Thunder Phobia Help!!!!!

Hopefully you can work through this problem.  I had a Nor. Elkhound that developed this fear later in years and nothing helped, it became worse.  When I knew a thunder storm was coming I would give her a tranquilizer and this helped tremendously.     Sorry it didn't work for your dog, possibly another type of drug will.

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

I have heard that many thunderstorm phobic dogs aren't actually afraid of the noise-- they are instead suffering considerable distress from the electricity in the air, basically getting nasty static shocks. Putting the dog in the bathtub is supposed to help.

Perhaps, however you stand a much better chance of GETTING a deadly electric shock while in the bathtub! Lightning kills lots of people every year. Do NOT take a shower or a bath during a lightning storm. (Also, don't go gallivanting around a golfcourse with a metal club in your hand! [] that's how most people get struck.) After living in New Mexico for 20 years, I can tell you some pretty hair-raising (literally) stories!

I wanted to add that while active play is a good idea for a thunder (or firecracker or other loud noise)-phobic dog, wrapping your arms around your dog and cooing that "It's okay, I won't let the bad thunder get you!" is actually reinforcing the fear. It makes them more afraid. It's hard, because if it was a kid, that would work. But then, that's the difference between us monkeys and our doggie friends.

Valerian did help a lot with Sofia, and just letting her seek the quietest, darkest corner of the closet, behind my winter coats and boots, was the best thing I could do for her. She felt safe in there. Then I would act normally cheerful, so as not to let her think anything scary was going on, and eventually she'd feel better.)

You may not be able to cheer up a dog afraid of thunder. Sometimes you just have to let them den up and ride it out.

"Storm parties" work but you gotta set it up right.  You need to use something -- either valerian tincture (it works FAR faster than the ground herb in capsules) = put it in a bit of peanut butter or just plain squirt it behind the big canine tooth while you hold the mouth shut and they'll swallow it safely. 
 
See the calmative helps them THINK.  And the purpose of the storm party isnt' just to pair good with the feared thing.
 
Count your way thru the storm -- count the seconds between the flash and the boom. 
 
No, I'm not crazy -- the point being YOU count and then declare "Hmm, see, it's getting a bit closer so that means soon it will be going away".  Then ... "SEE - I *toldja* it was getting closer -- flash/bang!!! Yep, this is as bad as it's gonna get guys -- WOW see that one??? GROUP HUG!!!!"
 
Then the instant you can 'count' that it's getting further away (and just the rhythm of you counting is soothing to them -- 99% of this is all in your voice and how you convince them YOU are **right**!) -- "SEE, I toldja -- now it's moving away -- and you'll see -- it's gonna get further away and there will be a bigger time between flash and boom!!"
 
Put on your "Wise Mom" voice -- "Yep ... going away.  Almost all gone now!!"
 
Wow -- YOU can predict the elements!!  Mom SAID it would be gone soon and it was!! 
 
This is kinda alpha stuff -- only honestly the dog almost interprets it that you "made" it go away.  That doesn't matter -- what does matter is that the dog now trusts you a bit more -- you KNEW ... he didn't.  the fact that you anticipated it -- YOU weren't 'surprised' by the flash and then the boom.  In fact YOU KNEW the "boom" was coming!!
 
They don't.  They 'know' by the electrostatic charge that it is coming. 
 
Another thing to keep in your first aid kit for storms is the homeopathic "aconite". (I'm not talking about the actual substance 'aconite' -- that is poison -- I'm talking about the homeopathic medicine sold in health stores).  Homeopathic aconite is for "fear unto death".  It soothes things like heart palpitations and acute rear response. 
 
Have some around for during a storm.  Don't touch the pellets -- tap them into a piece of folded paper and then fold the paper back up and crush to dust with the edge of a spoon or something.  Pour into the dog's mouth -- it's sweet - they won't have a problem with it.  But it works FAST.  It simply helps with the physical fear response to calm them down.
 
DO NOT put those pellets into food -- they MUST dissolve in the mouth on the tongue.  It's how they work. 

I think I found a solution to thunderstorm phobia. I've had Suki for just over 2 years. She's a rescue that came to me with a terrible fear of thunderstorms along with other anxieties. I've tried almost everything. I've rubbed her with static sheets, played loud music, distracted her with toys, played thunderstorm tapes, medicated her, tried natural herbal remedies, done body wraps, and the worst offense was I cuddled with her and told her it was alright. If any of you are familiar with Cesar Milan's The Dog Whisper then you'll know what I mean. I was basically nurturing her anxiety.

Now I've been watching the Dog Whisperer for about a month and I decided to try a bit of WWCD (What would Cesar do?) since I hadn't seen him cover this in an episode yet. I used his "master the walk" method to curb her anxieties over bikes, skateboarders, motorcycles and other things and it has worked very successfully so I decided to apply it to this situation. So, the last two times there were storms I put her lead on her (which is a mission in itself when she's freaking out) and walked her in a calm assertive manner inside the house and corrected her for every negative behaviour she displayed. I opened the door and let her really hear it, then took her back in and kept walking with her around the house, and then made her sit and ignored her and corrected her when she whined with a "shh". She actually calmed down! I know this is not going to be a quick fix and it might take a hundred times of doing this but the results I've seen warrant it worthwhile. This afternoon we had another storm and she woke me up by jumping on my head (35 lb dog). So I again put the lead on her and did what I had tried before and she soon calmed down like nothing was happening, her heart stopped racing and she soon fell asleep. I might actually get some sleep this summer. Low and behold it's thundering again and I haven't put the lead on her yet and she seems relatively calm  and it is resting by my feet and I am really amazed! The most important thing is to not react to the dog's behaviour by cuddling and telling them it's ok. This is also the hardest thing to avoid doing. If you make it seem like a big deal then they'll react to it as a big deal.

Hope this helps some of you out. if it does I'd love to hear about it.

I bought a CD from [linkhttp://www.happydogtrainers.com/]www.happydogtrainers.com[/link] - really useful. Not just sound recordings but also he tells you about ways to treat your dogs with drugs and other therapies. I liked the idea of not having our Cindy doped to the eyeballs!. I'm v.happy with the result.
 
John C

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