Anybody else have a dog that is fearful of ballons?
2 dogs in a row for me. 1st on we had 14+ years and this one 15.5 years (so far).
Both of them get panic stricken at sound or sight of them. Even if the sight is at extremely long distance.

I have owned a few dogs and I do not believe any of them had ever even seen (or heard) a hot-air balloon. They are not rare, but it's not something you see cruising overhead on a frequent basis.

Our Golden Retriever HATED hot air balloons.

In Colorado, he would growl at the sky from our back yard. I couldn’t see anything because houses were blocking the sky. However, I would drive a bit then see a balloon or two at least a mile away where it was not visible from our house.

He could hear them.

I eventually talked to a balloonist who told me that dogs bark at them because of the noisy flame device.

They apparently have a high pitch noise that dogs hate.

About 20 or so years ago I had one come down while the dog was out it was just a small one that Kent State let off for some school thing. No basket or people & it only made it about a mile & yes the dog went nuts.

Maybe it was because they wish they were in that basket for a fun ride?

When I was growing up we had a Golden Retriever mix pup. She hated the balloons that flew en masse from the state fairgrounds a couple miles from our house. She would stand out in front and bark at them until we made her come inside. I'm pretty sure she would have freaked out and panicked if we even tried to take her near one on the ground.

A balloon made an emergency landing near our apartment and I took one of our cats out on the balcony to watch. Poor cat panicked so bad I swore never to do that again!

My conclusion, sometimes our animals are smarter than we think...

My dog(s) rush to get in the house to hid in the basement.
Scared to death!

Years ago mom and dad had a yellow Lab that was scared of them. As soon as they lit the burners she was ass end over elbows headed for the barn or house, whichever was closest.

Growing up I had the greatest most mellow yellow lab in existence. In fact everyone in the neighborhood called him mellow yellow. He was 3 before he barked for the first time. When a hot air balloon came by at about 300ft in elevation he perked up and once they hit the burners he absolutely lost his mind barking at the thing. From that point forward every time he would see one he was ready to whoop someone.

I would guess it's the same reason they fear thunder, gunfire, fireworks, etc.

Interesting that the one thing I remember from being up in a balloon, was that it was very quiet but I could hear dogs barking even around 1000 ft up.

My daughter’s Catahoula was like that.

The dogs are pissed off cuz there's a large multi-colored ball in the air that's too high to reach.

My red doberman would go nuts if there was hot air ballon miles way. Our mixed breed could care less. Different stroke for different dogs.

When I was in Colorado none of my dogs like them especially when we were near an open field and they would land there. My GSD and Cane Corso gave them the stink eye.

It is the noise from the burner. They give off a very high pitched noise when burning. We can't hear it, but animals sure can.

We used to have a Border Collie stock dog on our farm, who went nuts over them. There was a balloon club in the area. She would bark and snarl at the balloon, and nip and fuss at us, trying to herd us inside the house or barn. She was convinced it was a giant flying predator.

In a way, they were predators, because the wealthy, entitled, thoughtless idiots would land square in the middle of a row crop field, and their "chasers" in 4x4s would destroy everything in their path to get there, pack up the balloon and haul it out. They usually land at dusk, so they were also blundering around in the dark, destroying fences and bashing into things. Did I mention they were drunk, too?

After a couple of bad experiences, we let it be known to the balloon club that any landings on our property would be treated as trespass, they would be sued for the damage they were causing, and not to even fly over. That stopped the landings.

They probably fear that shit dropping out of the sky and hitting them. Remember K9’s see in pictures kind of like people with autism. They make a mental picture of the sky. Then that one day it’s different with this big colored object low in the sky. They don’t like it at all and it’s not surprising.

I have a Maligator. And say Amazon drops something off. Many times I’ll open the door and screen door, grab the box and just sit it next to the door until I have time to f with it. She walks through the hallway and see something “different” and starts barking at it. That’s a new picture that is different than normal, and it’s just that simple.