[newslady08]

Hi there!

We have a 3-year-old Sheltie. She's a wonderfully cuddly, sweet dog, but she FREAKS out when we get ice out of the freezer. She starts jumping when we get a glass out of the cupboard, but she goes full out NUTS when we actually get the ice---barking, growling, nipping, scratching!! It's awful! She'll even run all the way down the stairs and BOLTS into the kitchen if she hears it going off.

How do we break this horrible habit?

Thank you!

[N0help4u]

Have you tried putting some in her bowl and make sure she watches.
Then she can sniff it and get use to it.
Not sure if that would cure her in time but may be worth a try.

[newslady08]

She LOVES eating/licking ice :) That's not the problem! She just goes CRAZY when she hears that noise. We've tried holding her and saying, "No!", we've tried peanut butter and LOTS of praise when it goes off so she doesn't think of it as a bad thing... I just don't know what to do. If we ever have kids, I'm scared she's going to hurt one of them if they go to get ice!!

[N0help4u]

Then she is getting overly excited about ice rather than a freak out paranoia
My boxer when I was a kid got the same way when somebody would light a cigarette.

[rex123]

You could try this little exercise. Have someone shake the ice, and then take her favorite treats and ask her to do tricks, like sitting down, or laying down, speaking and so on... This makes it so the dog gets to thinking when the ice shakes, I have to listen to my master. It also makes it so the dog is pre-ocupied, dogs can only handle one thing at a time.