Dogs And Thunder

[HazyWal]

I have two rescue greyhounds and my big boy Stan hates the thunder.He jumps off the lounge or bed and runs around with his eyes bulging out like a choked prawn!Not unusual for dogs I know but I had a difference of opinion with a friend on how to deal with it.I sit beside him and pat him and talk to him in a soothing voice which seems to calm him where as she says I shouldn't sooky him I'm making it worse.She says ignore him and he'll get over it.I've only had greyhounds since Aug last year but I find them vey emotional dogs.My ridgy X I had for 16 years would run down the backyard leaping in the air trying to bite the thunder and I would yell out get inside you lunatic and he would but this boy is different.I would like to know what others do in the thunder situation(not just greyhounds all breeds of dogs).My dogs are never locked out they always have access to inside the house.BTW my little grey girl just lays there when the thunder rumbles and doesn't bat an eye!

[persephone]

I feel for your dog..and you..but I HAD to at this

his eyes bulging out like a choked prawn!

I have a couple of dogs here who hate storms.. I just make sure they are somewhere safe , where they can see us ..and leave them to it- not patting/soothing. They get rescue remedy if they are really upset- but that's it. I'm mean :p

[corvus]

I do the same as you if they are scared. My previous dog was scared of them her whole life until her hearing went. I let her choose a spot she felt safe in and usually left her alone, but if the thunder got really loud I would sit next to her to calm her.

One of my current dogs barks at thunder if he is aroused. He has a Thundershirt that helps, but sometimes I just distract him with training, quiet games, or giving him a Kong or a bone to chew on. Last time he got barky about a storm I had him do some of Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol and he quietened down.

If you don't sit with him, does he run around? I would think sitting quietly is an improvement on running around, even if he's still scared.

[Brennan's Mum]

Brennan gets a bit stressed during the storms so I play with her Nina Ottosson and we find some games to play, a chew to eat or she gets a massage.

My Mum's Maltese x is one of those dogs who hovers around you and gets under your feet during storms. She will literally follow you everywhere- even into the shower. If the storm happens while you are sleeping she will wake you up by standing by your face panting heavily .

I've given Mum some ideas of things to try in future storms to try and help Cleo

[W Sibs]

Charlie doesn't react to thunderstorm (but he doesn't react to many things).

Emmy most of the time is fine. But, if she seems a little tense and is showing anxiety, I usually distract her and give her something to do... like giving her a cardboard box to tear apart, do some trick training, last time.. I just gave her a serviette that she happily shredded.

I don't fuss over her though, I remember when she was a puppy, she will just come and sit next to me and lean against me or goes to where Charlie is and buried her face under his body or rest her head on his body for comfort. We just let her be.

[HazyWal]

I feel for your dog..and you..but I HAD to at this

his eyes bulging out like a choked prawn!

I have a couple of dogs here who hate storms.. I just make sure they are somewhere safe , where they can see us ..and leave them to it- not patting/soothing. They get rescue remedy if they are really upset- but that's it. I'm mean :p

Your not mean.This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for.Sorry about the choked prawn,my dear departed mum used to say this about her dog and it's so true.Thanks

[HazyWal]

Corvus he does runaround but only in the room I'm in.For eg if I'm sitting on the lounge he leaps around the loungeroom.If it gets bad he'll go and get in my bed and I don't follow him I just leave him until he comes out.

[Keira&Phoenix]

Keira used to be fine with storms until she thought it was fun playing with hail (she was under the patio but chasing the hail) and she got hit, since then she is very nervous of thunder but not overly. I generally just make it so she is in the same room as me and sitting near me and she is fine.

Phoenix doesn't tend to worry at all.

[skyesblue]

My grey is fine with storms but my staffy is terrible. She pants and hides and if she is asleep on our bed the whole bed vibrates. I just leave her alone.

If you pay to much attention to him just worried you may be rewarding the bad behavoiur.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

My dog is fine with Thunder and fireworks - unless she is in a tin shed right under the most enormous thunderclap ever and then she shreds everything in reach. And I don't blame her.

I try to be calm and nonchalant and just sit around being boring - ie watching TV or reading a book with everything but one light unplugged - cos lightening strikes on nearby phone and electric supply wires can fritz out your electrical goods especially phones and computers but sometimes fridges, microwaves, tvs etc.

Better to unplug.

Anyway - I've heard Susan Garrett - on first sign of thunder - gets out bones for her dogs. She calls them "thunderbones". And there is also something available called a "Thundershirt" which provides a snug wrap jacket for scaredy dogs, and some find the even pressure calming.

I wouldn't be rewarding scaredy cat behaviour with soothing pats and talking. I'd be ignoring that and rewarding almost anything else like response to basic obedience commands (ie distract the dog).

[Mim]

Muddy is pretty bad. He becomes a shaking mess if it's really loud. I sit next to him without saying anything and it seems to help, just me being up close to him. Sometimes to stop the shaking I will put my arms around his chest and apply a tiny bit of pressure, like a slightly tighter bear hug. The pressure calms him down and stops him shaking. By that point I'm usually talking to him in a nice calm voice.

[Panto]

LOL at eyes bulging like a choked prawn comment!!! Panto does exactly that, accompanied by so many fast barks in a row it turns into one big howly bark, with so much energy her paws get lift off like Levitating-Dog. She has managed to associate lightning with thunder, so that sets her off too, and sometimes when I take photos the flash will bounce off the glass on the windows and she thinks it lightning... I prefer to distract her with training, but sometimes she gets so stressed I just have to do my best to calm her down. I have a sedative on hand for stormy nights, we talked to the vet about her behaviour, I only use it when the thunder is bad, otherwise I'm up half a dozen times (along with everyone else in the house) like something out of the exorcist. The alternative, if it's feasible, ie not in the middle of the night, I put some music on with the bass turned up high (volume depending on what is needed/tolerable). The noise and vibrations seem to distract her from the sound of the thunder too - this works really well I found.

[alpha bet]

We often have dogs staying in the kennels who owners tell me are scared of storms, mainly thunder. Luckily we don't seem to get many thunderstorms but when we do, I go up to check the dogs.

If the dogs are out in the paddocks we go up and bring them all in as soon as we realise a storm is coming and the thunder dogs will be running around nervous and can panic.

However when dogs are inside the kennels usually they are just curled up on their beds without any obvious signs - they appear more interested in my arrival, than in any storm. Even the dogs (who's owners are worried about) seem to just curl up on their beds, perhaps a bit shaky but not overly worried.

Our kennel blocks are smaller with only 2 metre high ceiling and are10 inch thick mudbricks walls and have insulated roof and we wonder whether the mudbrick and smaller environment helps to create a cave environment for the dogs so they feel safer. We also wonder whether the mudbrick reduces the static electricity in the air that is meant to be high during a storm. Our house is also mudbrick and we once had a bolt actually hit the roof (Hubby standing in the backyard said his hair, whats left of it, was standing up lol) and surprisingly no electrical gagets in the house were damaged.

So we have always felt leaving the dogs alone and ideally in an enclosed space like a crate with a blanket over it would be the best options.

[harley]

I have my own prawn here!

My grey has found a safe spot for when the weather bothers her. In my daughters inside plastic cubby house.

I just leave her be in there!

[sandgrubber]

I was brought up to believe that fear of thunder is the same as gun shyness . . . and that it is hereditary.

Can anyone confirm or contradict this?

(I've got Labbies, ie, gun dogs . . . for some reason being gun shy is considered a serious fault).

[kelpiekaye]

I was brought up to believe that fear of thunder is the same as gun shyness . . . and that it is hereditary.

Can anyone confirm or contradict this?

(I've got Labbies, ie, gun dogs . . . for some reason being gun shy is considered a serious fault).

I would think it would have more to do with how they are first introduced to a gun shot. We used to go possum shooting in NZ and the dogs learnt that a gunshot meant a possum was about to fall out of a tree and they loved it.

My kelpie dosnt like thunder or whip cracking. During a storm I just keep her inside where she is safe but dont fuss over her.

[HazyWal]

OK it's official I'm an overprotective mum who's making it worse by making Stan a sooky la la *sigh*.LOL only jokin'.Thanks heaps everyone for your feedback and advice,much appreciated.It's time to ignore(well not fuss over)the choked prawn!Luckily my little greyhound Maddie is not fazed by a storm(would go out for a wee in a tsunami)and does have a calming effect on him.If the thunder is cracking and I'm in the shower I'll come out and he'll be sitting on Maddie's head on the lounge.Big bad Stanley always has his little(adopted) sister to watch over him.Or under him which is usually the case.

[corvus]

I was brought up to believe that fear of thunder is the same as gun shyness . . . and that it is hereditary.

Can anyone confirm or contradict this?

(I've got Labbies, ie, gun dogs . . . for some reason being gun shy is considered a serious fault).

Sensitivity to noise is considered to be inherent to some degree, although to what degree no one is really sure. Karen Overall wrote a paper looking at co occurrence of noise phobia, in particular thunder and fireworks, and separation anxiety. The numbers were low, but the correlation was high. There's some thought that noise sensitivity may be a manifestation of pathological anxiety, and there's some thought that pathological anxiety is probably hereditary to a large degree. However, learning and socialisation can always play a role. I am suspicious that I taught my last dog to be afraid of thunder because I was young when I got her and I was afraid of it. She was always extremely sensitive to my emotional state. When I got Kivi I made sure I quietly isolated him from both of us when there were loud noises, but he never had any problems, so who knows why that is. He doesn't strike me as the anxious type. :p

[mita]

The most unusual hint I've heard about managing a dog with a fear of thunderstorms, is to put on a load of washing. It was said that the noise & vibrations of the washing machine take focus away from the storm noise. Maybe that came from the days when washing machines rumbled & vibrated much more.

I've also seen a puzzling thing at first hand. Tibbie, Lily, next door, is terrified of thunder storms. She gets terribly agitated & becomes frantic to be picked up. She has to be held for the entire time the storm goes on.

BUT, on a couple of occasions, her 'mum' was not in a position to pick her up. So Lily ran out, into the storm, to the side fence where she barked & barked to come over here. When she was pulled over the fence, she ran straight to our 2 tibbie girls who don't have a care about storms. As soon as she was with them, she changed completely. The storm was still raging with dreadful noise, but Lily just hung out with our Nina Zena & Annie as if everything were normal. And, no, she made no demand to be picked up by the people.

I don't know if this is a one-off peculiar to Lily.....or if the presence of unfazed dogs can dampen another dog's anxiety level.

Edited June 1, 2011 by mita

[Panto]

The most unusual hint I've heard about managing a dog with a fear of thunderstorms, is to put on a load of washing. It was said that the noise & vibrations of the washing machine take focus away from the storm noise. Maybe that came from the days when washing machines rumbled & vibrated much more.

I've also seen a puzzling thing at first hand. Tibbie, Lily, next door, is terrified of thunder storms. She gets terribly agitated & becomes frantic to be picked up. She has to be held for the entire time the storm goes on.

BUT, on a couple of occasions, her 'mum' was not in a position to pick her up. So Lily ran out, into the storm, to the side fence where she barked & barked to come over here. When she was pulled over the fence, she ran straight to our 2 tibbie girls who don't have a care about storms. As soon as she was with them, she changed completely. The storm was still raging with dreadful noise, but Lily just hung out with our Nina Zena & Annie as if everything were normal. And, no, she made no demand to be picked up by the people.

I don't know if this is a one-off peculiar to Lily.....or if the presence of unfazed dogs can dampen another dog's anxiety level.

Panto would still pull her choked prawn dance when our latest foster was around (who was completely unfazed by thunder / vacuum cleaners / noises...). The best he would do would be to follow her around pretending to be interested but just really didn't care..! Maybe your two have special calming powers... are they available for loan next storm? ;)