[Pablo's Mamma]

Does anyone have any suggestions to help ease the fright from thunderstorms. I have a pit, shepard, shar pei. Lap dog that is scared to death of any load noise. But mostly Thunderstorms he gets freaked out about a half hour to an hour before and doesn't stop shaking until it's over. I feel bad because I sit and hold him and he still shakes horribly.

[luvapit]

have you thought about looking for a trainer that does TTouch or body-wrapping? Both are wonderful. Body wrapping is where you wrap the dog's body with an ace wrap or something like that and it makes the dog feel more comfortable because they are more aware of their body

[Michele]

Also, maybe try a herbal remedy? My dog is also afraid of thunderstorms. I try to act as normal as I can and I do not hold him, as that would be justifying his behavior. I take a toy and throw it around and now, he's much better. He will play with the toy and still growl and bark a bit at the thunder, but it's much much better. I focused his behavior on something else (the toy).

[maryellen]

awesome idea michele!!!! thats what i do, ignore the storms and the bad behavior, and try to engage in play.. of course, one of mine has to have liquid melatonin to be calm as he really freaks out, but thats cause he is a dork.

Michele, you're definitely on the right track .

One of the things you can do is to give the dog melatonin about an hour before you know there's going to be a storm moving in, but you can also desensitize the dog to storms activity when the weather is good.

You can do this by getting a CD of storm sounds (Barnes and Noble usually selld them in their music department). Pop the CD in and play it on the very lowest volume. Play with him while the CD is playing, give him good things like a filled Kong or a bone, generally make it a great time. Do this for several days in a row, then increase the volume by one notch and repeat for several more days. Continue doing this, gradually increasing the volume until it's pretty loud, but make sure to make it a positive experience.

And never, I repeat NEVER, console the dog when it's frightened or agitated, that only feeds into the crazy and reinforces the fear, act matter of fact and the dog will follow suit.

[monkeys23]

Good ideas, but desensitizing in regards to sounds may not totally help. Our old cowdog was still petrified of thunderstorms after he went totally deaf in his old age. I don't know if he could feel the electricity or the booming or what, but he knew even when he couldn't hear it.

Actually, you're right, many dogs react to the barometric pressure change that happens right before a storm.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by huskylove Actually, you're right, many dogs react to the barometric pressure change that happens right before a storm.

Yes, because JC paces an hour before a storm.

[monkeys23]

Originally Posted by Michele Yes, because JC paces an hour before a storm.

So did our old dog.

[Drgnrdr]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents to the other good advice on here.

Getting a dog use to something they are fearful of.

All of the material contained in this handout is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, copy by writing the information down or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Drgnrdr. If and/or when permission is given, any reproduction of this handout must contain the authors name and credit given to them.
The majority of dogs that are fearful and shy are small dogs. This is not to say big dogs don’t become fearful it’s just that little dogs are living in a giants world. We tend to treat them as human babies, and so they don’t get a dogs perspective, even though they’re a dog. When they are puppies the worst thing you can do to a dog is carry it around within a purse or stroller or in your arms, (this is harder to do with big dogs).
All dogs must have some kind of a collar or harness or head halter and leash on them and let them deal with being on the ground. Let the dog adjust to their height compared to the rest of the world .Let them be a dog.
Everyone is afraid of virus’s and such, but actually more dogs die of behavior problems than they ever do of diseases (hssv.org). You can walk them around the house, out in the back yard, get them use to the leash and collar, find friends, family, co-workers and church members with HEALTHY FRIENDLY dogs, and set up a play date. Then when they get their last shots, they will already be walking on leash and have some experience under their paws and will be ready to face the world a much better, well adjusted, confident dog.
Nature vs Nurture:A dogs temperament is made mostly by their genetics, and then environment they grow up and live in, and what we do when we get them.
Use positive reinforcement techniques. We will try to desensitize and counter condition. Find a really high value treat, something your dog will salivate over, boiled chicken, hot dogs, even cat food if you have to use it. When getting them use to an object or person they are afraid of, the HIGH value treat comes out and you shovel it in as long as the thing/person is there, and your dog seems relaxed. Only do a few seconds at a time, make the person go out of view, the thing can sit there but it’s at a safe distance.
Start at a safe distance from the object or situation your dog is nervous about, that distance is dictated by the dog, not you, as long as they have a relaxed posture and seem to be nonchalant about it from that distance, that is the one you start with. Praise them and reward them from that distance, then try to move forward inch by inch, if they start to act fearful and balk at moving closer, stop the forward movement and wait for them to become relaxed again, if they want to run away, you have moved to close to fast, back up a few steps until your dog becomes relaxed again.
DO NOT try to pet them and tell them it's "Okay" in a soothing tone as you would a child, they think you're rewarding and telling them it's okay to be scared.

Examples:

A bicycle.. (Try and have an assistant for use later in this exercise, use a leash on your dog, do everything slowly)
1. Just have the bike standing there or leaning against the house or tree. Let the dog try and sniff at it, PRAISE and reward (high value treat)them for stepping forward to check it out, if they try to bite it tell them "UH-UH", or sharp sounding "EH!" that is not acceptable, you can claim the bike as yours, make them sit, and let them chill next to the bike, the more relaxed they get, shove treats in mouth, and praise, for relax body language.
2. Now that they can be next to the bike have your helper assist you, by moving the bike slightly, if the dog becomes agitated or nervous, don't say anything (unless they try to attack it, then use your negative sound, Uh Uh or eh), and make them sit, good treats and stop the bike movement until they calm down again.
3. If they can be next to the bike with it moving back and forth, then you can now move it further away, so your dog can now see it being pedaled back and forth (they move in a east/west direction while you stand facing north or south). Start at a distance a way, as long as the dog is not nervous, then have the person slowly pedal it closer and closer (still moving east/west) while you shove treats into their mouth and they are not afraid of it, any fear towards it, treats stop and you have to wait for them to get calm again, make sure assistant does not come forward until the dog is comfortable again.
4. Have the person pedal past you, with your dog in a sit and out of the way, use, Leave it, if they know that, once they don’t fear it any more, give them treats for being relaxed..
Vacuum Cleaner.. (you’ll need an assistant for this, use a leash on your dog)
1. Have the vacuum sitting in a room with no power to it. Let the dog investigate it, praise them and shove treats into their mouth if they are trying to be calm and checking it out. If they bite it tell them leave it, and protect the vacuum.
2. With the vacuum in the furthest room you have and your dog in another room furthest from it, have your helper turn it on, for a few seconds, (duration gets longer as dog gets use to it), when they do shove treats in their mouth, (if they act nervous then stop and let them get use to it), they only turn it on for a few seconds at first, vacuum noise stops treats stop.
3. Slowly make it a bit longer, and get the door opened to the room the vacuum is in. As long as they aren’t showing signs of stress, progress at their pace. Eventually you will move the vacuum down the hall actually using the vacuum cleaner on your floor. If they try to attack it, tell them leave it, and you claim the vacuum as yours, protect it, use Uh Uh or EH!don’t let your dog become obsessed with trying to bite at it.
Car rides: (You’ll need a helper eventually depending on how your dog responds)
1. Let the dog get use to the car with treats shoved in their mouth, just standing next to the car if needed.
2. Try to get them into the car with encouragement and praise and treats. Once in there, just let them sit inside and be relaxed.
3. Progress with them sitting in there longer and longer, then when they are okay with it, turn the car on for just a few seconds, if the dog acts jumpy or starts panting hard or looking for a way out, shut off the car until they relax again and will take treats.
4. Once they are okay with the car running, move the car just to the end of the driveway and back. A helper can shove treats in their mouth.
5. Progress to driving around the block. Then further and further.

Dogs in cars sometimes get motion sick, they don’t know you are stopping and starting, that forward and back motion can make them sick, so try and make sure they have cool or fresh air, if they have a tendency to throw up when in a moving vehicle, don’t use a lot of treats, make sure they have no food on their stomachs and use praise instead. Teach them "hang on" every time you start or stop and that let’s them know to brace themselves. You can teach them this on your block, just go forward, then stop and cue them each time you do it. You may be able to get some sedatives or meds from your vet if you need to go on a long trip. Make sure and take them to fun places not just your vet to get poked and prodded, they need to associate the car with good things not just bad.


Fear of people or a person: (you’ll need a people semi high traffic area and a people high traffic area, a small TV tray or equivalent and a bowl with high value treats and cooperation from strangers)
This is one of the hard ones. Dogs can bite and get you into trouble, do not do this if your dog has attacked or bitten anyone, you’ll need a Certified Behaviorist help.
People:
1. Get those high value treats again and put a leash on your dog, go to a semi busy area.
A. You can make a sign and put it in front of a semi busy place and have the sign read:
My dog is shy of people and in training, can you help? Get a treat from the bowl, and slowly walk past us, try to keep 2-3 feet distance out from us. Drop the treat in front of us, so the dog sees it.
Please: Ignore dog, no talking or eye contact .
Thank you.
B. You’ll need to be a few feet away from the treat bowl and table, depending on your dogs comfort level.
C. Your dog will start to associate good things with strangers approaching, Do not let anyone try to touch or handle your dog.
Person: Again: Ignore dog.
3. Another way: Always have your dog make the first move to go up to someone, if the strangers will cooperate it is much easier. You can use a store like Petsmart, as long as they are not aggressive to other dogs, you need a behaviorist for aggression to other dogs.
A. You have the person stand still and you approach with your dog, they can not look at or talk to or try to engage the dog at all.
They need to just stand there with you and have the dog check them out first, they do not look at, or talk to, or try to pet them, ignore the dog for now.
B. If the dog keeps checking them out periodically and they have kept ignoring the person, have the person try to give a treat to your dog, they need to move slowly and if the dog is little, they’ll need to bend down, if they are taller no bending required, just hold the treat out with a flat palm, let your dog take the treat, as they move forward to do so, praise them calmly with a "good Dog", the stranger needs to be calm and don’t look at the dog just keep their body sideways to the dog and no quick movements.
C. When the treat is taken, the dog needs to move away from the person before they can move their hand slowly back to their side and stand up slowly.
Loud Noises and Thunder: you can always record or get a Tape recording or CD that has these noises and turn the volume up as the dog gets more comfortable with them as you go.
Desensitization is a process by which the animal is gradually able to overcome its fear, or is "desensitized" to the fearful noise.
The training involves exposing the dog, at first, to very low levels of the sound (or in this case, playing sounds of thunder which are barely audible) such that the sound does not evoke a fear response. Once you are confident that the dog is no longer showing any signs of anxiety or distress at the low level of sound you can begin to increase the volume of the sound or noise .
Again you would stop at each level prior to evoking a strong fearful response. This technique may involve playing sound tapes of thunder in a dark room to help simulate thunder storm conditions, For thunder you can get a helper and put your speakers outside and have a flash light flicker with the noise, remember light first then sound.
Training may take days or weeks so make sure there is not a possibility of a storm, IF A STORM COMES BEFORE YOU’RE FINISHED TRAINING, IT COULD SET YOU BACK MANY STEPS.
Counter conditioning is a method of changing a dog's response to a certain stimulus by associating a reward for the new response. For example, when your dog stays calm during the first playing of the thunderstorm audiotape, give it a reward (cheese, pieces of hot dog). For each successive calm response, give a reward so that the dog associates thunderstorms as non-threatening and exhibits calm behavior. This method, when coupled with the desensitizing program, has a long lasting affect because the dog has learned that thunder is not associated with fear but with being calm and relaxed. It is really important that you NOT reward fearful behavior nor should you punish fearful behavior.
*If you know it’s coming like certain times of the year, practice with them and work with them now before those times get here".
Some dogs just need a quiet safe area in a closet or enclosed Kennel, with them inside it, you can turn on a radio to try and drown out the noise, make sure to make it as comfortable as possible, some use calming liquids or drugs from the vet to help, it’s up to you and your dog, all are different on how they deal with it.
The ideal is to get them to associate good things, treats and praise, with things they are nervous about. So anytime something bad is present so is the best treats in the world. They will want the things they are nervous about present because that’s when these treats show up. You can use Desensitizing and Counter Conditioning for other things. Just start at a level your dog is comfortable with and progress slowly at your dog’s speed not yours.
Praise and treat any good response forward. Be calm and confident, if you are their leader, they will take cues from you on how to behave and act.
I only correct if they try and attack what they are scared of, as leader this thing is under my protection, it's mine.
If they do not see you as leader then you need to accomplish that first, they will not follow anyone that they have no confidence in.
It is cruel to make them lead in a human world, and expect human responses, they are dogs, they respond the only way they know, coming from a dogs perspective.
Written and prepared by: drgnrdr© 2005

[danash1129]

Or you could talk to your veterinarian, if nothing else helps, and before you know there is going to be a storm, you can give him Xanex. This usually works well with most dogs. I am a vet tech and I see tons of dogs with this very same issue. It can make even the most terrified dog calm enough to deal with a thunderstorm. If that doesn't work, there are other drugs, Acepromazine for example, that are sedatives. These are great for owners who have tried everything else, but their dog is still scared. These things also work great for other things your dog might get anxious about: separation anxiety, long car rides, new visitors to the house, and the list goes on.