Dogs and t-storms, gun shots...

dougcrann

We have 4 dogs. A pair of Redbone Coonhounds, they are litter mates. A Blue Nose Pitbull and an American Bull Dog-Pit Bull mix. The hounds came from a breeder in MT, both of their parents are champion show/hunters. 
We had both of them fixed on the same day, right around 6 months. Azul, at the age of 1 went into heat. Vet had us take her for an ultrasound...she decided that Azul needed to be opened up. Cells were sent to the lab, a microscopic piece of her ovary was found. 
Fast forward....ever since the second surgery EVERY loud noise spooks her. She used to be outside barking at a neighbor while he was target shooting...now first gun shot and she is quivering. We had a t-storm last night....she ended up in a kennel so we could sleep. We have noticed that when we do put her in the kennel she seems to calm down. 
Any suggestions? Have spoke with several trainers...Pretty much the only thing they said was not to baby her..which has been absolutely 0 help...

Hotch

I have a 4 year old Lemon Beagle, Male. Just starting this year Thunder sends him into a quiver and panting. Damn thing is he wants to sit outside on the back covered porch when it happens! Thought about getting a Thunder Shirt to see if it helps.

fishlessman

get an air rifle and fire it near her, dont look at her at all. start with her inside in  her secure kennel, and over a few weeks move her outside. when she is outside bring the other dog with her. dont look at her, just pretend nothing is wrong. the town does their firework displays directly over the house, my dog went from skiddish with the air rifle to my cannon firing right next to him. you dont want to encourage the fear so no looking, talking, babying etc. just let on like nothing happened when firing the air rifle

northGAcock

Hotch said:

I have a 4 year old Lemon Beagle, Male. Just starting this year Thunder sends him into a quiver and panting. Damn thing is he wants to sit outside on the back covered porch when it happens! Thought about getting a Thunder Shirt to see if it helps.

Keep him away from @Dyal_SC

Hotch

northGAcock said:

Hotch said:

I have a 4 year old Lemon Beagle, Male. Just starting this year Thunder sends him into a quiver and panting. Damn thing is he wants to sit outside on the back covered porch when it happens! Thought about getting a Thunder Shirt to see if it helps.

Keep him away from @Dyal_SC

Rodger that!

Ladeback69

Our current dog a Carinoodle is about a year and a half and has been afraid of storms since she was about 6 months old.  during the day she will find a quite place to hide like under a bed or at the bottom of the stairs to our basement when the door is closed.  At night we kennel her, but put it in our half bath where it is the most quite in the house.  Their kennel is like a den to them and is their safe place.  If your dog seems more come there that's where I would put them.  You can get anxiety medication if it gets to bad.  An old neighbor had to use them on their Lab that weighed over 100 lbs, because he would tear things up.

WileE.Coyote

Depending on how recent her surgery was some dogs take longer to recover than others physically/emotionally. Also spending time with the other 3 dogs when "She hears scary noises" will help restore her confidence. 

Reinforce positive behavior "Treats/Play" and ignore the undesired. 

Exercise will also help. 

It will take time. Her age could also be a factor lots of female dogs are scardy cats until about 2.

NPHuskerFL

Thundershirt

http://www.thundershirt.com/?gclid=CjwKEAjw3qu5BRC-0uCw8O6Y5zcSJAA_WtdL0OWvxr-skrqzjeEWdZTxSU32RCbcDfgUn7gd5S00SBoCOorw_wcB

Edit. Add bacon treats. Bacon makes them happy too.

berndcrisp

My dog was petrified of lightning that was 10 miles away, I couldn't hear it but she could, or at least sense it. She never overcame it.

On another note, a friend of mine spent $$$ on a Chesapeake Bay retriever for hunting. First time out for training the dog scurried under the truck at the first shot. I turned to him and said, "that's like finding out your son is gay". The dog was gun shy for about 3 months but turned out to be a good field buddy. 

probe1957

We recently lost the best dog in the world to cancer.  For his whole life he was afraid of storms and it got worse as he got older.

Toward the end of his life, we bought him a Thunder Shirt and it did help some.  It could get him through the milder storms.  He was a fairly large dog, weighing about 60 pounds or so.  If you think the Thunder Shirt would fit your dog I would be happy to send it to you.

Now, what we did for the more severe storms...as you vet about a medication commonly called Ace.

Chubbs

Damnedest thing. Our old dog Clemmie was the best dog ever. We lost her this past year but when she turned 4 or so when it stormed, she would leave the porch, go around to the chain link fence, dig under it (she pierced her skin on the metal twice that ended in stitches) and go around to carport looking for us. Not sure how this started so late in her life. The weird thing is she hated water. But for some reason when thunder she would go out into the rain to get out of fence. If she was inside she would freak out to go back outside and the cycle would repeat. Used to have to go home from work every day when it was storming and would always find her bleeding and wet in the carport. This is no help I know but hang in there someone will chime in with something meaningful. Gotta love dogs

Fred19Flintstone

Wilma's dog is a yorkie.  He freaks at thunderstorms, fireworks and when I crank up a saw in my basement shop.  We used to give him "doggie downers", but Wilma has dicovered that putting him in his crate and covering it with a sheet does a good job.  Kinda like covering a birdcage at night.

Ladeback69

NPHuskerFL said:

Thundershirt

http://www.thundershirt.com/?gclid=CjwKEAjw3qu5BRC-0uCw8O6Y5zcSJAA_WtdL0OWvxr-skrqzjeEWdZTxSU32RCbcDfgUn7gd5S00SBoCOorw_wcB

Edit. Add bacon treats. Bacon makes them happy too.

I forgot about these.  I have seen these a Petsmart and thought about trying it out on our dog.

NPHuskerFL

@Ladeback69 They do work. Many people I know utilize them on their high drive Mals. I've had Mals that are fine with gunfire but, thunder and fireworks not so much. Lili Ann is fine so long as we're outside "together"...the minute I'm not there she freaks and goes apeshit cray cray!  We've unfortunately lost dogs due to thunder and fireworks. So when we know the risk is eminent (4th of July, NYE, storms etc) we put her inside. We have a fairly tall chain link fence and invisible fencing but that is nothing when a dog is under duress or absolutely determined to get to something. Unfortunately that's something when they're not thinking straight do to thunder or fireworks ends up being a busy road.

sctdg

dougcrann said:

We have 4 dogs. A pair of Redbone Coonhounds, they are litter mates. A Blue Nose Pitbull and an American Bull Dog-Pit Bull mix. The hounds came from a breeder in MT, both of their parents are champion show/hunters. 
We had both of them fixed on the same day, right around 6 months. Azul, at the age of 1 went into heat. Vet had us take her for an ultrasound...she decided that Azul needed to be opened up. Cells were sent to the lab, a microscopic piece of her ovary was found. 
Fast forward....ever since the second surgery EVERY loud noise spooks her. She used to be outside barking at a neighbor while he was target shooting...now first gun shot and she is quivering. We had a t-storm last night....she ended up in a kennel so we could sleep. We have noticed that when we do put her in the kennel she seems to calm down. 
Any suggestions? Have spoke with several trainers...Pretty much the only thing they said was not to baby her..which has been absolutely 0 help...

  In the 60's I was a Scout Dog handler in the Army . Even though our dogs were screened for reacting to loud noises my first dog would get crazy every time we got in a fire fight .Hanging on to a crazed dog while returning fire was not good to say the least . When I retired I did volunteer work for a guide dog service for the blind at their breeding kennels .What we did there in the whelping kennels with the pups was play a cd every day that had all kinds of sounds,thunder ,sirens ,loud bangs ,vacuum cleaners etc. This was played as we played with the pups. The pups would be distracted because of the play time and the sounds became very common place .  It might be worth a try ,it will probably take some time to change your dog but it would probably be worth trying .