When my first dog got to be somewhat on in years, she developed a terror of thunderstorms. For some reason, when she was young, this dog never paid much attention to thunderstorms, but age seemed to change all that. At the first crack of thunder, my normally rambunctious, outgoing, fearless, alpha dog would flee the room, find a convenient piece of furniture to hide under, and tremble. No amount of soft talk and gentle touches seemed to reassure her. Sometimes she would even pee uncontrollably, she was so terrified.
Then one day in the vet’s office, we came across some literature with a solution to this particular dog behavior problem. It involved using sound-effect tapes to desensitize the dog to the sound over a period of time. I committed this to memory, figuring I would try it.
Well, before I got started on my dog’s desensitization program, we all went camping and got caught in the loudest, flashiest, most spectacular thunderstorm any of us had ever experienced. There we were in the midst of continuous flashes and deafening thunder, with a dog who wanted to run back to the city. With the dog between us, we both held her down lovingly but firmly, fearing that otherwise she would uproot the tent. When it was all over, she went to sleep there, breathing peacefully in our ears until morning.
The surprising thing about this was that this dog was never afraid of thunder again! I think, in her mind, she had survived the big daddy of all thunderstorms and everything after that was a cakewalk. In other words, the dog had had a crash (no pun intended) desensitization course.
However, I do not recommend going that route with your terrified dog. Here is what the article recommended:
- Get a tape or CD of thunderstorm sounds. There are lots of natural sound-effects recordings around.
- With the dog in the room, play the tape at a very low volume – low enough that the dog doesn’t seem to notice it.
- Repeat this for a few days, gradually increasing the length of time you play the tape until you reach about 5 minutes.
- Continue the exercise, but now increase the volume slightly.
- Increase the volume every day until it is quite loud. If the dog becomes agitated, turn it back down to its previous level – you have gone too far too fast.
- Continue this activity for a few weeks until the dog accepts loud thunder sounds as unremarkable.
- Repeat the exercise a couple of times a week, then once a week, once a month, etc. – just to make sure the dog remains unperturbed by thunderclaps.
Obviously, it’s important to stay with the dog while you perform this exercise so you can monitor his responses, and also so you don’t give the dog additional anxiety by leaving him alone in a scary situation.
This gradual desensitization of the dog is the kind, gentle way to do it – not like the ordeal by fire that my dog got, but the basic idea is the same. The dog comes to accept these sounds as normal and nothing to worry about. In very little time, your fearful dog will be a brave dog.
