Thunderstorm
Fear
Dear WOOF:
We
are proud owners of a 2 1/2 year old male pitbull who is scared to death of
thunder and lightning. When it storms he tries to get to the highest level of
the house and pants, shakes until the storm is over.
I am afraid that he will
one day hyperventilate or have a heart attack. Do you have any suggests to help
us work with our dog through the stormy weather?
Hi-
It sounds like your
dog's reaction to thunderstorms is pretty severe, so anti-anxiety medication may
be helfpul. Discuss this option with your veterinarian, and read on!
The
standard approach for modifying such behavioral responses are known as
desensitization and counter-conditioning. Done together, this involves
controlled, non-fear inducing exposures (desensitization) to each fear-inducing
trigger - for example, playing a CD of thunderstorm sounds whereby the volume
intensity can be controlled - while pairing the non-fear inducing exposure with
good things (counter conditioning) *like yummy food treats, play or anything
your dog LOVES*. The goal being to eventually establish a new and positive
emotional response to the experience (at full volume/intensity level) that was
previously frightening to the dog. This can be a helpful approach if the dog is
only afraid of the sound of thunder.
The problem is
that he's not only afraid of loud crashes of thunder. He's
learned through experience that lightning precedes loud thunder claps, so he's
afraid of the lightning too - it's become something that he "predicts" will lead
to the scary sound! Events like lightning can not be easily simulated and/or
controlled enough to successfully desensitize/counter-condition which
complicates things that much more. Many severely storm-fearful dogs start out
only being afraid of the thunder crash - but through experience become more
sensitive to pre-thunder events, like the lightning or the sound of rain. From
there as the fear intensifies, they associate the scary thunder with the
lightning, and then even further back in the chain of events - possibly as far
back as the atmospheric changes in barometric pressure
and humidity that occur well before a storm hits! Eventually then, those
atmospheric changes also become 'predictors' of loud thunder claps, and trigger
the onset of fear. When a dog becomes this sensitive and fearful of the storm
experience, modification exercises as described above are not likely to be
effective on their own. Anti-anxiety medication can be very helpful, and is
usually required.
So start with a
visit to your veterinarian to discuss anti-anxiety medication, and see these
links for more advice, and products that can help:
For those of you
with dogs who experience mild fearful reactions to storms (he/she seems a little
uncomfortable) please intervene early because as mentioned above, as time goes
by the fear will almost always intensify. At the first sign of an impending
storm, start pairing the experience with his/her favorite things, like tug
games, tummy rubs, yummy food treats,etc. This can be enough to convince the
mildly fearful dog that storms make good things happen. And if you're one of
the lucky ones whose dog isn't bothered by them, keep it that way by making life
extra fun for him/her during a storm!
As always, feel
free to pass our Tips along to your dog-loving friends and
family!
Lisa Patrona,
Dip. CBST, CPDT-KA, ACDBC, AABP-CDT
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