have had to be a lot of grease anyway since his fur is so thick- it takes a lot for him to feel anything through it.

Perhaps he is associating the cooking with the treats, when you cook he gets a treat and like many small breeds gets excited at the prospect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kMarie1988

it takes a lot for him to feel anything through it.

My cats avoid walking past the side of the stove to the basement door when there's bacon or ground beef frying. Even just a few flying spatters can hit their face as they go by--doesn't have to be landing on their fur. It isn't the pain, but the surprise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kMarie1988

I do give him a slice of cheese or lunch meat while we're cooking, since he's usually standing nearby, but he just eats it right up and then returns to freaking out.

The only thing that I can think of is that he doesn't like when we're not all in the living room. He's the kind of dog that gets VERY used to a specific schedule, and tends to get a bit spastic if we stray from that schedule at all.

Which is why I suggested to feed his meal in the kitchen.

If you feed twice a day, he'll have to be in there twice a day. I would also suggest to put his water bowl in there. Make him go in there as much as he can on his own terms.

I would also suggest to ignore his behavior. When you are giving him treats to "calm him down", you are actually re-enforcing his behavior. Giving him treats while you are cooking is telling him that its OK to act the way he is acting. Dogs aren't people.. they don't understand comfort to call them down when they are panicked.

You could also just remove him from the situation all together. It may be a pain for you and an extra step.. but put him in a room or kennel when you are going to start cooking.

Letting a dog control any situation with behavior is going open the door up for much worse things. Your dog may be fightened of the kitchen, but he is also letting you know he doesn't approve by constantly pestering you and showing you his upset.

So either ignore him and go about your business and feeding and watering him in the area he doesn't like, or make him disappear while you are cooking.

Whether it was trauma or him just being a jerk, you need to put a stop to it in some way. Giving treats and coddling him isn't going to work, in fact, it'll make it worse.

The first time my Yorkie freaked out he was just a few weeks old. I was frying chicken and he went in a corner by me and started shaking, panting, his heart was racing, and he was not able to hold himself up while sitting. Since Yorkies are prone to low blood sugar I thought he was having an attack so I gave him some Karo on his gums. After a few minutes he was getting worse and I freaked out and told my husband I was taking him to the hospital. When my husband came out to the kitchen he was fine... I had turned off the stove. A few weeks later I was making hamburgers and the same thing happened and I treated him the same way. After the hamburgers were done, he was fine. After the 3rd and 4th time I realized he wasn't having blood sugar attacks, but fear from me cooking on the stove. The oven, microwave, toaster/oven does not affect him. The grill outside does not affect him. No matter what I cook on the stove he freaks out so bad. He shakes uncontrolably, cowers in a corner by my feet, his heart beats fast and hard, and gets stiff when I pick him up. I was afraid he would have a heart attack. Now before I start cooking, I put him in the bedroom and close the door until I'm done cooking. If I get a frying pan out he runs to the bedroom before I cook. Weird. Removing him from the immediate area solved the problem.