The other night I let Evie sleep in the bed with me and right when I was about to fall into a deep sleep Evie lets out a loud howl. I wake up to see her barking at the window. I was so confused. There was no one there-since I live on the second floor, no cars pulling up in the parking lot, and no noise coming from the neighbors. This isn’t the first time she’s done this and it causes some sleepless nights.
Sometimes when I turn the lights off she starts barking at any little shadow or perceived movement of inadament objects. So I decided to google, ” Are dogs afraid of the dark?”. I was surprised to find that 852,000 searches for that same phrase were made before. While searching for some information about whether dogs are afraid of the dark and the reason behind it, I can across the same article about 5 times.
The article, ” Is your dog afraid of the dark?” by Tyler Brown, goes into two specific behaviors as to why dogs are afraid of the dark, and other things. The article mentions poor breeding habits that can cause a dog to have a “weak” nervous system. I felt insulted when I read that because I insisted on buying a dog from a breeder, not just someone who’s dog had puppies ( I am not saying that’s a bad thing, because dogs do get pregnant) but a certified CKC or AKC breeder. I found a woman named Kathy in Tallahassee, Fl who had many years under her belt of breeding toy dogs. I remember her practically doing a background check on me before she let me walk out the door with Evie. She interrogated me for about an hour and wanted to see me interact with Evie before she let me go. I’m glad she did that, it made me feel confident in the dog that I was paying for. I knew that if I had any questions or concerns she was only a phone call away. She also assured me that Evie’s parents had no history of illnesses or diseases, and provided me with Evie’s first shots, health record and CKC registration papers. So I can rule out poor genetics right there, and it’s always hard to tell with a Chihuahua; they are so finicky sometimes and calm the next minute.
The second main cause of a dog being fearful of the dark, according to Tyler Brown, is poor socialization. This can’t be a reason why, or could it be? I know Evie is a house dog and she can be down right spoiled sometimes but every since she was a puppy she’s been surrounded by Chavez who is a year and half older than her and Ava who is one year older than her. Plus, Mike and I used to take them to the dog park at least once a week. I tried to socialize Evie with People and other dogs and she is coming around to people better than before. When she’s away from the pack she reacts to other dogs much better but she can be confrontational and bark excessively at other dogs when they are around. Once she starts barking, it’s like she can’t control herself. The hair on her back spikes up like a mo hawk and with every bark her front two legs bounce up and down. It’s like she has to create something out of nothing at random times, maybe this is just one of those things. She thinks she’s hearing and seeing things and she just has to make sure she protects me, and herself.
So what can I do to stop Evie from barking at her shadow or just into plain darkness? Well Tyler recommends I get her accustomed to what it is that is bothering her and not to scold her or “coddle” her. Yelling at her and comforting her I guess can be double negatives, one tells her she’s a bad girl for being scared and the other one will never allow her to get over her fear. I think I have the remedy for this one. How about I don’t allow her to sleep on the bed with me anymore, and just make her sleep in her bag? She loves it in there anyways and she doesn’t make noise or barks at shadows when she’s in there. Additionally, I know it’s a key training rule to make sure that dogs have their own space and are crate trained. At least I did that right. So for the next seven days I will put her straight in her bag and we’ll see if she makes any noise or barks while she’s in there.
Do you think Evie still be afraid of the dark? We’ll just have to wait and see.
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