It's about to rain and we got our play in as soon as the human mom returned. Dennis was here and had them out in the family room but no photos. So, Moxie arrived and then we headed outside. Now it looks like rain, rain, rain and they tell us that means we will head upstairs for our next play session vs. outside. Just when we were really enjoying the fresh air.
People already had chain saws going, lawn mowers and all sorts of things. It made us pause momentarily and then we got used to it then we paused and got used to it as the next door neighbor was turning it on, turning it off over and over and over again. Then we had a plane fly overhead and most of us looked up to see where that was coming.
It is normal for a pup to react to a sound they do not know. Do not ever coddle but instead distract, play and when they calm down or stop reacting, hug them and tell then how great they are. This is how they learn that there is nothing to be concerned about. Picking them up and coddling only validates that there is something to worry about.
This is what conditioning is about. It could be a strange hat, a loud bang, pans falling etc.
We had a 6 week visit one year out on the deck and the next door neighbor (it was irritating) kept trimming the hedges and it was so loud you could barely hear. The pups reacted. We educated and they got proper conditioning. It all worked so I actually enjoy conditioning as it builds their coping skills.
Pups had a great time.