Why Dogs Hate Vacuum Cleaners

Posted by Katharine M. J. Osborne Apr 9, 2007

I always thought that dogs hated vacuum cleaners because they somehow resembled a mysterious animal they feared. However, while I was doing the research for my latest article on buzzing power lines, I learned that it actually has to do with sound.

Dog hearing is significantly better than human hearing, and they can hear in the ultrasonic range - very high frequency sounds inaudible to humans (remember those dog whistles that never seemed to work? Same principle).

Vacuum cleaners tend to put out loud ultrasonic sounds that are irritating and frightening to dogs. They attack the vacuum because they just want it to shut up. So if you have a dog, it might be kind to put him or her outside or in another room with the door closed while you vacuum. At the very least, you'll spare your vacuum cleaner some teethmarks.