Anyone else's dog freak out on the thunder? Layla as a puppy was scared, then seemed to figure it out that it was OK and the last 2 weeks she's been a nervous wreck. She used to be fine with fireworks, gunshots, and other occasional loud noises but now she's lost her edge. Anyway to get her back to being calm?
so this is something that came up with Shelby also as she got older (shes 5 now) and we didnt catch onto it right away since it was mild at first, but now she does get freaked out and scared. The fireworks are worse than thunderstorms.
in my experience there is no "quick fix" and one thing NOT to do is punish the behavior, or on the other end dont overdo the "its OK, cuddling and petting" mode since this can basically teach the dog that this is what you want her to do when she's scared.
For the really bad storms, I previously had to wrap her in one of her fav blankets and have her sit with me just to get her calmed down. This is somewhat counter to what I said above but it was pretty bad so I did that to enhance the trust that I am taking care of her.
Now I switched to the mode where I most recently (the other night in fact) moved one of her dog beds next to my recliner chair and had her laying down with just my hand on her shoulder pressing and massaging her neck a little. As she calmed down I reward it with something special of "high value" that she doesnt often get as a treat (pieces of Cheddar Cheese stick) and eventually she just fell asleep for a while.
The long term is to do desensitivity training where you methodically introduce the sounds while managing her with commands and expected responses. Keep in mind the background sounds dont even need to be loud for her to hear it since they have supersonic hearing. There's tons of long youtube videos you can play that have fireworks and tstorms. Even as a dog trainer as my side hustle I have been somewhat inconsistent with my own dog on this, and every year approaching memorial day through July 4th and over the summer I need to get a better focus on this to help her.
Here's a good article I found on this from a more reputable source for more details.
Treatment for this problem is through systematic desensitization and counter-conditioning. Information sheets are available explaining these techniques.
vcahospitals.com
p.s. i firmly am against using any kind of medications for this since the side effects can make the whole experience even worse for the dog.
