6 year old Labrador is scared of the sound of rattling plastic. What to do to help him?

My 6 yr. old yellow lab is scared to death of the sound of plastic rattling. If you go to get a grocery bag or some type of food that is in a plastic container he gets down real low and tucks his tail between his legs and moves real slow. He is scared of this but I dont know why. We've never teased him with plastic bags (example: putting them on this head etc) but he has this fear. Does anyone know what to do?The dog has always been kept at home with us. If leaving on vacation we leave him outside in his large fenced in area. We leave a automatic food dispenser and water in a 5 gallon bucket for him. Never even seen a kennel.

Sounds like he hasnt had to many bag exp. put him in a room with a few bags and turn the fan on and stay in there for a bit

Probably nothing you do will make it better.. I'd just try to avoid making those noises around him...

I wish I could help. I have a skittish dog myself. He's very brave when confronted by strangers, etc. but he's scared of paper falling on the floor. Really weird.The best advice I have is to comfort him when he is scared. That has seemed to help my dog. I try not to do any of the things he is scared of and if I do see him cowering, I go over to him and try to comfort him and show him that it's just a piece of paper.Good luck!

During something he enjoys (such as eating) I would go in another room and make the sound. Do it again the next day, moving a little closer. Try this for several days or weeks. Hopefully he will be so absorbed with eating his food that when he sub-conciously hears the rattling of the bag he won't pay much attention. He might even associate the rattling sound with something good, like eating... and hopefully that will make the problem disappear!

simple, labs are hogs, so buy a box of milkbones and bring them inside in a plastic bag (shaking them) only give bones from the bag/box combo. worked for me

I think your best bet would be to ask the vet for advice. It sounds like somehow your dog has had some type of bad experience with plastic and now he's remembering it. Did you ever leave him with anyone or have him boarded while you were away? Maybe something happened that you don't know about, but possibly the vet will have some ideas for you. What you're describing sounds a lot like cat behavior, cats tend to be naturally afraid of noises like that.Good luck to you and your dog, I hope it works out.

Don't try the fan trick. It will only make it worse.Take a bag and tie it to you belt loop in the back. Then simply walk around the house and do your normal thing. Don't shake it around or force them to acknowledge it. The dog will probably be scared at first but don't respond to their fear. Again, just go about your day.You should also place some of the bags throughout the house but they should stay stationary and not move. You just want them visible.By showing indifference to the item you are basically telling the dog, as their Alpha, there is nothing to fear and they will become desensitized to the sound. When it comes to any type of fear response from dogs it is our response to the dogs fear that is far more important than anything else. If you show there is no reason to be afraid of the stimulus, then the dog will eventually emulate it's Alpha.C

hey jake,i don't know if it will work, but try getting a box of sliced cheese...the kind that is wrapped individually in plastic sheets. keep it in one of those plastic grocery bags in the fridge. talk to him about "giving him a treat" or preferably "want some cheese?" and have him follow you to the fridge, grab the bag with the box of cheese, and then go sit down on the couch with him facing you and the package. make him believe that this is a present and seem excited over the whole process.slowly remove the bag telling him verbally that everything is allright and pet him or have someone else pet him (show him lots of affection...may be even a family project with the petting) while you are doing this. unwrap the cheese and fold it into sections so that it will tear into quarters. give him a piece while balling up the plastic sheet slowly, but where he can hear it. continue to crinkle the plastic while you give him the other pieces of cheese. always have him watch you rewrap the cheese box with the plastic bag. you might even want to hold that last quarter of cheese to after you wrap the box back up to reassure him that everything is alright and that the bag is not going to hurt him in any way. keep his attention. a couple of slices a day cut or folded into squares following this plan should work. you can even have him follow you back to the fridge to watch you return the cheese box wrapped in the plastic bag. then give him that last bit of cheese.soon (maybe a couple of weeks in moderation), he should become accustomed to placing the sound of the plastic with good thoughts as opposed to bad. at his age, it is a tough call, but i really believe it will work. just show your excitement over giving him the treat and go through the process, talking ot him in a calming voice all the while. i can call my dog with a bag of chips from a 200 yard radius...and she will do all sorts of things for cheese, but that is how i trained her to do tricks...cheese squares go a long way with a puppy and a grown dog, too. they want your affection and your kindness, and cheese won't hurt them...it is loaded with calcium and stuff.i am guessing that at some point during his life, he had a bad experience with plastic...and you may not even have known it. for example, he may have eaten some and the "outcome" may have hurt him in some way. or if you live in an area where you have to deal with poop scooping, he may be associating the plastic bag with that.i am not a vet, but i have had dogs every since i was a kid. my family raised AKC registered german shepherds when i was a kid, and i love dogs...the bigger the better. when i was a kid, my dog phoebe had an experience with a gallon milk jug...it got stuck on her head from where she had been rooting through the trash and had got it out to do whatever. long story short, she got it stuck over her head. when we went out in the yard and found her, she was delusional from being completely blind with the jug stuck on her head. from that time to her passing, she never once got back into the trash. she was probably 5 at the time; she passed at the ripe old age of 18 years. dogs are smart. they learn just like we do.i hope this works for you. it is worth a shot.thanks for the question.

Well, you can try not to rattle plastic so much around him. That is one solution. If you want to try to desensitize him to it, there are a number of methods. I would not suggest "flooding him" with stimulus (ie scaring the crap out of him by going right up to him and shaking a bag in his face). The best method is to try to take very slow and reinforcing steps to make him associate the bag with fun (or food). I would suggest laying a plastic bag on the floor in sight and giving him treats closer and closer to the bag. Then pick the bag up in your hand (quietly) and while holding the bag toss treats to him a few feet away. After a while you can make a very quiet noise with the bag in your hand and quickly reinforce him after the noise occurs. Work your way up to the point where he doesn't mind the bag because he knows something good will probably happen after the bag makes noise.This will take a number of days --> weeks to work on with him. Go very slowly and if your dog is acting very nervous then go back a few steps and work your way back up. Make the whole thing fun! You can change the method as you see fit. For example, while you are supervising him you may put a treat near or even on the bag, so he has to make the noise to get the treat. You may want to put the treats or toys in the bag with a hole in it so the "fun items" fall out every once in a while.Remember, never leave your dog alone unsupervised with a plastic bag. Best of luck!