Thunderstorms

[sheena]

My 3 yo BC girl doesn't appear to be frightened by thunder....it appears quite the opposite. She will race around inside the house to the windows with a ball in her mouth, as if to challenge "come & get me you noisy monster" During this afternoon's storm I decided to put her in her crate in the lounge room. With the first bang, she sat up in her crate & did a bit of a spin & then after that, she settled right down & went to sleep.

I have heard some horrific stories about dogs with storms & was wondering how other people deal with the situation.

Edited November 4, 2010 by sheena

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Storm phobia is very common in working breeds but I've certainly had it with my terrier types.

I haven't done it but there is a Dr Harry CD for storm phobic dogs which you use to desensitise - I think it is well worth a go.

I've used sedatives on my dogs, one of mine barks throughout the storm and when it happens in the middle of the night and you need to get up for work in the morning, it can be very difficult to be patient.

[Primedogs]

Both my current dogs don't seem worried and ignore it :p it continue that way.

The previous dog a staffy x hated thunder, if he was outside he would throw himself against the door untill we let him in. Once in he was in he would either go the space that had the most number of people or the more important people and then just laydown as close as possible to the most important person in the space or pace around the house going person to person. If everyone was outside though then he would go outside but pace between inside and outside. We didn't baby him but we didn't completly ignore him.

[Sunnyflower]

I didn't think my boy was scared of storms until he went missing for 24 hours. Managed to somehow get out in a crack about 15cm wide and get the steal mesh that was attached the the brick stuck around his neck, broke it off the brick and get stuck under the house!

I still wasn't convinced it was because of the storm until my neighbours told me he moved the BBQ,plank of timber, steal mesh and 5m shade cloth from under the house to get under there to hide!

Now we know he is terrified of them we will just have to try and rush home to get him in, leave him inside if they are forecasting storms and we know we aren't going to be home or get the neighbours to put him inside.

[mac'ella]

our 1st dog a boxer was deaf so naturally wasn't worried then our second was also ok probably because he picked up her calmness and would actually run around chasing hailstones and running and sliding on them. It seems to have passed on to our present staffie as well,so maybe they pick up on other dogs and peoples reactions.

[Sunnyflower]

our 1st dog a boxer was deaf so naturally wasn't worried then our second was also ok probably because he picked up her calmness and would actually run around chasing hailstones and running and sliding on them. It seems to have passed on to our present staffie as well,so maybe they pick up on other dogs and peoples reactions.

Maybe. My boy is an only child and whenever I am home he has the run of inside or outside but when it rains or storms I always look us both inside! He isn't stressed if we are home it's only when he is on his own!

[dancinbcs]

My 3 yo BC girl doesn't appear to be frightened by thunder....it appears quite the opposite. She will race around inside the house to the windows with a ball in her mouth, as if to challenge "come & get me you noisy monster" :p During this afternoon's storm I decided to put her in her crate in the lounge room. With the first bang, she sat up in her crate & did a bit of a spin & then after that, she settled right down & went to sleep.

I have heard some horrific stories about dogs with storms & was wondering how other people deal with the situation.

I would do some indoor training with her to distract her, so she gets the message that it is nothing to worry about. Otherwise just crate her if it settles her down. Most Borders are not frightened of storms and the few that are tend to be related to others that are as well. I honestly believe it is an inherited trait and for this reason will not breed from anything with a storm phobia. Far more common though is what your girl is doing. The whole storm thing excites them and many will race around trying to "catch" the thunder if allowed to do so. As it isn't a fear reaction it is pretty easy to train them to concentrate on something else. Just treat it as you would any other training distraction.

[OSoSwift]

I have never had a dog out of 8 individuals within 4 breeds ever have a problem - as yet.

Not sure why we don't do anything in particular?

We just carry on as per normal and pay no extra attention to the storm or do anything differnt with the dogs.

I have been VERY close to a lightening strike twice once causing ringing ears and a headache for a few hours with hair prickling on my neck at the moment it happened so I am inside when there is lightning!

Edited November 4, 2010 by OSoSwift

[Shmurps]

Our JR developed a fear about 2-3 years ago. Don't know why. We never nurtured her but It got worse over the years.

Tried lots of methods. Now experimenting with Troy Behave paste. Vit C is meant to be good for stressed dogs. We've had a couple of small storms that were predicted by the weather man so I gave her some paste before work and that evening she was a little more relaxed.

[sheena]

My 3 yo BC girl doesn't appear to be frightened by thunder....it appears quite the opposite. She will race around inside the house to the windows with a ball in her mouth, as if to challenge "come & get me you noisy monster" :D During this afternoon's storm I decided to put her in her crate in the lounge room. With the first bang, she sat up in her crate & did a bit of a spin & then after that, she settled right down & went to sleep.

I have heard some horrific stories about dogs with storms & was wondering how other people deal with the situation.

I would do some indoor training with her to distract her, so she gets the message that it is nothing to worry about. Otherwise just crate her if it settles her down. Most Borders are not frightened of storms and the few that are tend to be related to others that are as well. I honestly believe it is an inherited trait and for this reason will not breed from anything with a storm phobia. Far more common though is what your girl is doing. The whole storm thing excites them and many will race around trying to "catch" the thunder if allowed to do so. As it isn't a fear reaction it is pretty easy to train them to concentrate on something else. Just treat it as you would any other training distraction.

She has hit the electric fence (we have cattle) a few times & instead of running away, she takes it on. I swear she is fearless

[BC Crazy]

I rescued a magnificent red/white Border at 16 months of age from a extremely abusive & neglectful home.He was understandably terrified of everything :D especially storms. I could tell by his mood that we were going to get a thunderstorm hour's before it actually arrived. He would be a drooling mess by the time the storm hit. I tried everything to help him, he would just completely shut down but I found the only thing that eased 'Redman's' anxiety was to keep him confined & cosey in our laundry with the radio on quietly & mild sedation. Once when a storm hit , I wasn't able to make it home from work in time, he went straight through our fence & ran away. After looking for him for hour's, he returned & was sitting on our front door step wagging his tail. Phew !!!!He did get a little better at handling noises in the cherished time I had with him (14.5 years) but the storm issue never improved unfortunately.

[Nushie]

Over the years we have had 5 dogs. 3 with issues with storms. Surprisingly the 3 with issues are the ones that we got as older dogs and the 2 without we had since 8 weeks. Even with Robbie and Annie flipping out and going mad, racing around the backyard and doing anything to find a way out. Whisky would be curled up happy and dry in his kennel. If we were home we would bring them inside. Surprised that growing up with the other 2 dogs he didnt pick up on that behaviour.

Steed is a little more sedate. He wont try and escape from the yard if there isnt someone home. But he would do his best to get under the house. If he is inside he has to be ON you. For a dally that is a pain in the butt. He has to literally sit on you and he will start panting really heavily hours before the storm even hits.

Jager doesnt care either way. Doesnt seem to even notice them, a loud smack of thunder and he will jump (but usually those are the times that i do to) but then back to sleep.

Havent ever tried the storm cd's, but i would have thought that it was more the vibrations in the air than the actual noise of storms that upset them. I only think this because all 3 dogs would start getting stressed hours before the storm actually hit. I know that they have better hearing than us, but would think that if they were getting upset from a storm so far away due to the noise then why do they not get upset by pots and pans or doors slamming etc? Just an idea...

Also to add that I always found it interesting that Steed (afraid of storms) has no problems with fireworks and yet, Whisky (not afriad of storms) would get upset by fireworks.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Nushie

[CrazyCresties]

My grey was terrified of storms She would start shaking all over and got so anxious. We found the best thing to do was let her go where she wanted indoors, and she always headed for our bedroom upstairs. She would go on the bed and calmed down quite quickly.

I remember seeing this product advertised, although I haven't tried it myself.

https://anxietywrap.com/default.aspx

[Staranais]

I'm lucky, my current girl isn't worried at all about thunder.

She's also not scared of fireworks - it's fireworks night here tonight, she'll bark and hackle and wag her tail at them if I leave her alone outside, but if I go out & ask her to work for her toy, she's not at all fazed at all by the crackers exploding down the street.

I wonder if it's more to do with genetics than training. I know training can help, but perhaps it's only mitigating what's there.

[Skruffy n Flea]

bella, my first ever dog, has been exposed to as much as we could possibly expose her to, thanks largely to DOL, cesar and of course the interwebz --- from our perspective, unless she alerts us to something new, there isn't very much at all that makes her feel uncomfortable...

byron is a whole 'nuther kettle of fish but i've taken the same view --- and now there is also bobbie, my foster fail kitty!

byron had an issue with a wind storm back in about july this year and i've worked with him to allay his fears to the point now that he no longer shakes nor pants --- he does however still grow velcro!

these past few months have been interesting weather-wise so i've been mindful to expose byron and bobbie to whatever the weather was doing.

mid to late this arvo we had a cracker of a storm here, starting with a light but loud sprinkle of rain but about a half hour or so later the hail hit --- bella was fine, interested and sniffing the little rocks of ice hitting the ground but byron stood stock still in the middle of the back room, looking up at me while bobbie arched her wee body as the hail stones fell and bounced around the tiles...

the hail turned into really heavy rain; loud heavy rain with thunder and lightening and this even drove bella back into the house but byron and bobbie started acting erratic, bryon looking to hide and bobbie just darting about, unsettled.

so i grabbed some treats; a great distraction for the dogs, and i rattled bobbie's lil treat pack too --- suddenly, their attention was diverted...

i took them all out on the back patio, put the dogs thru some paces, treating them, and dropped some of bobbie's treats on the tiles for her to enjoy and i'm happy to report that for the 10 or so minutes we spent out there on the patio, with the weather delivering heavy, loud rain, claps of thunder and sheet lightening, both dogs and the cat were distracted enuf to ignore what mother nature was handing out

it might not have entirely cured byron's and bobbie's distress but i know i've gone a little way further to making their life a wee bit less distressing.

rome wasn't built in a day

[poppop]

A friend of mine has a dog who used to get very scared and agitated during storms - digging at the carpet, drooling, very anxious - and she purchased a Thunder Coat for the dog. Well, after three times of wearing in during storms and it reducing the anxiety level greatly, now the dog just relaxes much more during storms even without the coat on!

[Sheridan]

Grumpy was never afraid of storms until a few years ago when there was a huge storm and the hail was hitting the front windows sideways. Since then he's associated thunder with the sound of the heavy rain. He doesn't seem to take any notice of rain by itself, though. Yesterday, during the storm, he stood there and shook badly and wouldn't settle. He'd be up with me and Mini on the couch for a minute then he'd get down. I cannot distract him with anything. Mini, who never seemed to mind storms previously either (at least, she'd bark at the noise), I think, is picking up on his fear. It's very distressing to watch him. I just talk to him normally during it and otherwise ignore the behaviour but my instincts are to cuddle him. I don't, though, as I don't want to reinforce his fear.

[wuffles]

My older boy stresses at thunder and my younger girl doesn't seem to mind. Neither of them react to heavy rain or even hail.

If we are home he will pace and pant and find things to hide under. I usually give him an acknowledgment -- "It's ok, I hear it too, but stay calm and it will be over soon" -- then go about everything as normal.

I am a worrywart so I do worry about him when a storm hits while we're out, but from all indications it seems he just takes refuge in his kennel and waits it out in there.

[dee lee]

My 3 yo BC girl doesn't appear to be frightened by thunder....it appears quite the opposite. She will race around inside the house to the windows with a ball in her mouth, as if to challenge "come & get me you noisy monster" .

The whole storm thing excites them and many will race around trying to "catch" the thunder if allowed to do so. As it isn't a fear reaction it is pretty easy to train them to concentrate on something else. Just treat it as you would any other training distraction.

This is really interesting to read.

My GR reacts like this to storms too- she does pant a lot so I thought it was fear, but on the whole she is in a state of extreme excitement and agitation.

I took her out to toilet before bed, during the thunder last night and she went nuts- chasing the sky and barking (Similar to how she reacts to seeing skywriting- which makes me wonder if there is a relationship?)- not really scared behaviour.

Training sessions do work, but at bedtime that's not really what I wanted to be doing!

Edited November 9, 2010 by ✽deelee

[Rottigirl]

Thunder and lighting usually sends us all onto the deck with a glass of wine to watch the storm come in (rotti is without wine but finds something appropriate to chew). He ignores the storm. My OH was away yesterday so I didn't do the usual deck routine, the dog did. He headed to the last spot he sat on the deck and watched the storm come in while polishing off his bone. He couldn't care less, I believe I'm more nervous than he is :rolleyes: