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Rich Riddle
07-13-2016, 10:45 PM
As I am reading the Creek, a storm is moving through the area with lots of lightning, thunder, high wind and rain. Three dogs are more or less like a blanket covering me, a shivering blanket. One whines, one growls, and the other looks terrified shivering. The storm is outside; we are inside. Talking offers no calming effect. Do any of you have a cure for this fear?

Bruce Page
07-13-2016, 11:00 PM
Stormy weather and boomer fireworks terrify our two labs. They only calm down if they are in my or my wife's lap. One weighs 75lbs the other 85... :rolleyes:

Tom Stenzel
07-14-2016, 12:02 AM
My big brave dog is afraid of thunder, fireworks, nailguns or any loud noise.

My wife bought a like new Thundershirt at a garage sale. The lady that sold it said it didn't work on her dog. Didn't work on ours either. I call it his doggy sportcoat.

At least it only set us back five bucks.

He hides in the basement bathroom during a storm. Of course he doesn't like being alone and tries to get something to sit there with him. The someone is usually me.

Keith Westfall
07-14-2016, 1:26 AM
My little dog (poodle/bichon) loves the storms! She get excited, but not scared. If we let her out, she will run laps around the yard barking until she is completely worn out! In the house, she will run around and bark as well.

Same with fire works. She just loves to run and bark. She's going on 12 so slowing down a bit, but not much!

Wayne Lomman
07-14-2016, 6:59 AM
Our dogs - 2 Samoyed and 1 border Collie - all hate thunder and gunshots. With gunshots, they suddenly want to walk about 1" away. Cheers

Wayne Lovell
07-14-2016, 7:25 AM
My parent's home was destroyed in a tornado back in 1975, when I got there (I lived about 60 miles away) one of their blue healers was missing. The next day while I was crawling under and through the rubble I found her behind a toilet, she was trapped but it had supported every thing that had come down and left her in a little cave. She lived for another 14 years and if there was thunder any where in the area even if you could not hear it she was behind a toilet.

Frank Drew
07-14-2016, 5:38 PM
Is this because the noise hurts their ears? If not, it seems strange that in the millions (?) of years dogs have inhabited this planet acceptance of thunderstorms isn't hardwired into their species. Do wolves or coyotes or other wild dogs lose their cool during storms?

Paul F Franklin
07-14-2016, 6:13 PM
Heard a story on NPR a few days ago about a new anti-anxiety medication for Dogs. It's supposed to be a big improvement over current treatments as it targets the anxiety without sedation like most treatments to date. My Golden-Husky mix get mildly anxious during thunderstorms, but is ok if she can go into the bathroom with no windows and hide behind the door...

A neighbor had a German Shepard that pretty much destroyed their house during the first storm after they got him (he was a rescue). They had no idea and he was alone in the house when a storm hit. He wrecked a bunch of their furniture and then jumped through a glass door into the backyard, jumped their fence, and jumped through a window into another neighbors house, who I'm sure thought he was being invaded by a demon!

Anyway, here's a link to the story: http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/07/12/new-treatment-dogs-thunder

Chris Padilla
07-14-2016, 7:07 PM
I had a black lab growing up and she would freak out all the time from such noises (Colorado summers: bad; Fourth of July: bad; New Years Eve: bad). She would try to wedge herself into the tightest spot she could find depending upon where she was and if in the backyard, she'd jump the fence. I tell you, it was amazing to see an 80 lb dog climbing a 6' fence!

I can't recall the last bout of thunder here in the SF Bay Area but my young Aussie seemed unaffected by the Fourth of July antics so thank goodness for that.

Mike Chance in Iowa
07-14-2016, 7:21 PM
There are several possible solutions, but it all depends on why they are behaving fearful.

1. This may be a learned behavior. A senior or alpha dog starts to display fears (for whatever reason) and the younger, subordinate dogs see it. "If Brave Brutus is scared, I don't know why he is, but I'm going to be scared from now on too."
2. The dog has thyroid or other medical issues. If Brave Brutus has suddenly started to become afraid of things for no particular reason, his thyroid could be too low/too high. Some times if you catch it soon enough and give the dog the daily meds, you can cure the dog of the fears before it becomes habit.
3. The dog suffered a traumatic incident prior to a storm. It could have been he hurt his foot and now associates storms with pain. It could have been he was left alone during a bad storm. It could have been something on the TV just before a storm. Unless you were there to witness it happen, it's hard to guess those reasons.
4. The dog has a fearful temperament to begin with.

For dogs that have learned to become afraid because of an alpha dog, it is harder to convince that dog all is well if the alpha is still afraid.
For a dog that was previously fine around storms and either suffered some trauma or learned to be afraid, there is hope, but not an instant cure. It can take days or weeks or months to resolve.
For a dog that has a serious fear, there are mind-altering drugs available such as Alprazolam (Xanax) or Chlomipramine/Chlomicalm among others.

There are nature CD's that have thunder storms on them. You can start out by playing the CD at a very low level - 1 for this example. If the dog is afraid at Level 1. Turn it off. Regroup. Next day, play the CD on Level 1 during dinner time. If the dog eats his dinner, wahoo! You made progress. If the dog doesn't, turn it off and allow dog to have dinner when it recovers and hide his favorite toy. Next day play the CD on Level 1 and encourage dog to play with his favorite toy. Once again, if he's afraid, turn off CD and allow dog to recover and play with favorite toy. Withhold favorite toy for several days. Now bring out the favorite toy and turn on CD at Level 1. Everything is always great and positive. If the dog is still afraid, you need to do some sleuthing and find what is your dog's coveted toy or favorite thing to do. (Examples: Obsessed with chasing tennis ball. Eating liverwurst. Ripping up newspaper.) Once you find what really cranks his tractor, withhold that and only use it during desensitizing training.

Thundershirts can work, but they don't work for all. You can also wrap your dog nice and snug in a blanket or shirt that has your scent on it. Temple Grandin developed a Squeeze Box for herself whenever she was overwhelmed. Thundershirts and wraps try to do a similar thing as making the dog feel snug and secure like Temple's squeeze box.

Don't buy into the "Tough Love" theory of ignoring the dog. This only works for the dog that is ignored all the time anyway. If you have a dog that is your companion, lapdog, around you all the time, etc. and it displays fear for whatever reason and now Master won't go near them, as far as the dog is concerned "Master is very afraid to be near me so this is really bad and scary!" If your dog is a lapdog and becomes afraid, let the dog be in your lap as that's what he is used to.

Sitting in a small dark room with the dog can sometimes be calming. Or move into the car that's parked inside the garage and hang out with the dog. Moving to a place the dog feels comfortable can help.

There are natural calming scents, sprays and remedies that work on some dogs for thunder storms or fireworks, etc. Bach's Rescue Remedy, Lavender Oil, Peppermint Oil are some that come to mind.

For the serious fears, there are some drugs that you can give during an event like Xanax to get them through the next few hours. Xanax works, but it also reduces inhibitions. If your dog has a begging history, it can behave like it hasn't eaten in months. If it has high prey drive, it may suddenly become obsessed with chasing your feet as you walk by for the next day or two while the drug wears off. There are also long-term calming drugs that you give on a daily basis so it builds up in their system and if you decide to stop giving it to them, you need to wean them off.

The key to all of it is having patience to learn what works for your dog and listen to what your dog is trying to tell you.

Steve Peterson
07-14-2016, 7:42 PM
I had a lab mix that stayed outside most of the time. I would let him inside when I came home from work. His domain was a rug near the sliding glass door. The only time he left the rug was during a thunderstorm and he found his way into the shower stall in the master bathroom. I have no idea why that became his "safe" zone since he had never been there before.

Steve

Tim Hoyt
07-14-2016, 8:16 PM
Very interesting, thanks for a well thought out reply.

On to my story;
Have two rescues, 4 and 10 years old, also have a 13 year old we are looking after for someone. All are Labs of varying degrees of pure bred.
The 13 yo could care less about booms, the 10 yo gets a little uptight, but a pet or two and all is well. The 4 yo is crazy awful scared of thunder, gun shots, etc.
Have a few pills of the xanax for dogs, Haven't tried it for two reasons; the drug has to be given 20-30 minutes before the first "boom". Anything shorter in time renders the drug ineffective. Tough to make work. Second, it is my understanding that it makes them "dopey", but their brains are still working fine. What you end up with is a dog that is physically high as a kite, but his brain is saying "I am scared to death and out of my mind". All at the same time. I do have to say people are divided as to if this correct or not.

I heard about at new drug for this problem, it's called "Siloh" or some such. My wife enquired at our vet and they didn't have it yet. Said to best thing since sliced bread, but who knows, it's only been out a month nor two.

Would like to hear your comments. And once again thanks for an excellent post. Are you a Vet by any chance?,

Lee Schierer
07-14-2016, 8:27 PM
I have a Brittany that is terrified of thunder and fireworks, yet he can hunt with guys shooting shotguns with no problems. There are no other dogs in the house so he didn't learn it from another dog. Our cat sits in the window and watches the storms.

Caesar Milan did a show a while back about desensitizing dogs from thunder. I don't recall exactly what he did, but he was emphatic that you don't try to comfort them or hold them if you want to break them of the habit. We just ignore our dog and go on as if nothing has happened.

Mike Chance in Iowa
07-14-2016, 11:38 PM
I forgot to add some key factors to the desensitizing with CD. Once the dog accepts Level 1 and is comfortable with it, increase the volume to Level 1.5 or 2. If the dog becomes fearful reduce to Level 1. If the dog does not recover during that session end it. Relax for a few days and start at Level 1 again until you end with success. Then refrain from using The Coveted Object for several days and try at Level 2 again. Hopefully Fido is excited enough to have The Coveted Object again to handle Level 2. Continue with Level 2 until Fido is doing well. Withhold The Coveted Object for several days or a week or more. Now try Level 2.5 or 3. If he's afraid, go back to Level 2 and possibly Level 1 and work your way back up. Each dog will respond different.

I think the question was for me if I'm a vet. No. I have several good friends who are vets and we train our dogs together when we have time to meet up. I just happened to get a dog who challenged me to change my entire way of thinking 20 years ago. I then got heavily into dog training 20 years ago and had learned to deal with many challenging situations for both dog and human. I studied many different methods of training & techniques as well as dog psychology. Through all of that training, I still feel there is so much more to learn and each new pup I have will continue to outwit me in one way or another. :) There is no one-size-fits all training method and herding breeds are totally different then terriers and bird dogs and toy breed dogs. The biggest problem in dog training and dog ownership is the human owners.

I did have a dog that had Xanex a 2 times before she passed away. It was not for noise but for another stress. She was quite high on Xanex, but with her situation, that was far better for her then if she had not had Xanex. We were able to look at it with humor as she had a raging case of the munchies and was pulling out all her tricks to convince my vet friends they should give her their food during our lunch break at the seminars.

The new drug is called Sileo and if I remember correct, it's applied to the gums. So far, I have heard positive results, but I don't know anyone that has personally used it. It has only been out for maybe 2 months now.

Regarding Caesar.... I cannot express enough how bad his advice is. I have seen his videos where he has ruined good dogs in the name of flashy TV and making himself look like he knows what he's doing and all it does is infuriate me more. I repeat. Don't buy into the "Tough Love" theory of ignoring the dog. This only works for the dog that is ignored all the time anyway. If you have a dog that is your companion, lapdog, around you all the time, etc. and it displays fear for whatever reason and now Master won't go near them, as far as the dog is concerned "Master is very afraid to be near me so this is really bad and scary!" If your dog is a lapdog and becomes afraid, let the dog be in your lap as that's what he is used to. You will only make matters worse by ignoring your dog, when it is used to attention. Dogs are truly amazing at how they study their humans and learn from our body language and actions.

I currently have a dog who is genetically people-shy. Her momma was shy, but we thought it was her kennel life in France that caused her to be aloof with people. My pup came along and by the time she was 6 months it became obvious the shyness was not a phase. In her 14 years, on a daily basis, she has chosen to avoid people other then her household family members. She doesn't growl or anything. She just ignores them. They do not exist. Yet in those 14 years, there have been about 6 people she has met where she has instantly liked and made body contact with them and clearly said "I like you. You are safe. Will you be my friend?" It has become a long-running joke with some friends who feel jealous they couldn't get her to warm up to them even though she sees them every day and will accept treats from them and then ignore them ... while she instantly liked some stranger she has seen maybe once a year at most! What that tells me is she has an incredible talent in judging people in mere moments. It's not that the other people are bad, but she could tell those 6 people had something extra special about them. Once I got to know those people, I saw her judgement was spot on. They were some really amazing people to meet. On the flip side, there have been a few times where she has instantly signaled something was wrong with a stranger. Each time those were scary-accurate too and I'm glad she was by my side to silently alert me to the upcoming danger if we remained around that person.

I no longer believe a dog is just a dog or a goat is just a goat or a hummingbird is just a hummingbird. If you take the time to watch and open your mind, there is a lot to learn from all of them and they can teach us more then we can ever teach them!

Rich Riddle
07-15-2016, 6:25 AM
Late last night a dog kept barking at our front door. Upon going upstairs and opening the door, there was Walter the dog wagging his tail to the point his whole body shook. He escaped and it was bed time. Glad he likes his home. It was also starting to lightning.

Brian Henderson
07-15-2016, 12:58 PM
Our cocker freaks out at loud noises. Locally, people were setting off illegal fireworks for a week before and a week after the 4th and he spent the whole time in my lap, absolutely vibrating for hours on end. None of the other animals care at all, but he's got a phobia of loud noises.