Why is man's best friend afraid of the vacuum?

I dont think my dog is afraid for the vaccum. But I do know she is afraid of bubbles. I found some bubbles one day while cleaning some stuff out, I was kinda bored so I went outside and started to blow some bubbles in the yard...My dog wouldnt come near me. I dont know why she is afraid of them but she is. She will go away when she sees that I have bubbles.

It's actually my cat, Tara, thats afraid of it lol. She is very inquisitive though, and she's not at all bothered by it when it's just sitting there not doing anything. However, when we get it out and plug it in, she eyes it with great trepidation, and as soon as we turn it on, and the headlight at the front comes on, she's off behind the sofa, so I'm convinced its the noise combined with the headlight that scares her silly lol. I do have reason to believe that she may be genuinely terrified of the headlight. She was a rescue cat and before that, she was a stray on the streets. We have reason to believe that she may have narrowly avoided been hit by a car a time or two, and to that extent, seeing the headlight on the vacuum coming towards her, may very well remind her of those times.

I don't think dogs are afraid of the vacuum until the first time you turn it on in front of them. Once they know it is capable of those horrible noises, they are always leery of it. After all, they probably don't get that is is us flipping a switch that makes it start, it probably seems pretty random to them. My dog used to be extremely nervous about the vacuum, but I started giving him treats while I vacuumed and now it doesn't bother him. He will even let me vacuum his fur with the nozzel! My cat has never been afraid of the vacuum at all. I have to push him with my foot to get him to move out of the way sometimes (no, he isn't deaf), he lets me vacuum him, too.

My pup is scared of the vaccum as well. She learned to jump on the bed running from it. As soon as I get it out she high tails it to my bed and hides!!! I think its funny. I have tried to get her used to it but to no avail.

Mine try to attack it! She will bark and bite and charge at it anytime I'm using it. I think she thinks that it is attacking me! Either that or she's mad that its sucking up all the good stuff she might find lying around to eat or chew on!

I have a doberman/rottweiler mix who is petrified of the vacuum, yet oddly interested in it. It's fun to see her bolt across the living room, jump on and off furniture, come around, try to sniff near the vacuum, get scared and do it all over again. Of course, half the fun is chasing her with the vacuum.

Its normal believe me. My cats are afraid of it too they always go running and hide till I put it away. I think its the noise it has to be. There is nothing you can do about it.

Honestly I believe the number one reason my puppy is afraid of the vacuum is... I have a feeling the noise is just way too loud for her. It is either that or she believes the machine is going to end up hurting her in some weird way or even eating her. I sometimes even feel like she thinks she is being chased by some strange monster hell bent on hurting her. I had recently bought a new vacuum cleaner and I figured it would be quieter than it actually is. I remember the first time I turned it on and she went absolutely crazy. She started by running all over the house about five or six times. Even now she has the same reaction to that vacuum cleaner. It still seems to have enough volume to make her run around the house like something was after her. It's even worse if you aim the handle at her by accident or even go anywhere near her with it. She gets really defensive and will start to growl and bark at it a lot. There are other times when I will use another vacuum that tends to have another effect on her. This one makes her actually go and hide under the futon in the living room. When I bring it out she'll immediately run to that one part of the house and hide. She actually hates that vacuum more than the little canister one. I think because it stands taller than the canister one she feels like it is towering over her as opposed to being one that is closer to her size. I feel that she is truly fearful of these machines because of their size and if not that, then it is the noise they create. I have read in many different books that the reason my puppy is so scared of a vacuum cleaner in the first place is because of the loud noise it creates. It is a much louder thing than she is and it seems that when it is running the noise somewhat dominates her. She gets put on edge right after it gets turned on every time. That would make sense to me because when it's running and making a certain noise, if it does anything to provoke her she'll go nuts and want to tear the thing to pieces in no time flat. I would really love it if there was one time where I vacuumed that didn't seem to scare the living heck out of her. I have found that sometimes she is shaking afterwards and she looks downright scared when the vacuuming is all over and done with. I think a great invention would be a completely silent vacuum cleaner. I bet it would be very tough to build and even more expensive to run and that would just really make it not worthwhile to have after all. But I guess all of us will never know until one is actually created.. If one hasn't been already without me knowing.. In conclusion, I believe the biggest reason why my puppy is scared of the vacuum is because of the loud noise it creates. I know her hearing is stronger than a normal human and that might play into the reason why it freaks her out so much. I just wish sometimes there was a way that she could go around the house not intimidated by an appliance that just makes a lot of noise. I cannot think of any other reasons dogs may be afraid of the vacuum in general.. I guess one would have to do research to find out what studies say & so forth.. All I know is I believe this is why my little puppy acts in this manner whenever our vacuum cleaner gets pulled out! . . Thanks for allowing me to share! xx

hah!. It's true. Every dog I've known has been scared of vaccuums; I have no idea why. I used to have a huge pittbull dog named samson. He was fierce..but was terrified of the vaccuuum. If he was across the house and heard it turn on, he would run toward it (not too close mind you) and start barking at it. Then me and my sisters would run after him with it and he would run away as fast as he could. It was only when it was off that he actually had the courage to quickly go up to it and take a bite. They are mens' best friends and men DO hate cleaning, that's a good point. Perhaps that's the reason!

I think that they associate the loud noise with the vacuum shape and that's why they act afraid. We've got hardwood floors and never vacuum, and our greyhound sniffs the vacuum in the closet but isn't afraid. I'm sure the first time I use it around him, he'll bug out and hate it, but for now, it sits right next to his food and he sniffs it every morning and night with no fear. My parents have a sheltie that used to run in circles around the vacuum when she was young. Every time you'd vaccum, the vacuum "tracks" would be immediately ruined, lol.

Pets, most of them in fact, not just dogs, tend to be scared of vacuums for the same reason babies may be scared of it; Blue the Blind got his information from the other dogs. The thing is that they do not unerstand how it works, all they know is that it sucks stuff up. Since beyond that, they know not what it does, or how it works, or what makes it start. They are likely affraid it will suck them up. This sounds silly simply because we know how it works, which they do not.

I've got two dogs. And they are afraid of bouncing balls, and my hair blower? From my own observation, dogs fear stemmed from bad experience. I remember when my boy was playing his ball, he accidentally hit the dog. From then on, he is afraid of the ball. even if it is motionless, he will hide or stay away from it. He actually hate the ball. When I was fixing my hair using my blower. He was looking at me with wondering eyes. So I showed her the blower right infront of her face, and she ran away. So everytime I took out my blower she will run adn hide. Their fear is associated with their bad experience from it. Maybe your dog the first time that he encountered your vacuum, he felt he was being pulled something which to him is an alien object. So the fear was developed.

I don't like vacuums either. All the pet I have ever had were afraid of it. I think the noise is a big part. Maybe your dogs just remember how scary it is when it's running. I think it might smell bad to dogs as well if it ever gets overheated.