Why do Dogs Chase Flies?

Chasing flying insects is not unusual dog behavior. Afterall, dogs are predators and, while our pet dogs are not required to chase down prey for a meal, the instinct is still there. Chasing flying insects allows them to satisfy their inner wild wolf.

A quick review of the literature tell us that dogs with high prey drive and activity levels are more prone to chasing and eating flies, and dogs that are bored and under-exercised are also more prone to developing this habit.

My experience over 20+ years as a professional dog trainer paints a more complex picture. Yes, it is true that dogs who are under exercised and bored develop all sorts of “neurotic” behaviors, including obsessive fly chasing. But I have witnessed it in dogs across the breed spectrum, ranging from herding dogs, to sighthounds and even toy dogs – as you will see in the following two stories

Some Dogs Develop an Unhealthy, Extreme Reaction to Flies...

Penelope is one of those dogs. She is the Rhodesian Ridgeback in the photo at the top of this blog post.

When she hears or sees a fly, she has a complete meltdown. If she is inside, she trembles and chases it and continues to obsess, long after the fly is gone. In an outside environment she is able to calm herself more easily after the fly is gone.

Boredom and inadequate exercise is not her problem. She gets lots of training, has a huge repertoire of tricks, another dog to play with play with, lots of hikes and her very own young boy to hang out with. It’s hard to imagine she has any time to develop a neurotic habit, but there it is: This fly thing. Not bees or yellow jackets, but flies. Once she hears one, nothing can interrupt her focus. This behavior sometimes interferes with her ability to experience certain activities normally.

One time at a regularly scheduled physical therapy appointment, a fly entered the room. The appointment had to be aborted. Penelope melted down, became obsessed and couldn’t recover, even after the fly had been dispatched.

Animal Communication Session to the Rescue

Penelope’s human asked me to connect with her to try to understand why she was having this reaction and how she could be helped.  When I intuitively connected with Penelope, I asked her to show me what she experiences when a fly is present. She indicated that she was reacting to the sound of the buzz. Not necessarily the movement of the fly. I was able to feel what she felt, which was a frazzled and agitated nervous system. All of her nerves were over stimulated to a point of discomfort.  She emphasized that the stimulus was the sound of the fly, not so much the movement

The Solution For Penelope

Penelope showed me a picture of her Thunder Shirt and indicated that if someone applied pressure to her in the form of a tight sustained hug or a Thunder Shirt it would help her get grounded back into her body and calm down. The buzzing fly stimulated her nervous system and applied pressure would help calm her down.

We hatched a plan to apply pressure, the next time she encountered this situation.

At the following physical therapy appointment, a fly once again, entered the room. Penelope freaked out, but this time her human put Penelope between her legs and applied pressure. Five minutes later, things were back to normal and they continued with the therapy session.

Had we not intuitively connected with Penelope and opened up that line of communication to be able to truly understand things from her perspective, they would continue to struggle. We may have tried a protocol of desensitization, which would involve making a recording of a buzzing fly and exposing it to her at a low volume and pairing it with something positive, gradually increasing the volume. Desensitization is a lengthy process.

They may also have considered administering an over-the-counter calming aid or a prescription anti-anxiety medication in certain situations. This would not have worked, because the issue isn’t anxiety. The issue is a sensitive nervous system that reacts abnormally to the specific sound of a buzzing fly.

Dusti also struggles with flies. She is the beauty in this photo. All 6.5 pounds of her 🙂

When I asked Dusti why she reacts to flies and how we could help her, this is what she had to say: “What people don’t understand is that I am little. Those flies are big to me. Sometimes they touch my fur or bang in to me. They are like B52 bombers!”

I asked if there was anything we could do to help her. She replied by saying, “I don’t know how. I don’t like them!”

So, there you have it! Two different reasons why these two different dogs have issues with flies. If we talked to five different dogs, we might get five different reasons. The behavior may look the same, but the reason for the behavior differs.

Is Intuitive Animal Communication Always Helpful?

In my experience, Intuitive Animal Communication is always helpful when the humans are open-minded and willing to see things from their dog’s point-of-view. Gaining an accurate understanding of the animal’s perspective can help in many ways:

1. Sometimes, talking to the animal will reveal a solution, as was the case with Penelope
2. It can help shape a roadmap for the training or behavior modification plan
3. It sometimes encourages the dog (or cat) to participate more willingly in the training plan
4. Surprisingly, sometimes when humans shift their perspective about the reason for the behavior, this awareness shift can bring the changes owners are hoping for. Sometimes, animals just want to get a message to their human about why they do what they do and once the human gets it, the behavior changes.

Intuitive Animal Communicator