Misters Afraid Of Thunderstorms

he glues himself to my side, we cant leave his rooms, his nose gets all wet, heavy panting and drooling and just general signs of anxiety.

if we play a bit of indoor ball, it distracts him while he is doing it but he is too keyed up to get tired from it and frankly, we have some LOOOOONG storms here!!! they havent been really bad ones but any sign of thunder- he just gets really upset. we havent changed our habits at all when it happens. i try to give him a bit more comfort but thats not until he gets really upset.

any advice??

-ash

My sister has a dog like yours and the vet gave her some meds for him can't remember what it was something like benadral P.S. he ate through a door during one storm when she was at work good luck

yeah ball isnt working anymore. im typing on my laptop.... on him. i even broke out the aquafina packaging and he isnt taking the bait. THEN we were doing laundry and when it went on its ultra spin cycle he tried crawling in my lap on the COUCH (he isnt allowed on the couch FYI) which is really unusual for him. unusual enough to say THATS never happened before.

-ash

well, he crawled into the bath tub so i gave him a rinse down then a realyl good wrestle in the towels of which he *loves* and that seems to ahve calmed him down a little. im sure it also helped that the storm is almost over.

-ash

i said that before i checked the weather. looks like we are just ramping up for the worst of it. *sigh* ill go cook dinner. maybe that will keep him busy???

i know how you feal, i lost a dog to a thunder storm 10 yrs ago this month died in my arms, try rescue reamandy works great for the pins, you can get it on e bay or a health food store like 9.99 hope this works good luck brenda and the pins :thumbs up

When I was a child,, our fox terrier was terrified and would whimper during T storms. Of course, being stupid and not knowing any better, I would take her and pet her and tell her it would be alright and - not scared myself (not scared enough really, I had a friend wearing a necklace on a beach struck by lightening and killed instantly!) - and make a big fuss over her.

Now I know that is the worse thing one can do and with future pets, I never did it. We just act normally and so do they. I did have one cat - a feral rescue- that seemed to be able to tell that a storm was coming and when she acted up, I just knew it wold be a bad one (winter or thunder storm) but for the most part except for my beloved terrier. none of them ever became afraid of storms and would just act like it was any other day. (within reason- I mean, no one was walking the dog during a thunder storm!)

yeah, i tried not to change anything until he almost crawled into my lap, then i sat on the floor as i usually do and he just drooled and trembled. the bath was HIS idea and it seemed to work its magic of distracting him enough where he forgot it was happening. rinse downs in the tub arent so unusual he thought he was getting plush treatment. :) i think a lot of the problem is that we hardly every get rain anymore, let alone storms and in his short (yet so long to him) life, he just hasnt had to deal with it. i dont think it helped though that we had a rather large branch fall on the house with the last storm. it made us evacuate the kids from the 2nd story. :o

-ashley

My first dog was terrified of storms too. I have no idea why, hubby and I actually like them and have never shown concern or fear during one. I used to dread storms. I can't tell you how many nights I spent sleeping on the hall floor with that dog. We never found any way to get him to relax during a storm.
Our last dog could care a less, it was wonderful.
Baxter and Bentley have only heard thunder a few times and it doesn't look promising. I think they're going to be scardy bears too. :sad:

Cindy

i wonder if it has anything to do with how we react to other loud noises???? id have to spend a few weeks analyzing how me and the others in the house react. i cant imagine a wild dog woudl survive long afraid of thunder storms and i wouldnt think we have bred in a fear of storms on accident. :shrug:

-ash

There is something called an Anxiety Wrap (http://www.anxietywrap.com/anxietywrap.htm) that I always thought was an interesting concept. There's also this article on the Storm Defender cape: http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/not-every-cape-has-or-needs-silver-lining

Interesting concept! I do not know why our fox terrier was scared- I knew this dg from the moment she was born - the people who bred their female champion fox terrier ONCE gave us this puppy and so I held her essentially from the time she was a day old. But I never imparted fear of storms to her or I hope not yet she learned it somewhere. Possibly her own mother? Not sure. Of course, I did perpetuate it- as did the rest of my family by cuddling her and making her aware that this was a time to be worried so she was of course, worried. It was definitely learned behaviour. She was unafraid of anything else though - and was very protective of my baby brother when he arrived. (jealous at 1st because she had been the baby, lol but later, she planed herself by his crib. Then she ate the crumbs off his fingers when he was a toddler - small wonder he has always had a dog, lol (sorry to digress).

I hope the bath thing keeps working!!

My friend was talking care of Molly one weekend and I guess there was a storm... she found Molly in the bathtub in the morning one day, there had been a storm the evening before and guessed Molly spent the whole night in the tub :eek:.

We've been through a couple of storms since and Molly gets very clingy (like Mister) and keeps trying to hide under things (like me). I basically let her do whatever makes her comfortable (I made a little "cave" for her last time, so she could hide somewhere safe) and carry on with what i'm doing. There is no distracting her with toys even. It's hard to resist hugging them and telling them it's going to be "OK" :sad:. Sounds like you are doing great with Mister, just the things i've heard recommended. We got some rescue remedy but I haven't had the chance to try it out yet.

Good luck.

HRH Missy the poo and Miss Tyra could not care less about loud storms. They just sleep through them.

W4R,I hope you don't get touched by any of the Tornados hitting the east-coast:pray:

we didnt but this is a bad season for us. we spend quite a few nights all huddled in the Parents Room because we are on the bottom floor and away from the tallest of the trees. Chris and i picked a house thats in such a weird hilly area, i dont think its *knocks on wood* able to get tornadoes. we live perched in a crack between two fairly steep hills. its gone over our neighborhood before but not INTO it. :fingerscr it stays that way!!

flooding now.... thats a totally different story!! we technically live above the 100y flood line but you know anytime could be the end of that 100 years. :rolleyes:

if i thought Mister would be ok with a 'safe place' i wouldnt have hesitated but with the last story he was under foot the whole time and we had branches falling on the house. i fell terrible but we finally decided to put him in his kennel.

didnt. help. at. all.

he sat at the door to his kennel the whole time.

-ashley

Sounds like my Idrys, an Airedale Terrier. He would crawl between the toilet bowl and the wall, curl up into a tiny ball under the coffee table, behind our legs against the couch (never on it, he wasn't allowed on the furniture), once I even found him in the bathroom sink! Granted, a double-sized sink, but still, he was an Airedale for crying out loud! Not your small-dog size ...

We never babied him, even laughed at him, called him a silly goose and tried to give him treats (he wouldn't play, even without thunder storms), but no.

Any loud noise sent him into a state of half panic, and the sight of a racket liftet to swat hornets sent him cowering to the ground. We'd rescued him at 1½ years old, so there's no telling how he'd been raised poor thing. He was great as far as recall and leash walking, but very insecure in many ways - and the only dog I've had who would step on my toes while following behind me!! I still don't know how he managed that!