Thunderstorm Anxiety

This phobia is a very common and heart wrenching problem. These dogs will shake uncontrollably, pant, chew through doors and walls, hide, or will follow the owner from room to room. Some dogs even urinate and defecate in the house. This can be a very hard phobia to control because animals can sense a change in barometric pressure that informs them a storm is coming. Therefore, they are already agitated before you even know that there is a problem. NEVER leave a thunderstorm phobic dog outside when you know there is a storm coming. These dogs will have no outlet and can badly injure themselves trying to flee.

The current mainstay of treatment is to sedate these animals. While this is acceptable, it is not removing the phobia. It simply makes the animal too sedate to shake, pant, etc. If that works well for you, and you can give the sedative before the pet becomes agitated, continue to do so.

Some behaviorists are implementing desensitizing procedures to actually eliminate the phobia. You can purchase a recording of storms and play it softly in your home. Reward the pet for calm behavior and ignore agitated behavior. Gradually increase the volume each time the pet is calm for an extended period of time. This regimen is
effective, but takes time and patience.

There are also other phobia medications available that can help decrease your pet’s agitation. Talk to your veterinarian about these options.

Tags: loud noises, storm, thunderstorm