Dessi was always really afraid of thunder and fireworks. If she was outside when it happened, she'd throw her whole body against the door or a window. One day, we left her outside in the backyard when we went to school since it was a nice day. We ended up getting a rainstorm and I faked being sick so I could go home and let her in Harley is deathly afraid of thunder too. He sits in my lap and shakes like crazy. This is about the only time he'll want to be in my lap. I generally don't agree with medicating dogs for behavior reasons but I think in your case it would be good. Harley doesn't have the problem of breathing hard but if he did, I'd probably look into some calming medicine too. Once she is on the medicine, it will probably be easier to do some training techniques to get her used to storms. Then you can ween her off the medicine. Good luck.