She doesn’t usually do this because she understands the meaning of a barrier. But when it starts to thunder loudly and the wind howls, she just wants to be near you, in the same space. She pushes into the kitchen without a thought.
For the first time, she launches herself upwards so that her front paws land on the counter top supporting her upright posture. After she is satisfied, she drops down and moves to the small yard where again she was never allowed. She peers into the gloom of the store room but decides against entering. She peers into the drum of the washing machine. The space is too small for her. There is no safe place to hide.
She finally stops by the side of the kitchen cabinet and stares out to the living room, where the thunder blares right outside. Her tail is tucked between trembling legs. You call her but she does not respond, already immersed in her own world of doggy apocalyptic thoughts.
Physically, you tap her gently on the rump to get her attention, ‘sit’, you say. She does, slowly. Does it give her some measure of comfort?
“Help me,” she seemed to be saying with her eyes perhaps. But my dear girl, no one can keep the thunder away.
You walk in and out living life as normal. There is nothing to be scared of, its just a storm, you tell her. You hold the gate for her, in case she wants to follow you to the living room. But her bottom is rooted to the spot. “Do you want a treat?” you ask, knowing full well her little head of horrors is drowning you out. You left the small piece of jerky by her anyway, and tie the gate open with industrial strength velcro.
After she realises that you are not going back to the kitchen, she makes her way to the living room and stood there in the centre for quite a while. At length, she realises nothing is happening to her. And as the thunder dies, she lies down on her own and relaxes into sleep.
littledoglaughed
This is tricky sometimes-I know some dogs are horribly traumatized by loud noises such as thunder and you are right to just go about your business and let them know everything is okay. I had two dogs that were so terrified of thunderstorms they both would go sit in the bathtub together. I would just pull the curtain half-way shut, give each a cookie and let them be. And it seemed to work for them.
weliveinaflat
Yes, going about my business was all i could do, after trying to comfort her a bit. But I hope slowly she is getting used to the rain and thunder. I think her reaction to storms are tempered by how tired out she is by her walk and the storm in general. There are days she was happy to just laze about through light thunder with not much reaction, and days where is she more jumpy than usual. Being near people seem to give her some comfort but she is never one for hugs, petting or cuddling. I’ve started giving out treats when it thunders in the distance (not loud), so hopefully she’ll slowly learn to take treats even in louder stormy weather. My only worry is if we’re not at home, she’ll revert back to terror since she is alone. We don’t have a bathtub for her :P but I do intend to get her started on crate training so that perhaps she will come to see her crate as a refuge when there is a storm and she is home alone. That’s sort of where my mind is at for now, the rest will depend on her reaction. I’m glad your dogs have each other and a bathtub and a cookie :D Ours has never learnt that dogs like cookies :P Thanks for sharing! I appreciate it :)