There have been no studies to investigate the cause of noise phobias in dogs. However, studies of fear and clinical cases of noise phobias suggest a genetic predisposition.
In some instances, owners can identify a particular incident that appears to have triggered the onset of the dog's phobia, such as one particular severe storm that was very close to home and may have resulted in lightening striking a nearby tree. In other cases, the owners are not able to identify a particular event that triggered the fear; rather, they report that their dogs developed the fear gradually.
