Oh you poor thing. My Max hated thunderstorms and fireworks. He was a wreck, I had him for 11 years and we could never help him with it. He would bark and run for hours and wear himself out. Lando Oliver seems to be ok with thunderstorms and I am so thankful.
Our little man will try and hide under us....even if we're sitting on the couch! Its got something to do with the electricity conducted by the lightining (sp?). I've heard some dogs even hide in the bathroom (between the toilet and tub) as it helps counteract the electricity. :)
Our Dundee is TERRIFIED of storms. He will start shaking a half hour before the rain even starts! Then he gets up on the bed and buries himself between our pillows and just shakes til it's over. I feel badly for him. But I try not to be overly comforting. The reason for that is that what we pay attention to gets repeated. If I do the whole "it's okay baby, momma's here" thing, he's going to think there's something to be afraid of. By just allowing him to find comfort in our presence and not making a big deal out of it, he has become more comfortable. It takes time and it's so hard not to baby them.
Yes, it is true to ignore negative behaviours like this. With LO and his first storm I ignored him, also Rexx barks at the door but LO does not because I did not give him any negative or positive attention and he learned that he was better of being comfy than running to the door all the time. That was a huge run on sentence, oh well.
first roll of thunder George starts to whine then i sit on the lounge and up he jumps laying across me head on my chest until the big bad nasty noise goes away hell know what he does when this happens and i am at work... i dont mind though extra cuddle time
Gwynnie turns into a totally different animal at the sound of thunder, gunshots, or the sight of soap bubbles.
Once when she was off-leash, I saw the lightning flash, raced to leash her, ALMOST had her clipped before we heard the report, and she ran off. Mercifully, she did not try to cross Roosevelt Ave. and then came straight home.
Permalink Reply by Amy on April 12, 2009 at 7:55pm
My Maggie freaks out during storms. She barks everytime it thunders. Its quite funny. I just ignore her and go on with whatever it is I am doing. It is frustrating when its during the middle of the night though.
Leo had not heard thunder since being with me. We have lots of it here in the spring and summer so hopefully he will not be afraid of it. Will let you know. So far he does not seem to be scared of anything.
Hmm, I'm not sure if Freya would freak out during the storm or not. I don't think we've had a thunderstorm and if we did it was in the middle of the night and I was dead asleep. Actually, I'm not sure if I ever had a dog that was afraid of thunderstorms.
Thankfully, we live terribly close to a train. I think because of this, she's not terribly afraid of loud sounds. Though I heard it is good to make random loud noises when you have a pup just to get them used to it. Also, not comforting them or give them any attention helps so you don't encourage that behavior. I am not sure if an older dog could get used to it once the behaviour sets in--maybe try and distract him with a kong?
Sidney freaks out at thunder too. One time we were not home and he had a few "accidents" inside, he was so scared. We try to be home now if we think there is a chance of thunder, which thankfully does not happen much in San Diego!