Storms Scaring Hound

[kolarik1]

Literally scaring the crap out of my male. Back story: Pop was adopted almost 5 years ago and storms have always made him nervous...pants/paces and he would prefer if I would let him go outside in the nasty storms, lightning and all. Now trying to console him does nothing, ignoring him does nothing, being stern and making him lay down does nothing. After watching him over the years, it appears he is reacting to the noise of the thunder and the visual of the lightning. My problems are: 1) his anxiety is rubbing off on Zelda...at first she just wanted to be cuddled, now she doesn't like to lay still unless you are holding her, which is not really viable at 3 a.m. &

2) Pop now thinks it's perfectly ok to potty in the house during the storm.

 

Example, last night I had the dogs out at 11:30 and they did ALL of their business...they typically would have been fine til 7:30 when I walk them right before work...well, middle of the night the dogs are restless but I am so tired I just say 'go lay down' and they appeared to...then I heard the thunder, so I got up to check on them (and found out that we were in the middle of a NASTY storm)...this was 3 a.m. I find both pups and the cat cuddled together in my bedroom (I had crashed on the bunk beds)...I decided to check out the apartment and found that Pop had left a huge pile of poop on a training pad I had in the kitchen. This is the first time he has actually gone on the training pad, so it was the first easy clean-up I have had. Usually he will pee somewhere in the living room (which he didn't last night), he has pooped on a dog bed before, one time I crated him while I showered and he pooped/peed in there, so after I got out of the shower, I had to bathe him as he laid in it, then re-shower and go into work an hour late and work through lunch to make up the time.

 

Granted, I live in an apartment and if I know of a storm coming I try to take him out right beforehand to ward off accidents...but when it comes in the middle of the night and he has already gone out, he should hold it...he never used to be this bad about it, but now it's almost like he thinks it is ok to potty in the apartment and I am tired of cleaning it up...several co-workers have told me they couldn't handle what he does as this has been on-going. One time the idiot neighbor upstairs drug their kitchen chair across the floor and Pop was convinced it was thunder, so he ran out into the living room and peed...I literally was dressed and was getting ready to put on my shoes when he did that, I could hardly believe it...he knew he was going outside in less than 1 minute, but he heard what he *thought* was thunder and just went...I tried telling him it wasn't thunder, but when I came out to the living room I caught him mid-stream peeing. It gets old having to drag out the bucket and mop right before work and clean up pee messes or try to scrape poop up because he is being a pistol...and it is frustrating.

 

I do have some huggie pull ups that I am going to put on him tomorrow with tighty whiteys over it as we are supposed to have SEVERE weather ALL day and I don't want a huge mess when I come home at lunch or after work to walk the pups.

 

With that being said, any suggestions on how to teach him that it's not okay to potty in the house, especially when he just went out? I mean, Pop has always had it in his mind that it is safer to be out in the storm...plus I don't want his bad habits rubbing off on Zelda. I am planning on moving to Florida and they are constantly having storms and sometimes hurricanes, so I need for him to somewhat behave or else he will permanently be in a diaper.

 

Thanks!

[Guest Mom2Shiloh]

I'm not going to try to tackle this whole issue because I'm not an expert on it.. but I just wanted to say that for most dogs, thunderphobia can either be a reaction to the noise, vibrations of the storm.. or to the static electricity in the air before and during a storm.

 

Making sure that they have a safe hidey place away from an outside wall, closing windows and or shades, getting either a Storm Defender cape for them to wear or putting on a t-shirt and tying it up snug (not tight, just snug) have all been reported to help. Some people have luck giving Melatonin at the outset of the storm, others use Benedryl (there's not one remedy fits all) and some people get remedies from their vets .... there have been quite a few threads on GT about Thunderphobic Greys and what helps them.. the most recent that comes to mind is Claudia's posting about her pups difficulties with new-to-them and very troubling thunderstorms. People provided a lot of suggestions and thoughts in that thread.... Do a search, there's a wealth of information on here.

 

I do know that it's better not to be overly consoling, as that just makes it worse.. but you also can't train them out of this kind of thing. Your boy has probably picked up some habits to go along with his panicky reaction -- but it isn't misbehaving, it's a phobia and he can't help it. There are probably ways to gently work him back toward less troubling reactions (again -- please search, I'm not the expert here) but it's a complex issue. Perhaps you could use a belly band when a storm is approaching to prevent the peeing... but it sounds like your boy may need some help getting his panic down to a manageable level. Just please, if you end up discussing options with a vet, do not under any circumstance at any time give your boy ACE -- it isn't a tranquilizer, it merely paralyzes them so they can't express their fear. (Horrible stuff!)

 

Good luck.. I'm sure you'll get tons of responses.

[kolarik1]

Thanks...his problem is, he runs to the front door and lays by it when the storms get going...he hates small spaces so he won't go lay in a closet/bathroom etc. He does the sphinx position about 50% of the time in front of the door. Opening the shade so he can look out (my front door is all glass with wood frame...not safe for break-ins)seems to help him, but he really wants out in the storm. I don't console him as it doesn't appear to work...only Zelda wants to be held during the storms. I have heard about the cape/t-shirt/etc. but my thing is, short of putting a sleeping mask on him, how would I get him not to see the lightning as that seems to set him off...about 1 1/2 weeks ago when we were up at my parents some nasty storms rolled thru and Pop happened to look out their huge front window right as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky...he turned around and ran away from the window really fast and just shook.

[racindog]

Research Rescue Remedy & melatonin. Both have worked well on certain dogs.

 

 

[CaliforniaGreys]

We're having problems here because of the thunder. We tried the natural route with no success at all and am now trying the med route.

 

The problem for me at least, is knowing the thunder is coming so I can medicate 1/2 an hour before. If not, no drugs are going to help.

 

You may want to start out trying the Melatonin, many people have had success with it. The good thing is it's not a drug, so if you're trying it and the thunder doesn't happen, and then again and again, at least you're not using a drug.

 

Good luck, I really hope you find a solution

[mychip1]

A lot of studies have been done about "wrapping" a dog in a cape. My boy Jack who just passed used to wear one at night - it helped with a sleep disorder....but there has been some work done by Dr. Nicholas Dodman about capes and storms. They studied capes with an anti-static lining and regular ones - and what they found was the anti-static lining didn't matter as much as simply the presence of the cape.....An oversize coat - i.e. snug in the shoulders but big enough to come low on the sides or even a human t-shirt where the shoulders are snug so there are some pressure points. Just a theory....good luck.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Dumb question, but have to ask...

 

Why dont you take him out in the storm? You say over and over again how he wants to go out during the storm, take him out, maybe this will help? I have a female who doesnt really like the house-shaking boomers, at first she would run up and down the hallway barking at the ceiling, so what do I do, I let her out in the yard. She barks a few times, then wanted back in. After that, nothing. My boy Bart, well he isnt phobic at all, but he LOVES to run around in nasty storms. He runs zoomies around the yard like a total nutjob (he's so special)and will grab a toy and take it with him.

[kolarik1]

Since I am in an apartment I would have to go out in the storm with him and I really don't want either one of us to be struck by lightning...at my ex's house, we had let him out once in the storm, he just shook, looked around quickly, ran back in and laid by the door looking out...

 

We had storms today and I took him out right before it hit...he heard thunder in the distance while we were out walking...he became very alert and started walking faster to get away from the thunder...I don't think he realizes that by going outside it will just be worse than inside.

[arandomchic]

You mentioned you opened the shade so he could see, and later you mentioned he was scared when he saw lightning outside through a window. So first of all, I would make sure ALL the blinds/drapes are closed when a storm approaches (if you don't have them you can tack or tape a towel or blanket up). Seeing it and hearing it seem to be some of the cues that are setting him off. Keeping him confined to a smaller area, preferably with no windows helps most dogs, too. And if you can, I'd try to be near by...if he trusts you, your presence alone should help him somewhat.

 

Will he take a yummy (high value) treat during or storm or is he too scared to eat? If he's not too scared to eat something yummy, then you'll know his fear can probably be managed with consistency in tactics. You could try giving the highest coveted treats during a storm (if he'll take them) --- like cheese, chicken, braunschweiger or hotdogs (just a few people always talk about). Maybe every time it lightnings or thunders at first. Ideally he'd start to link scary noises and storms with something super yummy. Then after a while if he calms, you can space out the giving of treats until they go away eventually altogether.

 

If he's totally scared (too freaked to take a treat), you might want to try the melatonin (I've seen people recommend 3mg). It totally helps them relax and go to sleep. Though for our girl, it also made her have to pee more when we tried it on her.

 

Sorry you have to go through this. We're pretty lucky with our girl, she slept right through the storms last night. And they were so bad, even our cats were freaked out and looking for comfort!

Edited June 23, 2010 by arandomchic