Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

My pup has never been afraid of them until last year. I swear we had a lighting strike across the street. It was the middle of the night and he acutally jumped off the bed and ran it was so loud.

Since then he has been scared. All day today he will not leave my side and will try and sit in my lap wherever he is sitting.

The lights just went out forget it , he is attached to me now.

What can I do to help this? What if there are storms and I am not home, how will he deal.

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

It was suggested to me that instead of saying "it's all right" over and over - the dog learns that this is something to be scared about, to just pretend nothing is wrong, to distract the dog by playing fetch or something, and the dog should learn that the weather storms aren't something to worry about.

Daisy was a little skitish last year, and today, she just ggrred when she heard the thunder before us, so we knew it was coming, and we just told her "sshh" and she quieted down.

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

I was told to not give my dog any affection what so ever when she is in a fearful frame of mind.. Its only reasures the behavior.. I would definately try to distract her.. My dog is definately afraid of loud noises. The TV even bothers her when there is rain and thunder or gun shots.. So I really try to ignore her.. She doesn't shake but she runs and hides behind me so I play with the ball to distract her.. Sometimes it works and others it doesn't.

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

I agree with the PP. Try not to react to it & don't try & reassure its ok. It will only be taken as the behavior is OK.

I used to do that with my German Shepherd, Schatze (RIP)
& whenever there was a storm & we weren't home for it (actually even when we were home) She would hide in the bathtub. It was really cute & a little pathetic - being she was a 90lb dog afraid of thunder LOL.

Now we have a 30 lb mutt..Dozer & he just barks once or twice & then ignores it.
All dogs are different though so even if you ignore it he still might be shaken up.

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

Nothing bothers rudy. One year on the 4th we were outside with him watching the fireworks and he didn't even pay attention

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

I also have a shih tzu, and she is like the weather dog, when bad weather is coming she freaks out. We found her hiding in the closet last night after the thunderstorm. We have tried to get her to calm down, but she just goes and hides in the basement or under the beds until its over.

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

I have a shitzu, always know when rain is coming. he starts his panic state . crawls on your forehead, furniture, in the bathtub.. I took him to the vet when we first got him & they gave me doggie tarnqulizers. WORKS LIKE A CHARM. i break 1/2 the pil wrap it in chesse & voila, good nites sleep..

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

Only when he was a baby. It took him a storm or two and he was ok with it. His first storm he was laying down with a chew toy and his chewing got faster was he saw lightning and heard thunder

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

I think its interesting that shih tzus are sensitive to the weather as compared to other dogs. I thought it was only my dog.

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

my shih tzu goes a little batty too..she gets the shakes, yawns a lot and tries to go down through the wood floor...poor Laila

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

My 85lb Golden has an anxiety attack and runs from behind the recliner to under the computer desk to under the dining room table and so on.

Re: Anyone's pup afraid of the storms?

my dog shivers and is unstoppable tries to jump into the tub to hide and usually gets diarrhea real fun