Thunderstorms

Barneysmom

I am so glad I was home early today, because there was a thunderstorm.
My little dog was literally shaking so much she couldn't stand up.
I wrapped her in the blanket, closed the curtains and turned the telly up till it passed.
One day I'll come home and find she's had a heart attack or something?.

heatherw_01

I fear the same for my dog, she shakes so much and her heart goes so fast that I am scared she will have a heart attack

Barneysmom

I've got a little lavender bag and a bottle of essential oil I put on her blanket but didn't get chance today to get it out of the drawer, it came so fast.

Agutka

Aww, bless her. Hope she's feeling better.
Much luckier here, mine doesn't care about weather unless it's hitting her on the head too much, so I tend to hide behind her in thunderstorms.

jo_jo70

Hi guys,

I think Tellington TTouch would be really helpful, it works on the dog's central nervous system and is a combination of bodywork with behaviour work. Sarah Fisher is the highest qualified practitioner in the UK and is truly inspiring when it comes to understanding animals. She has been on the BBC1's The One Show several time, check her out on the One Show's website, just do a search under "barking mad". Doggy t-shirts and body wraps are brilliant as they give the dog a sense of security and can really help nervousness with loud bangs, especially good around firework night - which seems to go on for weeks!!

Cheers,
Jo

foxwales

Don't play on your dogs fears!

We all want to protect our dogs when they are scared; but mothering them and wrapping them up is counter-productive as your kind of confirming to the dog that there is something to be afraid of.

All of the dogs I have had when ever there is a thunder storm I go about my business as normal; I don't make a fuss of them and I don't try and drown out the sound either. By being confident and showing your dog that there is nothing to be afraid of you can coax your dog to realise that there is nothing to be scared of.

It will take time but it does work.

Another good method is distraction techniques where you engage the dog and draw it's attention; still remaining confident try and do something interesting with a toy; or hide some treats and assist your dog in locating them; this is another method I use to show the dog that there is nothing to be afraid about.

The same goes for fireworks; although conditioning works faster with fireworks because they do go on for weeks as has been mentioned.

harlina

my dog loves a good storm he loves fireworks too bless his cotton ittle socks