Our pets can be are scared of many things which don’t seem concerning to us. If you have a dog, you certainly know their traits and habits, including things they are afraid of. It's well-known that many dogs would be afraid of a fireworks, thunderstorms or even heavy rain, sometimes of a strong wind or a neighbor yelling from another floor.
You can recognize that the dog is scared if they withdraw to their „safe corner“, or show unwavering attention towards the sound they hear. Sometimes, the dog will leave the room, or become out-of-tune and not willing to play or eat. Even though we are not scared of these things, we can at least understand why the animal feels this way.
However, there are some scares which are more difficult for us to understand, and one of these is your dog being scared of their own farts.
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Online Phenomenon
Maybe your dog is perfectly fine with hearing their own wind, but many dogs are not. This is actually more common than you might think. So much that if you googled „dogs being scared of farts“, you will come across many surprising and hilarious videos of dogs reacting strangely to the sound of their own farts.
The public and scientific communities were so fascinated with dog’s flatus or fart gas that they even created an experiment to measure the amount of gas released, the composition and the smell. It went so far that a special fart suit was created for the dogs in order to measure these characteristics.
The gas wind consists of nitrogen and oxygen in combination with carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. Sulfur gases are the ones to be blamed for the stench. The experiment concluded that the dog’s farts are smellier than what people release, so when you think that your pup stinks a lot when passing gas, you are not incorrect.
Why are Dogs Gassy?
More commonly the dogs’ fart will be silent but smell bad. However, in some cases, there will be a sound too. Also, some dogs will be gassier than the others. Some of it depends on what they eat, their digestion and current health, and some of it depends even on the dog’s age – older dogs are more prone to flatus.
Additionally, it can be a consequence of inactivity – if you don’t take your pooch out for a walk often enough, they will have more issues with gas. But the most prominent cause is, of course, the dog’s diet. When you give your pup food that is rich in fats, and/or more difficult to digest, they will get gassier.
Why Are Dogs Afraid of Their Farts?
There is no official scientific explanation as to why this is happening.
Some people suggest that they are bothered or ashamed because of the bad smell, and this is why they want to leave the room immediately after. However, there is no scientific proof that dogs are able to connect the sound with the smell in these circumstances.
Additionally, some say that it is because the dogs are not aware of themselves producing the bad smell, but the science strongly disagrees with it. A dog’s sense of smells is 100,000 times more acute than ours. And they can distinguish with ultimate precision between the smell of their own farts and farts of other dogs. You probably saw your dog sniffing other dogs and their rear parts – that's how they identify each other.
The only logical explanation is that dogs connect the sound of a fart with other sounds they are afraid of, like that of a thunderstorm. If a dog is particularly sensitive to loud sounds, he will more likely be afraid of farts. While they know it is them who emitted the wind and the smell, they might not know how the sound happened, but they do know it is something concerning.
Additionally, fart can be the consequence of difficulty to digest food and can come together with stomach pain. Therefore, releasing a wind can sometimes be physiologically discomforting for the dog.
So, What to Do?
When it comes to your dog being afraid of farts, there isn’t much you can do about it. So, it is best to just let your dog be and try to prevent excessive flatulence (look into change of diet or speak to a vet if the dog is farting excessively).
Bear in mind that, as for humans, farts are a normal part of your dog’s life. However, if it happens more often in a certain period, change your dog’s diet. Try giving him lighter, easier-to-digest foods and don’t experiment with new things he is not used to.
If feeding a homemade diet, it is also possible that your pooch is lactose intolerant and that the farts will stop when you stop giving him milk products or switch to the dairy products with less lactose, such as yogurt.
If it lasts for a longer time period, take your dog to the vet. He will possibly prescribe some medicine, like a probiotic or digestive enzymes for easing dog's digestion.
Summary
Even though they smell bad and sound strange farts are normal. Dogs are not different from humans in this regards. While we are embarrassed by farting, dogs can be afraid. So since in the majority of cases there is nothing to worry about, we can have a good laugh about it.
However, if your dog is very gassy for a while and this causes stress for him because of being afraid, try changing his diet, make him exercise or walk more, and, ultimately, take him to the vet for the routine check-up.
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