Pretty early on, you could see that Louie was very sensitive to noise. He would go berserk at the sound of birds in trees and hedges. I have a row of evergreens in my backyard along the fence and Louie would run full speed along the hedge – either on the sidewalk or between the trunks of the evergreens and the fence. We live in western Wisconsin so most of Louie’s first 6 months have been in the winter and the birds that brave a northern winter take refuge in evergreens. These birds drove Louie nuts!!! They would chirp and tweet and he would lose it! Louie would run full speed barking, whining and yipping at the hedge.

In addition to making noise, Louie would rip, chew and shred every branch he could on my hedge to get to the birds or feel like he was getting to the birds. My hedge needed pruning but Louie has taken it to the extreme! Again I was not sure if this behavior was a result of:

• Prey drive from starving for so long that drove him to chase and attack the birds in the hedge,
• Noise sensitivity – because he went over-the-top on every noise he heard – squeaky toys, door bells, food choppers, whistles, drills, sirens, etc.
• Anxiety – was he just wound so tight that any little thing set him off?

I emailed the lady who found him in Louisiana on her farm and quizzed her about his background at least for the weeks he was running on the farm and what the farm environment was like. Well I found out that crawfish farming is not the quiet, tranquil farming I thought it was! Apparently the birds are a predator of crawfish and so the farms have air cannons that go off about once an hour all of the time! Well that might help explain some of his sensitivity to noise! But if he grew up in this environment would it really have that affect??? Or is it that he is just a nutty dog???

Due to his short attention span outside and the constant noises of living in the city, 1/2 a block from a major street, I always take Louie out in the backyard on a leash. If I do not, he will forget or neglect to take care of business! Louie has to be restrained and told repeatedly to “Go Potty” until he finally focuses on that and goes potty. If you do not continue to remind him and try to focus him, he will not go while he is outside and will come in the house and go. We have learned this the hard way!