This past week, we've had a number of storms in the middle of the night. Usually, I sleep through them, unless they're very noisy. But when I wake up in the morning, I see my little Sammy, my Lhassa-Poo, has come upstairs to sleep next to my bed. My little puppy is afraid of storms.
I have to say, he's gotten a lot better. He used to high-tail it upstairs and jump in my bed, scaring me half to death. He'd dive for the farthest corner of the bed, trying to get under the pillows, shaking and trembling, sometimes pooping in my bed.
Gotta love that.
I'd never owned a dog that was so afraid of storms. My older dog, a cocker mutt, doesn't care about rain or thunder or lightning or snow or any kind of weather. But if there's a particularly thunderous boom, the kind that makes you jump, even Roby will slither into the room where I am. He doesn't shake and tremble, but he wants to at least be in the same room, just in case.
But I think Sammy can feel the storm coming long before I even notice it. Maybe he can feel the shift in air pressure. Or perhaps his ears are just better than mine, and he's hearing the thunder a long way off.
What do you do when your dog is afraid of storms? Do you pick her up and try to soothe her? Do you let her get into bed with you?
That's what I used to do. I'd let Sammy jump in bed, and I'd hold him and tell him not to worry and try to soothe him, but it really didn't matter what I did. He was inconsolable.
Then I learned that that's the worst thing you can do, because you're telling your dog that trembling and being afraid of a storm is what you reward. What we should do is reward behavior that is calm whenever there are or other loud noises.
So go ahead and let him tremble, let him find a safe place, maybe under a table or in his crate, and be reassuring; but don't pick him up, don't cuddle, don't protect. Just act like everything is OK, and act natural.
Here's another tip: get a recording of a storm and play it softly while you're playing with your dog so that she'll get used to the sound. Give treats every time there's a thunder clap if your dog continues to play or shows signs of coping rather than freaking out.
I don't let Sammy jump up in the bed anymore. Time after time, I would gently put him back on the floor and pet him and tell him it's OK, and then leave him alone to deal with it next to my bed. He doesn't even try to jump on the bed anymore. Normally, he doesn't even wake me up. I just find him sleeping next to my bed the next morning.
I have to admit, he has woken me a couple of times trying to get INSIDE my night stand. For some reason he thinks there's room for him right behind my books. Of course, there's not, but a couple of times I awoke to him shuffling through the books and papers trying to get in there where it appeared safe.
That was a couple of years ago, though. He's learned to cope much better since then. He still gets scared, but he's dealing with it much better now.
