[yorkietalkjilly]

Many think that distraction and playing with them such as fetch or tugowar while the TV or stereo sound is turned up to kind of neutralize the thunder and rain sounds outside is more effective than trying to soothe them so much. There is that thought that saying loving things and cuddling a scared dog reinforces/support the current panicky behavior and they become conditioned to the fear-reaction. I've read that de-sensitizing the dog by frequently playing a CD of the sound of rain and thunder fairly often while playing and roughhousing with the dog can work well, too, with lots of praise or treat reward for ignoring the sound and keeping focused on the games. And of course, the Thundershirt seems to work wonders with some on YT.

I've never had a dog frightened of storms so I cannot speak from personal experience at all but I do have a dog who came to me at 9 mos. of age absolutely terrified by certain sounds - mostly from things in the house or on TV that perhaps he hasn't heard before. He would run from the room when I touched the curtain rod over the big den window as I closed the curtains. I would find him in the back bathroom behind the toilet shaking and drooling, his ears flat back against his head, eyes wide. Behavior modification training and routine desensitization to those sounds while staying upbeat and positive but never coddling him during the panic reaction, though it took about 9 - 12 mos. in all, eventually brought him to 99% freedom of the fear of those sounds now and taught him a different way to react when he hears them. Once in a while though, he will still lay his ears back or shake when he hears a sound he fears and I immediately start the distraction process and he snaps out of it.