My dog has developed a rather extreme fear of thunderstorms. How can I help him overcome this fear?

According to Peteducation.com, a dog's fear of loud noises can be attributed to a negative experience in their past and if not dealt with the anxiety will only grow over time if not dealt with. There are several methods to deal with the problem. You can ask your vet for medication (ie Clomicalm or Valium) which decreases anxiety.

You also place the dog in a room that you know will be quieter to lesson the noise, make sure the dog has enough exercise and proper diet, or try desensitizing the dog to loud sounds (although it may be difficult to summon a thunderstorm at will). The key is not to reward or give positive reinforcement (ie petting and attention) when they start to exhibit unwanted behavior. It doesn't calm them down.It only reinforces their behavior.

Personally, my dog was afraid of loud noises (ie sirens, fireworks the mailman walking out my door). Once I got him a crate to hide in. He felt safe, secure and his (and mine) anxiety level have gone down.

Some vets feel that its the vibrations during a thunderstorm that causes the anxiety, and that having your dog lay down in the bathtub during a storm might muffle the vibrations.

I used to train police dogs. We used to condition them to associate yelling with play by screaming at them while playing with them. While it might sound weird, it would prevent them from shying if the bad guy yelled at them.It's very simple.

During the next thunderstorm, get out your dog's favorite toy and entice him to play. It may take some time, but eventually he will think that thunder means it's play time. If you don't want to wait until the next storm, get a cd of thunder and play it.

Another thing you can do is to create a "safe area" for your dog. We had benches. We would teach the dogs that any time they were on the bench nothing would hurt them.

We would even act like we were going to hit them, then pet them to teach them this idea. It sounds weird, but it worked. The dogs would often choose to sit on the bench versus the floor.

Your dog's save zone could be a crate with the door off. This would give him a confined area where he feels protected. Dogs are naturally den animals, so it is more natural.

My Sunny dog got super scared of thunderstorms during one summer when the school, within walking distance of us, set off fireworks. The interesting thing is, she's found her own way to calm herself down. She goes to the foot of our stairs and curls up in the corner.

Basically, she's created a "safe space. " And yeah, exposure will help a lot. It's just like removing phobias in people.

When you're exposing the dog to the loud noise, make sure to reassure him, pet him, and give him stuff he likes (food, a toy) to try to lessen the anxiety.

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