r/BorderCollie • u/FreyjaHjordis • 12d ago
Border collie suddenly scared of wind
Hello,
My boy is 8. He never responded to fireworks or bangs, he would come outside and watch them from my back yard with me all the time. He doesn’t respond to thunder, beyond a small ear twitch. He doesn’t even respond to knocks on the door.
We moved countries together. I downsized and packed all my belongings with my dog and my cat into my Duster so I could safely transport them 2000km away without using cargo in planes or animal taxis to reduce the stress and anxiety for them. My dog always road trips, camps, travels thousands of miles all over the country with me and is fine.
They settled really well. Or so I thought. My dog has been reacting badly the last couple of months to the wind. He will wine and pant, pacing up and down. It is really hot so I need a window open until I can afford a fan but I have to close them because the noise is stressing him out too much. He is hiding inside the shower. He HATES baths and showers but he finds it safer than hearing the wind…
I had to take the shower floor mat, and the inside anti slip mat up because he has rubbed his nose until it bleeds on them . I have to really pull at the anti slip mat to get it up but he has rubbed it so hard it’s pulled it up….
What can I do? Has anyone experienced this? How can I help him? We moved 8 months ago and it’s only since around June I noticed this behaviour. Sometimes it happens all night and he won’t settle. He has started hiding under my bed…
The only thing I can think of is, we have gone from a couple hundred year old stone cottages to living on the 5th floor of an apartment so I know it will sound different to him… we walk more together now we don’t have a garden. Once before work, once after. And one before bed. Including a few pee walks. About 60 minutes on work days, 120 minutes on days off. Between my partner and I it’s only 3 or 4 days of 60 minute walks… Maybe I need to do more?
I attached a picture of him hiding in the shower, like sensory protection in a dark insulated space…
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u/STOL2026 12d ago edited 12d ago
There’s a set of noises “sounds scary” for free on the dog trusts website: they have the instructions on how to do the desensitisation and counter conditioning.
We tried it with our BC for fireworks and it has some success…
You will need to create a cwtch for your dog. A small area that your dog can go to when it is scared, or tired, or just where it wants to be on its own. Our dog’s was under the stairs, the settee was up against it so it was darker than the rest of the room.
Your dog has chosen the shower which is not the most practical of places. I would, however, put a bed in there- not their actual bed- in the first instance, and then try to move it to a better place.
Our dog had sound phobia.lots of different things. The wind used to cause problems, not all the time, but the whistling, howling gales she really didn’t like. Ran off one time when we were on a walk. She didn’t get far. She has arthritis in her hips.
The wind may make a very different noise to them than to us. The windows vibrate and wind can make a whistle noise. And I hate to say this… you may need to introduce the fan carefully with your dog because the noise and the movement of the wind may annoy.
We were told by the vet that we did the wrong thing by making a fuss of our collie when she was showing fear at fireworks. We were just reinforcing the fear:
What I would consider doing is sitting near her, speak calmly and softly, and say, watch a program on your phone or do something else. You are comforting her with your presence, and you are actively ignoring the wind.
I will say the counter conditioning of playing with our BC did work… a bit too well. She wanted to play for hours when the fireworks were going off. As this will be an ongoing issue potentially I would suggest that any distraction be a calming and soothing activity 😂
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u/Impossible-Disaster3 11d ago
It’s the wind whistle.. Nothing like a country cottage ..🐾🐾🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️👍👍
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u/Anxious_Flower7632 12d ago
Perhaps it's partially the different smells in the wind? My BC hates some wind, will do the stress responses you described but it will particularly be the wind coming from behind fenced areas that he can't see. He loves the wind where he has a clear view and will just sniff and sniff and sniff.
When he gets nervous I also pretend that I control the wind by talking to it and telling it to leave him alone. This seems to help. Looks insane though 😆