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Thunderstorm phobia: Try anything — even the kitchen sink
By Dr. Marty Becker
May 19, 2010
A dog who suffers from thunderstorm phobia can break your heart. I know this first hand, because even before we can hear the first sounds of a storm my normally brave and bold little Quixote shakes uncontrollably and pants at the rate of about 300 times per minute. My mother-in-law Valdie’s PekaShitz (Pekingese-Shih Tzu mix) Shing-I gets into the basement bathtub or won’t leave her arms when thunder cracks.
Worst of all, during a thunderstorm I once saw a dog jump out of the window of a car moving 30 mph and try to cross six lanes of traffic before being hit and killed — all because he was so terrified of thunder.
Most owners of these dogs have tried everything up to and including the kitchen sink, and there’s no one solution that works for every dog. There are also dogs who don’t seem to respond to anything, or not enough to make a difference.
But the goal of “calm instead of a storm” is within reach for many, perhaps most, dogs. It’s just a matter of going through each of them methodically until you stumble on the combination of interventions that make the difference for your phobic dog.
As a veterinarian, I usually reach first for my prescription pad. I’ve had a great deal of luck giving dogs Alprazolam (brand name: Xanax), and some of my colleagues have had similar results with Benzodiazepine (Ativan). Talk to your veterinarian about your dog’s problem, and see if she feels one of these drugs is right for him.
But medication is far from the only defense against thunderstorm phobia. Around a third of the dogs I treat respond well to something you definitely don’t need a prescription for: being rubbed with an anti-static dryer sheet.
It’s thought that for many dogs it’s not the clap of thunder or the sound of the pounding rain on the roof that causes the phobia to trigger, it’s the buildup of static electricity in the fur. That’s why dogs want, often desperately, to lie on tile floor, move to the basement on the concrete, get in a bathtub, or even get in a car. All these places ground the pet. And yes, it’s not a joke; a ceramic kitchen sink will work, too.
So if you see thunderstorms in the forecast, go to the laundry room, get out an unscented fabric softener sheet and rub it all over your dog’s fur, both with and against the direction of growth. For at least a third of the dogs, this is all that’s required; no drugs needed.
Dog-appeasing pheromones (D.A.P.) are also worth trying. I asked my friend, Kyle Creech, a veterinarian who works for Ceva Animal Health, Inc., the manufacturer of D.A.P., to explain how it’s thought to work:
D.A.P. is Dog Appeasing Pheromone, and is a synthetic version of the pheromone released by the mother dog 3-5 days after having a litter of puppies. The appeasing pheromone promotes a message of well-being, calm, and a feeling of security for the puppy and its littermates. Research has shown that the reassuring properties of the appeasing pheromone persist into adulthood, which means it modulates both the emotional state and social interaction of the dog throughout its life.
Like with all behavior cases, behavior modification should be used with any and all treatments. For noise phobias, at least two weeks prior to the “frightening” event (thunderstorm season, July 4th, etc) plug a D.A.P. diffuser in the room where the dog retreats for comfort. During the “frightening” event, environmental changes that are recommended with D.A.P. include providing a private “safe area” for the dog. This can be a crate in a dark room to block the lightning along with “white” noise to block the sound of thunder and rain. It is also recommended to start playing a game or working on training/commands during a storm with food rewards, to keep the dogs mind off of the outside activity. It is important for the owner not to punish, but not to overly reassure the dog, as this may promote the unwanted behavior. The owner also needs to be aware of their actions because a dog can sense stress and anxiety, and can feed off of the owners reactions.
D.A.P. comes in an electric diffuser, a collar and a spray. It also can be used in the same way for anything that causes the dog anxiety.
I’ve also seen great results with the Thundershirt, which got a thumbs up from some of my readers on Facebook when we were discussing this problem yesterday. It’s based on research on both autistic humans and livestock that shows that anxiety can be reduced when gentle, all-over pressure is applied. The manufacturer of the dog pressure shirts has a video, so you can see how it fits the dog:
I’ve seen it work for thunderstorm phobia as well as other forms of anxiety and fear in dogs, including a fear of going to the veterinarian.
There are other possible treatments, including gradual desensitization, although this may work best with animals who are primarily afraid of the noise of the storm — if for no other reason than it’s far more difficult to reproduce changes in barometric pressure or static in the fur than to play a tape of a storm. If you want to give this approach a try, ask your veterinarian to refer you to a behaviorist who can design a desensitization program for your dog, which will often also involve one or more of the tips suggested above.
As yesterday’s Facebook conversation showed me, thunderstorm phobia is a big, booming problem for a lot of dogs and their owners. How about you? Have you had this problem in a dog? Did anything work?
Photo: Quixote saying, “Phobia? I’m not scared of no stinkin’ storm!”
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My cat Harley is deathly afraid of thunderstorms. Will the dryer sheet or D.A.P work for cats too?
Comment by PAM B. — May 19, 2010 @ 5:29 am
“out an unscented fabric softener sheet and rub it all over your dog’s fur, ”
I love this- these tips are always good and so many times I have NEVER heard of them. Great info.
Thx!
Comment by ericka — May 19, 2010 @ 5:41 am
Have handled this with many client dogs, and have had two dogs — one my own, one a foster — who developed middle-age-onset storm phobia.
A word about that — some dogs start reacting to storms in middle or old age when they had been previously sanguine about them, gunsure, etc. Nobody knows why, and it may well be for different reasons with different dogs.
I believe that thunderstorm phobia is an extreme form of a natural, *adaptive* canine behavior, and that the examples of over-the-top terror we see (which are emphatically not adaptive) are, 90% of the time, the result of humans overreacting and feeding the emotion until it becomes pathological.
The most important thing in most cases is to not get all worked up yourself, and not react to the dog’s emotions with anger, excitement, or drippy sympathy and pity. These all have the effect of convincing the dog that he must be right to be terrified.
My own middle-age-onset dog never got above “mildly uncomfortable” during storms. Most people who did not know her well would not have seen that she was reacting at all. We more or less just jollied her a bit when she got storm-clingy, and carried on our usual business.
If you catch the issue early on, when the dog is just somewhat uncomfortable about storms, take the opportunity to do active, brain-engaging obedience exercises (ones the dog knows, not teaching new skills) in a quick, snappy manner as the storm rolls in. Heeling, fetch, send-outs — these keep the body and brain moving forward. We handle this proactively with the SAR dogs — we do fetching and obedience drills near the public shooting range, moving the dog closer to the noise as she shows she is more engaged, and working her in drive, often in the presence of a dog who has already shown himself to be sound-sure and will model a lack of concern.
Most dogs like a bolt-hole that is below grade, and many go for bathtubs, showers, and tiled rooms. So if you have a bathroom off your basement rec room, offer the dog access to that.
Avoid locking the dog up. Hard advice and not always possible, but most do much better if they can seek their own refuge. I’ve seen dogs injured as they destroyed wire crates, and one can create crate-phobia, too. Some actually do well in an outdoor kennel (digproof, secure) with a straw-stuffed doghouse where they can hole up.
Many like to nest, so be prepared. I’ve had clients put cardboard appliance boxes in the corners of their unfinished basements, and leave the basement door open when they go to work during storm season. The dogs learned (by being gently herded when a storm came while the owners were home) to run downstairs and perform their destructive nesting in these spots. Carpets and wallboard saved! The very phobic dogs got much less phobic over a single storm season because their owners stopped reacting, and they knew they had a safe den to run to and shred. No drugs needed for these dogs, who had previously gone through windows and two layers of sheetrock during storms, as well as destroying several crates.
You don’t have to buy an expensive manufactured anxiety wrap. There are instructions online for wrapping with a regular t-shirt or a wide ace bandage. These work on some dogs, not others, and can be worth a try.
I will only consider sending them off for drugs when the client has let the dog get WAY too far into the hysteria response, and then only when the owner commits to working on the behavior end of it and weaning from the pharmaceuticals. Have never needed them when the problem is mild to moderate (defined roughly as, “Has not yet jumped through plate glass.”)
Oh, and one thing that has never worked for me, not once, is the thunderstorm recordings and “desensitization” by that route. I’ve stopped using them to entertain my clients.
Comment by H. Houlahan — May 19, 2010 @ 7:38 am
My chihuahua used to be terrified of thunder (she’s older now, and becoming deaf, so it’s no longer a problem). In the past, if I knew about a storm ahead of time, she would get a valium (2 mg) and a dropper of Pet Calm. If the storm came up suddenly, she would go to the basement or hide under a bed. Instead of a Thundershirt, instead I would wrap a towel or tshirt around her belly. It seemed to take her mind off the noise. My cats get a little nervous so next time I am definitely going to try the fabric softener trick. What a clever, inexpensive idea!
Comment by perkysmom — May 19, 2010 @ 7:53 am
“Oh, and one thing that has never worked for me, not once, is the thunderstorm recordings and “desensitization” by that route. I’ve stopped using them to entertain my clients.
Comment by H. Houlahan — May 19, 2010 @ 7:38 am “
I don’t think a recording could ever come close to some of the thunderstorms I endured with my girl on the east coast. Most of the time, nesting at my feet under the coffee table seemed to help, but some of those storms would send her over the freaking edge where she would try and become one with a wall/door. Thankfully, I work at home so was there for her through the worst storms. I’m thinking my 3,000 mile move to a much milder west coast location is the fix we’ve been waiting for :) 2 months in, weekly rain/storms and no thunder so far . . . our biggest issue these days is her not wanting to get her feet wet to go out and potty in the backyard, lol!~
Comment by straybaby — May 19, 2010 @ 8:07 am
I have a dog who developed a fear of thunderstorms at age 8. Before that, she was fine with them, they never bothered her. Turns out the new fear was a symptom of hypothyroidism…
Comment by mikken — May 19, 2010 @ 8:47 am
My oddly shaped, covered, wood-floored East-facing front porch seems to be a comfort zone during noisy events. It’s happened often enough that I’m no longer surprised to find the odd dog hunkered down in a corner during thunderstorms or fireworks.
One Fourth of July a tagless but obviously well cared-for older Husky voluntarily parked himself on the porch until, through our neighborhood phone tree, we finally figured out where he belonged and took him home the following afternoon. He had no inclination whatsoever to leave that porch of his own accord. Turned out he was owned by a newcomer who lived over a mile away as the crow flies; much more by road.
Comment by Rori — May 19, 2010 @ 9:35 am
My dog has a mild aversion to thunderstorms and a big aversion to fireworks. I’ve found that giving her access to the basement works well. She freaks out when on the main floor, but once downstairs, I usually go down to find her snoozing away peacefully. I always leave all the doors open so she can come and go as she needs to. She developed these fears later in life. As a youngster, she used to sit on the back porch and watch the fireworks with us.
Comment by C.L.H. — May 19, 2010 @ 9:40 am
What Heather said!
Comment by Liz Palika — May 19, 2010 @ 11:22 am
I have an older dog that is not sound sensitive, but does get anxious at thunderstorms and fireworks. Thankfully, we don’t get many thunderstorms and the fireworks are a once a year event. Our biggest issue is in trying to keep her anxiety from being passed on to the other 3 dogs. Keeping everyone’s brain busy during these events, as well as keeping the bottle of Rescue Remedy handy for Spark seems to help. Rescue Remedy mellows Sparky…we often refer to it as her “doggy chardonnay”.
Comment by Melinda — May 19, 2010 @ 12:21 pm
Melatonin! It works. It’s safe, natural, found in every living thing, little risk of overdose or negative reaction. It’s also inexpensive and comes in pill form or liquid form. It also works pretty fast too. I haven’t noticed any sedative effect either, my dogs are calm without being woozy.
And did I mention that it works? Terrified to calm.
http://www.astraean.com/border.....-july.html
Comment by Christopher@BorderWars — May 19, 2010 @ 12:38 pm
I have to second the recommendation for Melatonin. Our recently adopted Kona has a kind of PTSD response to thunder storms after a tree fell on his doghouse during one (no, he wasn’t hurt, just scared). We’re talking screaming, hiding, shaking, drooling, the whole nine yards. The problem was that his fear generalized very quickly to rain, wet ground, gray skies, trees and wind - all of which would result in the same fear behaviors. The trees and wind part were particularly troublesome, as we live in an area where sea breezes are nearly constant, and my yard is surrounded by large maples! Our vet behaviorist suggested the use of Melatonin — not just before a storm but on a daily basis. She said that it would help him calm down enough to learn that these scary things weren’t quite so scary — and it has. At first, we couldn’t even get him to get off the porch to eliminate if the ground was wet or the wind was blowing on a dry day. Now, after only a few months, he will head out with the other dogs no matter what the weather. As for thunderstorms — before the melatonin, a thunderstorm would send him into a screaming (literally) run to the back of his crate where he would stay, shaking and whining. Now, he barks a couple of times then sits by one of us to cuddle instead! It’s been a godsend for the big guy…
Comment by jo — May 19, 2010 @ 1:54 pm
unscented fabric softener sheets..what a great tip and I’ll try it.
Also my rottie/shepherd mix (Megan) is terrified of thunder and even worse with fireworks on the 4th of July - My shivering shaking girl crawls on me…so I lay with her on the couch - I gently push her into the back cushions of the couch and it soothes her - it takes about 20 minutes but she calms down and sometimes she even goes to sleep.
Comment by mary frances — May 19, 2010 @ 1:55 pm
One of my dogs starts hanging out very close to us before and during storms. I always guessed it was the static, since she is pretty reliably clingy before the storm started. And it’s _obvious_ when she starts to cling, because she’s a dog who really likes her space.
However, a week or so ago, there was a windy evening after a cold front went through (ie, no storms predicted). At bedtime, guess who’s following me around like I have a tail? Sara! I checked the weather: it was clear and no storms were predicted for a few days.
I wonder if it’s a combination of things that clue them into a storm’s arrival. On this night, for my dog, the wind was just similar enough to how it sounds when a storm is coming.
Comment by Another Kate — May 19, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
I would NOT want my dogs ingesting the chemicals from a dryer sheet though!!!
Comment by Donna — June 10, 2010 @ 12:04 pm
I would NOT want my dogs ingesting the chemicals from a dryer sheet though!!!
Comment by Donna — June 10, 2010
Gosh, did I miss the point where Dr. Becker said to FEED the sheet to your dog? Puh-leeze.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 10, 2010 @ 1:03 pm