storm phobic dogs

[Godsgrl]

We had some severe weather come through last night with a lot of thunder and lightning. I knew our dog, Sweet Pea, was afraid of thunder, but not to this extent. She was absolutely terrified last night, complete with panting, drooling, shaking, and hiding. Ds and I stayed up with her, letting her hide under our legs in the corner until the worst of it was over.

This morning, all was well, until our power went out briefly. Then Sweet Pea started all over again with the same behavior. I even took her outside to show her the storm was gone, but it didn't help. My vet suggested Benadryl, which took the edge off, but what else can we do? The poor girl was so terrified. Ds and I weren't the least bit anxious or stressed through it all, so it wasn't coming from us. Thank you for any suggestions you might have.

 

[Okie Amazon]

This is one of the hardest phobias to treat/manage. Most usually it's a case of using medications as needed. Here is some good info:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2006/0601-help_for_thunderphobic_dogs.htm

 

[krcote]

Quote:
In addition to this info- seek a BEHAVIORIST. Not a "trainer".

 

[schellie69]

My beagle/terrier mix is the same way thunder scares him. he is scared of even a balloon popping any loud noise sends him under the bed. I haven't tried any medication just let him hide under the bed or under the covers.
Added picture of my "chicken" dog

 

[suburbanchickymama]

I have no idea if this works or not and know it sounds a little cooky but may be worth a try - a friend who's dog has the same issue was told that part of the problem can be static build-up in the dog's fur and your dog may be getting shocked and that is why it's so scared - so if you rub down the dog really well with dryer sheets it can make the static go away. It may take a while for the dog to not associate the storm with the previous constant shocking but over time help. She said it actually worked! My dogs sleep through anything, so like I said I can't vouch for it. Poor pup! Good luck!!!

 

[Okie Amazon]

I have seen some dogs really panic and hurt themselves badly. A collie owner I know accidentally left him outside when a storm came up unexpectedly. He tore one upper and one lower canine and several other teeth out and mangled his face trying to eat the back door to get inside. Some dogs really go crazy.

De-sensitizing can be done, but it's a long process with teeney baby steps. Do you live in an area with lots of storms? A storm-phobic dog in Oklahoma has a heck of a time!

 

[Godsgrl]

Thank you for the link, it was very interesting. And yes, Sweet Pea acted just like the dog in the video. We have another dog, Reno, who is not storm phobic, or even storm worrying. But it didn't seem to help that he was sleeping nearby.

I'll have to look for a behaviorist, that sounds like a good idea.

I'll try the dryer sheets, never would have thought of that, thank you.

The poor dog that mangled it's face during a storm, how terrible. We live in S. GA, so we do have our fair share of storms, but they usually aren't as bad as last night, fortunately.

 

[cackydoodledoo]

I had a golden that you used to do the same thing. He would absolutely flip out. He hurt himself once and that was enough for me. I took him to the vet and they gave us some downers or sedatives to give him when storms would come up. He could sense one coming miles away! Granted he would just lay around all groggy but it was much better than him flipping out. He wasn't so groggy that he couldn't get up to pee or eat/drink but enough that he didn't care about the storm.

 

[taraann81]

My Bully, Mabel, developed a phobia of storms suddenly. They never bothered her and then all of a sudden when she was around 6 years it started. It starts with whimpering and drooling long before us humans can hear thunder or even see any sky darkening. She has destroyed two crates during night time thunderstorm... The heavy duty metal ones, bent the door on one enough to escape and broke the whole front panel off a second one( and these crates aren't cheap as they are giant sized). Anyways I don't know why it started. I find if she can hide in my bedroom she is fairly calm, just heavy panting and drooling.

 

[Flyingbavarian]

Read up on melatonin its has worked well for us, my wife runs a greyhound rescue so we always have different dogs coming through our home some who are scared of storms or fireworks. I am not a vet though so definitely research it first and ask your vet about it.