What weather we’ve had recently. Nearly every day there was at least one rumble of thunder, an occasional flash of lightning and sometimes biblical proportion rain. At our Summer Training Clinic last week I was just two-thirds of the way down the arena when the heavens opened. By the time I reached the barn I was soaked.
Poor Gus hates thunder. Those big ears hear everything even when we can hear nothing. Perhaps he also picks up the atmospheric changes – he can’t tell me. I just see the panic in his eyes. Then he rushes around trying to find places to hide – upstairs by our bed, in daughter no 2’s room in the corner by her drum kit, in the bathroom, in our boiler cupboard – anywhere. Cuddles and reassurance are all I can give him – and they do help.
Dogs that are scared by thunder can be difficult to help. Your friend or neighbours, who have always had dogs, might tell you to use a covered crate; or not to reassure your dog because you’ll “feed the fear”.
Neither is true.
Low frequency sounds like thunder can’t be changed or muffled by any covering we use over a crate, not even by specialist sound foam insulation.
If your dog is scared, reassure them. You simply can’t make fear worse. Your presence and reassurance will help your dog cope better – so absolutely give them cuddles and love when they’re frightened.
Teaching your dog to cope with things they’re scared of is a long, slow process. I’ve been working on Gus’s noise fears since he was a puppy and things are better in many ways – he doesn’t now panic and try to hide in the garage when we’re in the arena and he hears gunshots. Last week there were a ridiculous number of shots fairly close by – he wasn’t happy but I was delighted with how well he coped.
Thunder is more difficult – it happens suddenly, without warning, can be very loud and is associated with atmospheric changes which dog can sense better than us. With work, (lots of work), Gus is now fine with recordings of thunder, or thunder on the TV, for example, but he still struggled to cope with the sudden, very loud claps of “real” thunder we had last week.
Keep training,
Carol