Quote Originally Posted by k9krazee View Post

Within the last few months Jack (who is 3 and a half) has become fearful of thunderstorms.

Within the last few months he has developed an irrational fear of strange men and loud noises.
(I do know he "attacked" a man on the street and the man kicked him several times,
but I'm not 100% sure his fear of men is linked to that).
Cinder has always been the *barker* - she'd act like Killer Dawg at the shop whenever
a customer arrived; but as soon as they called her bluff, she became a 'pet-me' pest.
Thunder storms always make her 'nerbus' and send her under a desk, table, or bed.

Smokey, a one-year old dump-off at the Ranch, came with a dreadful fear of MEN ...
for the first year he had three male buddies - me, Unka Pat, and Doc Mike.
After a year, he added our Shop landlord, PT's Mr. Ralph, a couple of the Fire Guys,
and the BIG male Charge Nurse at Mom's retirement village to his short list of men-friends.
At the end of about 18 months, he'd pretty much walk up to ANY 'strange' man and stick his
head out for a *pat*. If it felt OK, the guy had a new freind for life.

Smokey does fear thunderstorms ... a *flash* of lightning will put a halt to an outie
in mid-step ... with an immediate tail-tuck an a dash for the nearest door.
Once inside, he alternates between on my feet and under the bigbed.

They both have a deep fear of GUNshots. Even the *snap* of a .22 cal will turn
them both for home in a tail-tucked dash. The *crack* of a high-power gun or *boom*
of a shotgun will bring them back in a blind panic.

How to "fix" these fears?
Best way is for the 2-Legger to try to totally IGNORE the fearful pup.
Don't even acknowledge that 'something's wrong' - means YOU have to not *shudder*
when the house shakes from the thunder BOOM, but with practice you can bluff the
FurKids into thinking that it's to hear the dishes rattle in the kitchen.
Annnd ... we go to at least one good (noisy) 4th of July Fireworks Show every year.
The fireworks help with their fear of gunshots and the Flash & Bang of a thunder storm.
We park far enough away that the concussions of the fireworks aren't loud enough
to be painful; and after a few aerials go up, I've caught Clipp & Clopp actually
sitting up on the back seat and *watching* the show.

Take Jackie Lou with you as often as you can, and expose him to as many "guys" as possible;
hopefully he'll re-learn that most of us are pretty much OK.