# HT Frightens Pets



## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

I'm wondering about everyone's experiences with their pets and explosive/loud movies. Do you guys notice any anxiety while watching? While many HTs are dedicated rooms, our HT is upstairs while our pets are downstairs, however, it is completely open, so they experience much of the dynamics too. Our mutt has never shown any sensitivity to loud movies (we hear her snoring at times!) even with our quite capable system(14hz-20khz) but we just adopted a shelter APBT (Pit Bull) and so I was thinking about the topic. Thus far he has shown amazing tolerance to loud rocknroll music as he lays down and appears to completely ignore it. I'll likely crate him initially and gradually use more dynamic movies while I watch him from above (my recliner provides a view of him) 

What are your experiences?


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

The last 12 years or so I've had a male and female German Shorthair. The only time I have seen them react to the home theater is when there is a police/fire siren in a scene. Much like your dog, mine seem to completely ignore it. The male tends to plop down and sleep right in front of my sub :coocoo:


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## Andre (Feb 15, 2010)

Strangely enough mine seem to be fine unless they are on the wood floor. Might be vibrations to the pads of their feet.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Thanks for the replies; I figured there would be some interesting responses.


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

I've got a bull mastiff (170lb house horse,male) and a boxer shepard mix (65lb gaurdian of all things,female). The big guy will howl like a wolf when a siren or a loud high pitched noise is happining (like a female singer) then he'll flop on the floor after it's over, the little one will stand gaurd and patrol the area like she's waiting for something to happen, it's kind of comedy.:dumbcrazy: For the most part i keep them in the backroom as there hearing is so much more sensitive but there are them moments when they are around the action.


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## daniel (Dec 31, 2006)

If someone knocks in the surround speaker my german sheppard will bark at the door. If he hears cats or dogs, same thing.


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

daniel said:


> If someone knocks in the surround speaker my german sheppard will bark at the door. If he hears cats or dogs, same thing.


Oh yeah i forgot about animal planet. The big guy will watch it with amazement almost more intensely then my wife, LOL!


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## alg8er (Nov 16, 2009)

Great Dane and a Wolf/Lab/Akita mix. The dogs have outside access, and can go out whenever. The Dane doesn't care, but the mix will go out when things get loud. The wife's cats freak though. They leave as soon as I power up.


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Whoa! 170lbs!!! I only weigh 150lbs and my new dog is 65lbs, and he loves/hates cats, he either loves to eat them or hates enough to kill, as I found out on our walk yesterday :yikes: 

I'll fire up the ht this weekend, but I think he'll be fine (though no Animal Planet or feline movies to be shown anytime soon :heehee


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## Spuddy (Jan 2, 2010)

I got a tiny (15lb) lovechild mutt, and she's never had much of an issue with my Klipsch/Velodyne theater setup until the volume is at painful levels and she just leaves. Crazy enough though, I hooked my new vintage Marantz floor speakers up to the TV and stereo last month, and the lack of sound coloring is good enough that any time a car is driving by, a door shuts/opens, someone coughs, etc., on an HD TV show she'll go alert and let out a quick "someone's here" bark. I can't blame her though, I've actually gotten up to check the front door a few times before realizing what happened :doh:


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Our Beagle who is a year and a half watches the movies on the big screen and sometimes reacts when something rapidly moves towards the camera or there is a large change in camera position as she steps backwards. Once the movie has been on for about 30 min she looses interest and goes to sleep at our feet.


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## lsiberian (Mar 24, 2009)

bambino said:


> I've got a bull mastiff (170lb house horse,male) and a boxer shepard mix (65lb gaurdian of all things,female). The big guy will howl like a wolf when a siren or a loud high pitched noise is happining (like a female singer) \


Does that count as 8.1 when the dog howls?


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

ironglen said:


> I'll fire up the ht this weekend, but I think he'll be fine (though no Animal Planet or feline movies to be shown anytime soon :heehee


No animal planet your lucky!:hissyfit:


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

lsiberian said:


> Does that count as 8.1 when the dog howls?


I think it would,LOL!:bigsmile: That would make it my center room center channel, Who needs height and width surronds with that?:heehee:


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

I've got three Yorkies (long story) that collectively weigh about ~18lbs. 

Normally fairly quiet, but go crazy if someone knocks at the front door. At first, if they heard a door bell or a knock coming from the stereo, they went into kill/bark mode. They've since "figured" it out and will no longer bark unless there really is someone there -- I think because they can hear someone coming up the steps first, so if they don't hear the steps they know it's not the real thing.

Anyway, other noises/sounds/images do nothing as far as they're concerned.


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## daniel (Dec 31, 2006)

bambino said:


> I've got a bull mastiff (170lb house horse,male)


When I think about my wife who keep saying that my little baby, 126 lb german sheppard, is a big monster, I'll remember that one.


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

I know one thing, it's always nice to be greeted by your happy pets when you come home but when there is a dog the size of a locomotive running at you......... brace yourself:yikes:.


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## CobaltBlue (Jan 7, 2010)

Ha! our Schipperkes sound off when they hear _anything_ on the HT that they would bark at in realtime: Dogs barking (even ones you don't notice but are present in Hi-Fi!), birds--they hate birds--, the sound of a deadbolt or the mailbox, someone knocking or ringing a doorbell etc. If someone crinkles a plastic bag in the movie, they run to the kitchen for the treat.

We absolutely, positively can not watch dog movies except with "Mute" and subtitles!


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## robbo266317 (Sep 22, 2008)

I find it hilarious when a helicopter is coming from the rear through to the front, our cats will turn around and follow the path it takes trying to figure out what is making the noise.


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## KYWalker (Mar 28, 2010)

We had a Shihtzu that didn't care a bit at any level. However, our Spitz absolutely hated booming movies. Almost any time a loud explosion went off, so did he. Right on the carpet. Wonderful :rolleyesno: Cats don't seem to care either.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Shihtzu's are inherently nervous dogs my mother in law has one that also does the same thing during thunder or loud noises and absolutely is scared of bugs it will  right on the spot.


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## Jimmi C (Aug 27, 2010)

Seriously funny stuff! I have a pug who doesn't seem to mind the surround sound, but she is a sucker for a lap. I often wonder if their ears get damaged like ours do so I've decided that if it is loud enough to hurt my ears it probably hurts hers as well.


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

Jimmi C said:


> Seriously funny stuff! I have a pug who doesn't seem to mind the surround sound, but she is a sucker for a lap. I often wonder if their ears get damaged like ours do so I've decided that if it is loud enough to hurt my ears it probably hurts hers as well.


Good call, dogs have like a million times better hearing then ours dontknow so when i play my system loud no kids or dogs alowed for that matter the wife either (she hates it).:T


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## Jimmi C (Aug 27, 2010)

That's awesome! Although for some reason I don't think my wife will put up with that, but maybe i'll try it anyway!!


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

Good luck!:T


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## ironglen (Mar 4, 2009)

Just a follow-up: my new dog seems indifferent to the ht upstairs, lucky for me! As much as our dogs would like to be closer to us, upstairs is off-limits:carpet :doh:


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## Kenobi (Aug 11, 2010)

For one thing, my sub frightened this old dog and his family the last time I played the new Star Trek movie. The room was shaking like we had an earthquake. It was interesting because the bass was not heard at all but seriously felt. The projector was shaking violently and caused a mis-alignment, the house was just creaking and moaning due to the low-frequency rumble. What's the issue? Turns out I had the old Audyssey calibration (for the old sub which enjoyed a bass boost at the lowest octave) and the new Submersive sub which is a lot more capable amplified the added boost to where we really FELT it with fear. That was a scary experience for myself and my family to say the least.

Best,

Kenobi


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## Zeitgeist (Apr 4, 2009)

We have two cats and they don't care how loud I watch something.... The younger cat will sometimes stand on the stairs and watch.

Otherwise.. they're oblivious.


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