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Originally Posted by Wallee  I know many people who have frightened animals in the thunderstorms. 2 of my 4 cats hide under beds. When I first got Wallee we were entering thunder storm season. We have a covered balcony on the front of our house so we mae sure we took him out there during the thunder and played with his toys. He was stil only 14 weeks or so so was so wrapped up in the toys that he never really noticed. I am thankful now as we had a very big storm the other night and the loud thunder woke me. I looked down on the floor at Wallee an he was laying upside down sleeping away oblivious to what was going on outside. I remember my parents always doing stuff like this with my siblings and I when I was little and practiced this with my own kids and thank goodness never had any of them wake during storms nor be afraid of them. |
Distraction and keeping things business as usual are very useful tools for helping dogs learn early to cope with things we anticipate they might fear. As an older dog, if noise anxiety and panic develop, it can be a tougher campaign to deal with it without drugs or tools such as the Thundershirt and one has to remain very calm oneself. You really have to work to keep them fully engaged and distracted throughout the coming and ongoing event and it's a long slough to keep and rivet an older dog's attention for that long or be able to teach them to self-calm, whichever works best for the dog. Playing loud, upbeat music and dancing around with the dog, chasing it playfully, works for others - anything that keeps you and the dog otherwise engaged and of course, good old boiled chicken if they will take a treat during the storm can work wonders, too. Just like with Wallee, we can sometimes train them to keep busy and ignore the background storm and after a few times of that, they stop fearing it.