This was an addiction I was not prepared for: I’m addicted to buying dog stuff. If this was my first dog ever, I’d understand it more. If I hadn’t been around dogs for many years, I’d be able to justify this obsession. But I’ve walked 84 dogs in the past two years, completed 500 total walks — including during this worldwide health pandemic — and previously co-owned two dogs over the course of a 22-year period. Dogs are a sizeable part of my life.
But there’s something about a dog being solely yours that apparently turned me into a psycho who wants to take photos of her doing every ridiculous thing and staring at the dog section in every retail store or e-commerce site. My dog gets on my nerves on an almost-daily basis, but I adore her. Still, I had to self-evaluate my quest to be Santa Claus 365 days a year. I was indirectly making my dog chaotic when it comes to noises, and that was not my intention.
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I’ve been around many dogs who are unphased by doorbells, phones ringing and text alerts. They hear it, raise their heads and then go right back to what they’re doing. Then there have been other dog owners who have signs prominently placed on the front door about not ringing the doorbells and calling first. I found this curious. I didn’t understand what the big deal was, considering the dog could smell me coming anyway. And as long as the phone ringtone wasn’t loud, who cares?
Recommended Read: “‘Hear’ your dog out on pet ear health ~ Understanding just how sensitive your dog’s ears are to loud noise”
Apparently dogs do, and it’s not as simple as dogs being able to hear at a frequency range of 40 to 60,000 hertz (Hz) while humans can only hear at approximately 20 and 20,000 Hz. Sometimes it’s what happens after the noise that makes the dog react so dramatically to the sound of a doorbell or phone call.