[oes forever]

i have an old english sheepdog, he is 2. we have had him for just over a year now. when we first got him he was somwhat wild, pacing up and down constantly looking up ant the ceiling and crying. this was bad enough, but with patience(hell of alot of it) we got him through it by distracting him mainly. his previous home, he was tied up on a short thick chain with no bed or shelter kept in a small yard built in brick. i think this is to do with the looking up bit as all he could see would be above the brick.
anyway. the weather makes him worse. if it rains, he runs round crying, pacing oh and the skidding at the end, he likes the skidding at each end of the living room! we setteled him down somewhat with the rain. i would go out walking in it all the time with toys trying to get him to see it could be fun and not to be scared of it. he settled down to an extent unless there was a storm. he goes out for an average of 2 hours a day
then he started chasing dust! when the sun shone down on the dust that he was creating with his pacing he would jump and grab it, some say this is cute as they only see a few minutes of it, but hour after hour is certinally not cute! tried the distraction thing, no joy, he grabs the toy/treat and carries on. tried telling him off, works for about a minute. he stops when the sun goes in and luckily i live in england so we dont get too much sun, or snow!
and now its the snow, we dont get too much of it, but he just wont listen at all, no distractions, walking in the snow, he just goes wild pulling me, jumping up really high trying to catch them and thats with a canny collar on. if i let him in the garden he just runs round and round crying.
can you think of any other ways i could try to stop him, short of pinning him against the wall and threatening him. he may be big but his just a big baby!
on a normal average cloudy day his fine, really dosile, obident, cant be bothered about nothing. oh and he also lives with a staffy cross just just lies there looking at him as if to say you dumb idiot!
he is driving me crazy now, its like going back to the begining and i dont think i can put up with it again..... and be patient
please help!! tried on other sites but no suggestions yet other then meds which is a road i dont want to go on

I don't know if you are just wanting advise about dealing with weather related fears or overall. There's allot there and probably your best bet is a behaviorist who can come in and assess the dog in the environment and work with you and the dog.

That said, many dogs--regardless of general personality--have 'issues' with weather. I've known friends' dogs who will get into the bathtub when they sense a storm approaching. I have a dog who would react to thunderstorms by clinging to my head and shivering (no exaggeration--I'd wake up with the dog on my head shaking and his nails digging into my scalp).

How you can address your dog's situation is probably best addressed by a behaviorist. Frankly, you might want to reconsider your reluctance to use meds.

I'll leave you with one additional thought. On an episode of "From Underdog to Wonderdog" which aired tonight on Animal Planet, they were working with a dog that had come from a hording environment and the dog would cry loudly when it was afraid which was pretty much all the time. The major way they addressed this problem was through agility training. By building it's confidence and redirecting the dog's energy the dog stopped the negative behaviors. It wasn't an overnight thing and there were set-backs but with time and allot of hard work they were able to help the dog.

I too was going to suggest agility-- seeing as how he jumps up in the air to catch snowflakes and dust particles. I'm thinking even, instead of distracting with treats, what about tossing a cloth flying disc for him to catch? That might take his mind off of the storm, but redirect his energy into something positive.