Who Moved My Bone?

It’s 2:30am, you see the flash of light out the window followed by a loud boom. An instant later you feel a vibration caused by your dog’s shivering as he/she tries to squeeze under the bed. The shivering is followed by excessive panting and subsequently drooling. Bosley, our 7yr old Boxer mix, is one of those dogs.

While I do not personally believe it is possible to cure a dog of its thunderstorm fear there are some things you can try that may help your dog cope with his/her fear of thunderstorms or at the very least reduce their anxiety during a storm. Some of these techniques could save your wall, door or window if you have one of those dogs that goes crazy and tries to run out of the house during a storm.

Note: Although this article is geared towards Thunderstorms the advice could be equally applied to Fireworks.

Medication
Anti-anxieties (Xanax), sedatives (Acepromazine) and anti-depressants (Prozac) can all be very effective at keeping your dog calm during a thunderstorm. The biggest drawback to medications though is it usually takes about 30 minutes for them to take effect. That is fine if you know it is going to rain all day. Here is Houston, especially during these hot summer months, thunderstorms can pop up out of nowhere and be over by the time the medication would take effect.

There are also herbal remedies for the treatment of anxiety like Valerian Root. While I have never given Valerian to Bosley, I have tried it personally with very marginal results.

Ear Muffs
Here the goal is pretty obvious, to prevent your dog from hearing the lightning and thunder. This certainly would not work for Bosley. He gets anxious just from the rain even if there has been no thunder or lightning. My guess is he associates the rain with thunder and lightning which makes perfect sense. I guess if your dog is only afraid of the sound of thunder this could be a viable option.

Turn up the television or radio
This is another technique aimed at preventing your dog from hearing the thunder. The problem here is the same as with the ear muffs. A lot of dogs get anxious at the sight of rain because they know it is associated with thunder and lightning. Also the television or radio would have to be pretty loud to overcome the sound of thunder during an intense storm.

Desensitize
Desensitizing usually involves exposing your dog to artificial thunderstorm sounds. The idea is if they hear the thunderstorm sounds enough they will get used to it and overcome their fear. I bought one of those thunderstorm CDs and tried this with Bosley. It did not work at all. He could apparently tell the difference between the CD and the real thing. Also, I have read that dogs can be sensitive to the barometric pressure changes and static electricity associated with a thunderstorm. Perhaps that is why he did not respond to the CD. I have heard of other people having marginal success with this technique though.

Body suit or “Sheep Suit”
This is an interesting one. I was first introduced to this concept in the book, “Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior” by Temple Grandin. Dr. Grandin has developed similar devices for agricultural use. It is basically a leotard for dogs. The pressure generated by the leotard has a calming effect. So the idea is you put the leotard on your dog during the storm and it helps calm them.

Distract the Dog with Treats
This is a basic dog training technique. We have used this technique with Emma in an attempt to help her overcome social anxiety, primarily of men. When we have friends over at the house she is almost always afraid of the men. So now when they come over we have them give her a treat so she will associate them with something good. The same idea applies to thunderstorms. When a thunderstorm comes it may help to distract your dog with treats. You don’t want to just give them treats though and reinforce the anxious behavior. Instead show them the treat and then have them do a trick before giving them the treat.

Create a Safe Place
Dogs are naturally “den” animals so create or make sure your dog has a safe “den-like” place to hide during a thunderstorm. For Bosley, it is under the bathroom counter but it could be as simple as placing a blanket over your dogs crate so that he/she feels safe. By not providing a safe hiding place you risk your dog trying to escape, damaging your home or injuring itself trying to squeeze into a place where he/she does not fit. Bosley is much less anxious when he has a “den” like place to hide.

So in summary what works for one dog might not work for another. Experiment with various different solutions to see which one your dog responds to best.

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