My dog is scared of thunderstorms and lightning. He finds a place to hide and pants heavily. I have tried many solutions to calm him down but nothing has worked really well so far. Is there any other feasible solution for my dog?

[Lara's mom]

My 12 year old border collie X is also terrified of thunder. Personally, I blame myself for it. When she was a pup and there was a storm, she'd get frightened and I'd pick her up, cuddle her etc. I think I inadvertently reinforced in her mind that there was something to be frightened of. Nothing I have tried over the years has alleviated that fear.

When I got my jack russell pup, I was determined not to make the same mistake. When it started to thunder, I'd start throwing her favourite squeaky tennis ball for her. She has no fear of thunder. However, strangely enough, they both HATE the rain...

[german sheep]

hi alagu,

Lara's mom did it quite right.

What do we do when we are nervous? We "run" around.
For exampel when the children don't come home at the time we told them to.
We haven't got the nerves to sit down and just wait.

So when your dog has stress during thunder and lightning, don't let him hide.
Then the stress will get worse after a while. You don't know what his experiences are during this time and he is without his leader.

A dog acts always successfull. When he knows he has success by hiding he will do it again and again. The crux is that the anxiety grows and maybe will turn into a phobia.

Your dog needs you to find an alternative. Take him on the leash and move move move in a fast tempo regardless if he wants to come with you. Go ahead!! Otherwise he has success in his will not to "listen" to you. And don't stop too early.
You can slow down, when he can take food out of your hand.
Then give him something to do like tricks where he has to conzentrate on you and not on the thunder. Sorry if it is in the middle of the night, but this is the only solution.

If he does not want to go with you during the stress and you don't want to pull him, than you can look for a lead with elastic straps in it, like an expander. So he has to orientate on you because the leash gives him the "advise" the tendency to follow you.

LG
gs

[AuntieDale]

Originally Posted by german sheep

hi alagu,

Lara's mom did it quite right.

What do we do when we are nervous? We "run" around.
For exampel when the children don't come home at the time we told them to.
We haven't got the nerves to sit down and just wait.

So when your dog has stress during thunder and lightning, don't let him hide.
Then the stress will get worse after a while. You don't know what his experiences are during this time and he is without his leader.

A dog acts always successfull. When he knows he has success by hiding he will do it again and again. The crux is that the anxiety grows and maybe will turn into a phobia.

Your dog needs you to find an alternative. Take him on the leash and move move move in a fast tempo regardless if he wants to come with you. Go ahead!! Otherwise he has success in his will not to "listen" to you. And don't stop too early.
You can slow down, when he can take food out of your hand.
Then give him something to do like tricks where he has to conzentrate on you and not on the thunder. Sorry if it is in the middle of the night, but this is the only solution.

If he does not want to go with you during the stress and you don't want to pull him, than you can look for a lead with elastic straps in it, like an expander. So he has to orientate on you because the leash gives him the "advise" the tendency to follow you.

LG
gs

Hey, that sounds like good advice! My golden has been afraid of thunder for a few years now after a bad hail storm scared him...I've tried keeping him busy, and food always distracts him, but what about during the middle of the night?? He wakes me up, whining and upset...I have tried telling him firmly to lie down, and that'll work until the next crack of thunder, then he gets up and starts over again.

Often, I'll get up & lie on the couch downstairs - that seems to help, just my being there - I'll scratch him & tell him it's okay...any other ideas for the middle of the night storms??

Thanks for your ideas!

I have a Cairn Terrier who is petrified of thunderstorms. I also tried medication and it totally knocked out my dog and made her sick. I would definitely not recommend using medication. I did buy something called the Thundershirt, which is a shirt that you wrap around your dog to help them calm their anxiety. I was shocked to find that it really helped calm her down tremendously, would definitely recommend this solution.

I have a Cairn Terrier who is petrified of thunderstorms. I also tried medication and it totally knocked out my dog and made her sick. I would definitely not recommend using medication. I did buy something called the Thundershirt (Dog Anxiety Treatment | Cures Noise Anxiety In Dogs | Thundershirt.com), which is a shirt that you wrap around your dog to help them calm their anxiety. I was shocked to find that it really helped calm her down tremendously, would definitely recommend this solution.

[german sheep]

Hi AuntieDale,

I'm terribly sorry but for some nights that is the only thing you can do.
When you connect this method with a good crate training, in future the dog will lay down in its place without being frightened during the storm, because he has learnt that this place has everything he needs.

But maybe you can train it during the day. Here in Germany we can purchase a special kind of foil which makes sounds like a thunder. Some dogs react to it some don't because a real thunderstorm has a different air-pressure and dogs can feel this hours before it becomes noticable for us.

Try it. The foil just cost a few cents.

LG
gs

[AuntieDale]

Thanks GS! I'll see if I can find some of that foil - or try to recreate the sound some other way.

My parent's Corgi & a lab I once had were both deathly afraid of thunder and I am determined that our new pup 'Maya' not be and so when we had a thunder storm several weeks after we got her and she reacted nervously we began playing ball with her and so far so good. We had a really bad storm last night and it seems as if the thunder were directly above our house and she whipped her head up cause it surprised us all, but I just distracted her as if nothing had happened and she calmed right down and settled in to sleep during the rest of the storm as if it were like any other night.

[german sheep]

Great news, tc.
Good work.

LG
gs

[CorkyMax]

Some of WHAT you can do
------------------------------------

BACK TO SCHOOL. For long term success, effort must be put into
training your dog to be less anxious in addition to anti-anxiety
supplements. Do not positively reinforce the fearful behavior by
being too kind. The next time that Lewis reacts to noise, give
him a quick scratch then go about your normal household routine.
If you act calm, then he may act calm.

COUNTER CONDITION. The next time that your pet begins to act
nervous, distract her with a favorite squeaky toy or tasty treat.
You are teaching your pet to associate noise with a positive
experience. When your pet acts less nervous, then give her lots
of praise, then next storm could become far more pleasant.

TO THE FRIDGE. A very simple, safe home remedy is milk. It
contains a natural chemical called tryptophan which tells the
brain to relax. Some pets may get diarrhea, so begin with a
small amount (1/4 cup) at first. Increase this to 1/2 cup of
warm milk given to your anxious Labrador when the fireworks start.

HERBAL:

VALERIAN. Acts on the neuroreceptors in the brain. It may decrease
anxiety in your pet, but it must be given for 2 weeks.

HOMEOPATHIC:

ACONITE. Very fearful, restless animals.

[Lara's mom]

I so much wish I had known how to prevent the fear of thunder with my border collie X Bailey. I did all the wrong things without knowing it. I picked her up, comforted her etc. The only thing I accomplished was to reassure her that there was something to be afraid of. To this day, 12 years later, I still dread thunder storms because I know Bailey will be terrified and shaking. I'll never forgive myself for being so stupid!

Thankfully, by the time I got my little JRT, I'd learned better. However, Bailey is still paying the price for my ignorance. Please don't make the same mistake that I did.

[german sheep]

Hey Lara's mom,

I'm sure that your Bailey had a good life with you.
Don't look backwards. Maybe Bailey was there to let you learn that you have to do something else but to comfort a dog in moments of fear.

LG
gs

Originally Posted by Lara's mom

I so much wish I had known how to prevent the fear of thunder with my border collie X Bailey. I did all the wrong things without knowing it. I picked her up, comforted her etc. The only thing I accomplished was to reassure her that there was something to be afraid of. To this day, 12 years later, I still dread thunder storms because I know Bailey will be terrified and shaking. I'll never forgive myself for being so stupid!

Thankfully, by the time I got my little JRT, I'd learned better. However, Bailey is still paying the price for my ignorance. Please don't make the same mistake that I did.

Don't beat yourself up so much -- you may have had little influence on whether Bailey developed this fear. My border collie, Poppy, has developed a fear of thunderstorms over the last couple of years, and we never reinforced it (by comforting, etc.). She also has begun a fear response to raised voices (even if the voices are raised in fun and not anger). Again, the behavior was never reinforced.

I'm not sure of the cause of her thunderstorm fear, although I suspect two possible contributions: 1) We live in Arizona, where summer monsoon thunderstorm's come up quickly and loudly, and when one of those boomers goes off right above your head, everyone ducks and covers, and 2) She has a congenital deformity that has resulted in her being deaf in one ear. The deformity makes me wonder if she hears loud noises differently.

[Lara's mom]

It's strange but almost all of the dogs I know seem to react to thunder in one of two ways. They are either scared to death of it or go into "protective mode" and bark like crazy whenever they hear it. There would appear to be very few dogs who just accept it as a fact of life, albeit an annoying one, just and ignore it.