Why are dogs scared of thunder Reddit

My puppy experienced her first big storm last night. I spent part of the evening comforting her under the kitchen table. Thunder buddies for life. from aww

We have a rather large inside dog who is the PERFECT dog 90% of the time, EXCEPT that 10% when it storms. We have tried pretending nothing is going on, crating, thundershirts, putting him in another room, ect. The only thing that keeps him from driving everyone insane and not tearing up our stuff during storms or even light rain is sedatives. We don't want to keep having to deal with him like this. We can't always know when it is going to rain, so when he starts going insane we have to deal with him for 30 minutes before the pills take effect. Rain is my husband and I's favorite thing and not it has become our most DREADED thing in the world because of our dog. Is there anyone who knows what we can do to stop this? We love him very uch, but for a big dog to act like that is too much. The people we adopted him from did not mention he was like this during rain. As much as I hate to say this, I am thinking about getting rid of him because of this. It rains here a lot and we practice a very calm life style. I have been knocked down and scratched during his freak outs and we are afraid he is going to really hurt someone during these times. Please help.

Having a fearful dog who has had some issues with storms, I wrote a pretty thorough guide on what I did and what people should do to help them. I hope you find it useful, especially with the rainy season here (especially in Florida). I have started a little blog called anxious dog blog. Here's the full text. You can check it out here if you'd like.

Mods: I'd be happy to take down the link if you feel it's spammy. Just let me know.

With the rainy season approaching, I figured it'd be a good time to write about curing your dog's fear of thunderstorms. Many dogs, even those who are completely confident otherwise, have anxiety or fear of storms. Whether they have some innate reason to fear that humans do not grasp, or simply are uncomfortable with the sounds and vibrations, it can affect them in many ways. Some simply curl up or tread cautiously around the house, while others absolutely panic and tremble, defecate, or injure themselves.

The Prehab

For All Levels of Anxiety

The first step is the prehab. Taken from rehab, it simply means to prepare to rehabilitate and desensitize our dogs to the storm. As always, we want our dogs as calm as possible, so it's a great idea to get plenty of exercise during storm season or before you know one is approaching. Humans often meditate, work out, or take deep breaths before embarking on something scary or stressful, so we want our dogs to be in that same state of mind.

Another part of the prehab process is simply being aware of when the storms are coming. In Central Florida, I know that it's going to storm around 5 PM, so I prepare Wally to be completely relaxed at that point. We'll never get anywhere in desensitizing and counter conditioning our dogs to a storm if we aren't ready to deal with it when it comes.

A product worth trying out is the Thundershirt. I've written an exhaustive look into it here(you may have seen me post this on reddit) where I looked at the evidence supporting it and for what type of anxiety it helps. The squeeze of the Thundershirt helps dogs calm down, and in this instance, it is certainly a product I'd recommend trying out and adding to your thunderstorm desensitization arsenal. Just like medication, you'll want to put this on your dog well before the storm hits for them to get comfortable with it on. It's not a magic and automatic fix for many dogs, but it does help.

Next, we'll want some super special treats or toys ready. Stuffed Kongs, tasty Bully Sticks, or a flirt pole great options, but you should use whatever your dog's favorite thing is. Just like with any other phobia or anxiety trigger, part of changing the behavior is changing the emotional state. Imagine if every time you got to work on Monday and your boss threw a big party, you got a bonus, and went out to happy hour after a short day. That'd be pretty awesome right? Those Mondays would eventually bring you to anticipate them, not dread them. That's what we want to do for our dogs. Over time, we want them to associate a storm with a special treat or play session.

Finally, we'll want to have a safety net ready for our dogs. Provide them a safe place to go hide, lay down, or cuddle next to you should the storm be too much for them. It is very important to note that you cannot reinforce a dog's fear by comforting it. That has been debunked. It's worth repeating even. YOU CANNOT REINFORCE A DOG'S FEAR BY COMFORTING IT. So have their favorite blanket laying on the couch, or a nice den like environment for them to go to for safety.

For Severe Cases of Anxiety

For those dogs who have crippling fears of storms, when we know one is approaching, medication is often recommended. As always, consult with your vet before giving your dog absolutely anything. Some of these medications may include Benadryl, Melatonin, or prescribed anti-anxiety medication. For these medications to take effect, you'll want to give them time to get into the dogs system. So don't do it 5 minutes before the storm is overhead.

The Desensitization

Just like with any other phobia, we want to know where our dog's threshold's are with respect to the storms, and what exactly is the thing that makes them afraid. Is it the sudden noise? Is it the vibration? The flashes of light? In order to overcome the fear, we need to truly identify the trigger.

If it's the noise and vibration, there are many Youtube Clips of thunderstorms you will want to cue up on our computer and begin to introduce to your dog. Here's a great one I use for Wally.

As the text in the video says, you'll want to start at very low levels, gradually increasing until you reach real world levels. Once you begin to get near your dog's threshold, you'll want to start the counter-conditioning process. Break out those yummy treats or get to playing until he/she no longer reacts to the sounds of the storm. Once your dog feels comfortable at that volume, up it just a tiny bit. It's important not to jump too quickly. This process may take a while, as in weeks, not hours. So don't try starting this 2 hours before the real storm hits if your dog has severe issues.

After we reach max levels without destroying our speakers or angering our neighbors in a session, we'll want to repeat this process again, but this time we'll want to shorten the time it takes to reach the max volume/vibration levels. After all, real storms don't always slowly build up, they can be quite sudden.

When it comes time for the real deal, we'll just do the same things we've practiced with. Provide treats or playtime when the lightning strikes and the storm comes through. It's important that we project confidence with our dogs. Dogs are masters of understanding body language, and if we act apprehensive or anxious ourselves, they'll pick up on it. Confidence is key in desensitization and counter-conditioning.

What Happens If The Storm Gets Past Our Dog's Threshold?

It's very likely that a real storm will come before we can get our dogs to get comfortable with them. These processes can take weeks or months, and many real storms before they will show improvement. Here's what to do and not to do if it's too much for our pups.

Provide that safe place, but do not force them anywhere: You know that spot your dog runs to when it is scared? Under the bed, snuggled on you on the couch, or in the closet away from the windows. Let them have access to that. They find it safe for a reason. We don't want to have them panic even more because they can't get to their known safety spot, or they can't get out of wherever they're trapped.

Do not punish undesired behavior: Scared dogs do seemingly odd or frustrating things. They bark, they whine, they tremble, they tear stuff up, and sometimes they lose control of their bladder or bowels. If we punish them when this happens, all we've done is tell them that when a storm comes, not only will they be afraid of that, but we're also going to punish them for being afraid. That's a recipe for disaster. This process takes a lot of patience, and don't take out your frustrations on Fido.

As stated many times before, your dog isn't going to become courageous overnight. In fact, if it has severe storm anxiety, it may never get to that point. The best we can do is work with our dogs to improve.

Hope this helps everyone who's dealing with these issues. It's what worked for me. Anyone have any other tips worth sharing?