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Afraid of Thunderstorms

June 26th, 2008

Is your dog afraid of thunderstorms?

I live in the desert, and rain is always an occasion for joy.  After almost two months of sunshine and a week of the weatherman’s no good promises, it finally rained today.  I sat outside, just watching, for almost an hour.  I made coffee and listened to Joni Mitchell.

In my frantic gratitude, I kind of forgot about what my dog was up to.  Delinquent, guilty mom, I started looking around in his usual spots.  No luck.  hmm…

Finally, I called for him, and a terrified little black face emerged from the closet.  Stranger, when scared, seems much smaller.  His ears curl in, and his entire body kind of gravitates into a curl.  After calling him  a few times, he crawled out and went straight for my lap, taking shelter.

It was the weirdest thing.  Stranger is not afraid of too many things.  He’s one of those dogs you worry about being friendly to moving cars or robbers, overly eager and curious.  But there was a lot of thunder, and I was outside.

Luckily for him, the sky’s cleared up again and the only ruckus is my radio, which he also seems weary of.

Posted in K9 Stories | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Afraid of Thunderstorms”

1. Ccamera says:

   June 26, 2008 at 3:23 am

   My dog isn’t afraid of thunderstorms, though he’ll bark if thunder gets too loud…However, he is afraid of frisbee’s….Who knew?
2. saintlover says:

   June 26, 2008 at 4:46 am

   None of my dogs have thunderstorm phobias. Which is good because we are having the worst storm of the year. Thunder, lightning, rain, hail and tornado sirens. They don’t care much for fireworks though.

   I have watched a few dogs with TS phobias. In fact Gabby has severe TS phobia and we had her over the weekend. She shook so hard you could feel the floor vibrating and would force herself between my legs. Its so sad to see them get that upset. They dont understand that it is harmless.

   We suggest using a DAP or rescue remedy in these situations. I hope he has a better time the next storm.
3. Therese says:

   June 27, 2008 at 2:45 pm

   My border collie is very afraid of thunderstorms, or even just the threat of storms! I put a snug t-shirt on him and it calms him down dramatically. The key though is for me to get the shirt on him shortly before it starts to storm. If I wait until it storms, it still works, but not quite as much.
4. Lindsay says:

   June 28, 2008 at 2:57 am

   My mutt doesn’t even seem to notice when it storms. My mom has a golden though, who goes into a panic when it storms. She cries and paces and drools and tries to climb into your lap. She has to go in her kennel during a storm to settle down.