Thunderstorms?

[NAPSATX]

A key thing to remember with anxiety is that it works on a reinforcing cycle. Think of it as a cork screw that spirals up. The best way to stop it is to find a way to end that spiral. Calming works along the same spiral, so if you can start a calming spiral, it should start to reinforce itself until it gets to a much calmer point. The key is to not put any more stressful situations into the mix. Make sure you are calm about the situation and do your best to bring your pup in to a calmer situation as well.

[m.uh.notelppa]

My dog used to be perfectly fine in storms, wind, fireworks, you name it. She would sleep by our feet. Then, she snapped. Now, during thunderstorms, she will break through doors to get in the basement bathtub in our rentor's area terrifying their dogs. She has broken 2 crates- the first, she impaled her foot in the metal bar while we were away and we had to cut the crate apart with wire cutters. the seccond, she chewed her way through an airline plastic crate while we were out. She rips off toenails and goes into a panick. She has broken a window to get inside once in a surprise storm. She will run through the electric fencing. Nothing can controll her at all. We have not tried the thunder shirt yet, but holding her does not help. The only way she will calm down at all is if we put her in my parents room while my mom is in there, but she can open the doors and starts freaking out again. Her crate is in my moms closet in the back and she will pull clothes into it and shred them. We have tried calming pills and stuff in her food, nothing helps. We need to try the thunder shirt, but do you have any other ideas?

[Asiel]

I'm the dogsitter for my daughter--- her dog freaks when we have a storm. She has the thunder shirt which seems to help but not much.The day I had him here we had a severe storm out of the blue...I had no thundershirt so I grabbed a bath towel and wrapped him up tight in it...she also gives him rescue remedy which does help a lot, had none here that day. I do have phenos here so I gave him half of one, carried him to the living room where I was reading, set him down on the floor and he just watched me, didn't try to struggle out of the towel. My dog was sitting beside me, she doesn't care if the sky falls on us so he might have taken a cue from her, who knows--- but I just started reading and would check him now and again, he was always peaceful and the one time I looked up h e had fallen asleep.

[pomtzu]

I do have PHENOS here so I gave him half of one, carried him to the living room where I was reading, set him down on the floor and he just watched me, didn't try to struggle out of the towel. My dog was sitting beside me, she doesn't care if the sky falls on us so he might have taken a cue from her, who knows--- but I just started reading and would check him now and again, he was always peaceful and the one time I looked up he had fallen asleep.

He probably just passed out!


Seriously tho, I've never heard of such drastic behavior from a dog during a storm. My RB Sparky developed a fear of them when he got older, but as long as I held him or if he cuddled up next to me, then he was okay. I certainly hope that you can find a solution to this problem!

[Asiel]

He probably just passed out!


Seriously tho, I've never heard of such drastic behavior from a dog during a storm. My RB Sparky developed a fear of them when he got older, but as long as I held him or if he cuddled up next to me, then he was okay. I certainly hope that you can find a solution to this problem!

Ha ha...very funny POM..passed out on half of .5 mg...don't count on it I only gave it to him because I was sure of the dosage. But he gets pretty drastic during storms, this is the dog she found abandoned on the side of the road nearly 7 yrs ago, he had been badly abused. He has so many health problems it's not funny. For the hundreds she's spent on him and still is she could have gotten a registered purebred...the only problem is she won't buy one of those because they don't have trouble finding a home...she's a real bleeding heart when it comes to abused and abandoned strays.

[Misty_Pearl]

We had a foster pug that was terrified of storms, he would bark whine and howl until the storm had quit. He would also jump and try to catch the lightning if there was a window he could see out. We tried various things and nothing worked perfectly. We did on occasion give him zoloft which would only work if it was given about 45 min to an hour before the storm began....

[Peanut10]

Two of my 4 dogs are afraid of storms and firecrackers. The thunder shirts did not work for us. Our dogs can sense when a storm is coming so we get ready for it before they get out of control. We close the curtains. We sit on the sofa with them and watch TV with the volume turned up a little more than usual. They can't see the lightening, they can't hear the thunder as well either. They sit close to us and we pet them running our hand down from the top of their heads all the way down to their tails. It soothes them. We have tried drugs from the vet but decided to not give medications any more. Our vet says he has seen huge dogs practically tear down doors they are so frightened. Hope this helps. Peanut10