Recently, we've had a number of storms in the middle of the night. Usually, I sleep through them, unless they're particularly noisy. But when I wake up in the morning, I see my little Sammy, my Lhassa-Poo, has come upstairs to sleep next to my bed. My little dog is afraid of storms.
Actually, he's gotten a lot better. He used to high-tail it upstairs and jump in my bed, startling me. He'd scamper across the bed, attempting to get under the pillows, shaking and trembling, sometimes pooping in my bed.
Lovely.
I'd never known a dog that was so terrified of storms. My older dog, a cocker mutt, doesn't care about rain or thunder or lightning or snow or any kind of weather. But if there's a particularly earth-shattering boom, the kind that makes you jump, even Roby will slither into the room where I am. He doesn't freak out, but he wants to at least be in the same room, just in case.
But I think Sammy can feel the storm coming long before I even notice it. Maybe he can feel the shift in air pressure. Or perhaps his hearing is just better than mine, and he's hearing the thunder a long way off.
What do you do when your dog is afraid of storms? Do you pick her up and cuddle her? Do you let her jump into bed with you?
That's what I used to do. I'd let my little Lhassa-Poo jump in bed, and I'd hold him and tell him it's OK and try to calm him, but it really didn't help. He was inconsolable.
The worst thing you can do
Then I learned that that's the worst thing you can do, because you're telling your dog that trembling and being afraid of a storm is what you reward. What we should do is reinforce behavior that is calm in the presence of storms or other loud noises.
So the best thing you can do is let him tremble, let him find a safe place, maybe under a table or in his crate, and be reassuring; but don't pick him up, don't cuddle, don't protect. Just act like everything is OK, and go about your business.
Here's another tip: get a recording of a storm and play it softly while you're playing with your dog so that she'll get used to the sound. Give treats every time there's a thunder clap if your dog continues to play or shows signs of coping rather than trembling or running.
The bed is off limits to Sammy now. A number of times, I had to gently put him back on the floor and pat him and tell him it's OK, and then leave him alone to cope next to my bed. He doesn't even try to jump on the bed anymore. Normally, he doesn't even wake me up. I just find him sleeping next to my bed the next morning.
I have to admit, he has awakened me a couple of times trying to get INSIDE my night stand. The weirdo thinks there's room for him right behind my books. Of course, there's not, but a couple of times I awoke to him clawing at the books and papers trying to get in there where it looked safer.
But that happened a couple of years ago. He's gotten a lot better since then. He still gets scared, but he's dealing with it much better now.
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Roshana Ariel is a longtime writer and copy editor.
She has created a website for her dogs (and dog lovers) called Love Those Doggies: www.love-those-doggies.com.
She also enjoys traveling, and has a website on China travel: www.adventuresinchinatravel.com. |
