If Your Dog Flys Under The Coffee Table And Lays There Shaking In Fear

[tdierikx]

My girl also doesn't like fireworks, so if I know they are going to be happening nearby, I'll put on something loud like the TV or radio to try to drown out the bangs, and it seems to help a lot.

Storms - well - I think she can sense the barometric pressure dropping... she is trembling a good while before the storm actually arrives. She happily goes into the bathroom when I open the door for her, so whatever she wants as far as that is concerned is fine by me - I don't want a velcro 30kg Rotti/Pittie trying to sit on me because she's scared of the storm...

T.

[poodlefan]

Dog under coffee table? Throw blanket over coffee table and leave her be.

How many of these dogs that freak out have access to a safe den such as a covered crate?

[Kavik]

When Zoe was quite bad with storms etc she would still bark and carry on in a crate, but was quiet under coffee table, not sure why.

[BC Crazy]

My rescue boy I had for 14.5 years was terrified of lots of things but thunderstorms were the worst. My poor heartdog would go into emotional overload 3 hours before the storm hit. A drooling, shivering mess.

He always ran into the garage & thats where he stayed. I tried all sorts of things to comfort him. He wasn't an inside dog, just not comfortable indoors but when a storm was looming the garage was the place to be. So I made a

very comfy bed in there & he would lie there , I'd cover him over & lights out. I found the more fuss I made the worse his nervous state would become. I just went to bed & cried sometimes cause I felt so bad for him.

He was an extremely abused soul but sooo very brave. He improved with lots of his behaviour / fears but just not storms, loud noises or men apart from OH.

Edited October 8, 2011 by BC Crazy

[Staff'n'Toller]

Dog under coffee table? Throw blanket over coffee table and leave her be.

How many of these dogs that freak out have access to a safe den such as a covered crate?

Mine has the choice of two, but prefers between the toilet bowl and the wall. Strange dog.

[corvus]

Penny would often end up in odd places, like under a housemate's bed where she never went normally. I ended up making several den-like places for her to choose from, because I couldn't figure out exactly what she wanted. Just darkness and an enclosed space was not it. She seemed to like something quite solid on two or three sides, but she wanted to be with people as well. I just tried to help her find a place she could feel safe. If she was panting and shaking a lot, I would sit with her with an arm over her while I read a book or watched TV. Sometimes it helped a little. My housemate's dog was all right, but a couple of times he was frightened by big claps of thunder and literally came and thrust his head into my chest if I was the closest human. He genuinely wanted a cuddle, so I would give him one and he'd be okay after that and would take himself back to his bed and lie down again. A cuddle when he wanted one definitely helped him cope when he was scared.

[Guest]

Poor things, my natural instinct would be to comfort them but I know that's the worst thing you can do.

It is NOT the worst thing you can do! What you are seeing is an emotional response. It is not operative, therefore, it does not fall under the rules of the quadrants. You cannot reinforce it. I repeat, you cannot reinforce it. There is so much confusion around this and it drives me crazy because dogs suffer because people are too afraid to do anything lest they reinforce something that cannot be reinforced with rewards. Positive reinforcement creates a positive emotional state. Fear is a negative emotional state. They are antagonistic. One will win out. "Rewarding" fearful behaviour can only help change a fearful animal's emotional state to a positive one. The confusion I think lies in coddling. Lots of nervous energy around a dog that is already fearful does not make them feel better. Making baby sounds and cooing over them and so on may well make them worse, but not because it is rewarding. It just prepares them to feel frightened and arouses them so they become more reactive. Calm comforting will not make it worse. It probably won't make it better either, but I know dogs that it did help, my own being one of them. Some of us spent years stoically ignoring our fearful dogs because we thought it was best for them, only to try comforting as a last resort when they were old and we figured it couldn't get any worse. If your dog can't settle on their own, there is nothing at all wrong with comforting them if it calms them.

Thankyou - the info I needed. I hope i don't have a storm to practice it on though

[raineth]

well I didn't comfort my dog who had a problem with storms and he now has no problem with storms.

I used a Thundershirt and we took extra care to act all chilled out.

[becks]

One of mine has something similar to a thundershirt, I call it her 'walking cuddle'

Great post above, Corvus - after years of living with dogs I have come to the same conclusion as you put in your post.