Is Your Dog a Basketcase During Storms?

If you have a dog that is frightened of thunderstorms, here are some tips you can follow to help keep him calm.

• Close windows. Turn on an overhead fan to high and/or a table fan that oscillates on to high speed. This tends to mask outside sounds which is helpful. Close drapes, blinds etc, to cut off any flashing light displays from their view -- they tend to not be frightened of lightning per se but quickly come to associate it with the boom of thunder.
• Thundershirts seem to be effective, too.
• An airline-style crate could be used for the sense of protection/enclosure and noise-muffling qualities, covered with a quilt to muffle sound still further. Then set the oscillating table fan right on the floor in front of the gate. It will disrupt sound transmission and blow air intermittently which is helpful if the dog is panting to keep it from overheating.
• For an animal so terrified by thunderstorms that it bites, the best course of action might is to muzzle them at the first sign of a storm, and then crate. If you see any aggression, just get the dog into a sturdy crate at the first sign so as not to get hurt. If you can do it soon enough that a muzzle isn't needed, that's ever better.
• By the way, meds are notoriously ineffective. Mainly, anything you give when you see a storm coming will not take effect in time to be really kicked in before the storm hits so you end up with a terrified dogs that is doped up after the storm passes. Anything like ACE is just too dangerous (some vet no longer stock it and airlines no longer allow dogs on it -- or any other med -- to fly, so even if you know of old-fashioned or low-cost vet practices that still use, be wary.)

The best research shows that it's the booming deep sound that terrifies them -- not electricity in the air (see Doddman at Tufts for work on this) or the flashing of lightning.