[yorkietalkjilly]

Have you tried that noise immersion technique of using a thunderstorm CD playing very low in the background as you play with him, throw tennis ball, give high-value treats for a couple of minutes, then turn it off and go about regular activities? Slowly over time as you do the noise immersion, increasing the intensity and length of playtime while the CD plays very low, and then increase the volume. When I say intensity, I mean putting warm, boiled whitemeat chicken pieces or peanut butter in a kong toy you throw across the room and chase him to try to get it first or fun, rough playing, rolling around, or rough tugowar, but having lots of activity as the thunder rolls at a low volume. You can also hold chicken in your hand and run through the house as the dog tries to catch up to your hand and get that meat as the CD plays. Keep the sessions very short so the dog won't have to endure the scary noise very long at all. Increase them in length and volume little by little over time.

You might add Thundershirts, thick sweaters with thick turtle necks or Kissee Collars or Service Vests with little weights in it to the dog as they do the desensitization exercises as the compression and support of those garments about the torso can help the dog feel more secure while it can still be active enough to have its mind taken off the noise by diversion activities during the exercise.

Throwing treats across the room and having the dog have to run to get them as the CD plays is good, too. Tiring the dog out will really get out a lot of the pent-up tension that the fear of the noise and its attendant vibration causes. Some say getting the dog to bark during thunder also releases a lot of pent-up energy and releases fear in the process.

If the thunder CD doesn't work, might try bongo drums or some other such vibrating noise immersion like that as you engage the dog in an orgy of tasty treats and highly intense activity. You want that dog moving and going hard until its tongue is hanging out during the noise immersion therapy.

None of this is easy and often doesn't work at first at all. The dog just stands there and shakes. Don't just give up because it doesn't work the first few tries! Keep going. Put that CD on and keep working or wait for the next storm and do the lessons. But if you can just keep working at it - get him moving a bit each lesson, get his brain moving forward into activity and reward rather than closing down, causing cowering in place, but build on that forward thinking and, over time, they will start to get into the highly seductive play and treating combo and start to let go and have some fun. It's usually not easy to get them going and you have to keep working on the baby steps until they step out and respond a bit.

Then, when the next storm comes, go right into the same intense treatment exercise, trying to keep the dog so absorbed in having fun and getting treats, it won't have time to cower and shake, waiting for the next peal. In time they come to associate loud, vibrating noises with good, good times and not fear it, and when they don't fear, they can often just sleep right through a loud storm. That is the state of mind you are working for - that of the dog being so unafraid of the noise as to curl up and sleep through it so you won't be worked to death during storms throwing kong toys and running all through the house with treats! You can just curl up with the dog during thunderstorms.