Question:My dog acts scared during thunderstorms. She shakes & shivers and seems to be really bothered by the noise of the thunder. The thunder doesn't seem to bother any of my other dogs. Why is she so afraid of the thunder?
Answers:
Like people, dogs can be scared of the storms. It is actually very common.
Try different things to comfort her. Set up a comfort spot for her. Take a pet crate, with a soft cushion inside, for her to go when it does storm. Feed her everyday near the area so show associate the safe spot with goodness.
Place a fan or radio near her crate to turn on during a storm to help reduce the sound of the thunder.
Also try taking a recording of thunder and play it at a low noise level for awhile, give her treats when she acts good with it. after a few days and she has calmed down turn the sound up a little louder and keep doing this until she is finally Desensitized to the sound of thunder.
And most of all when you start to hear the thunder and your with her, start to play with her and keep a handful of treats when she doesnt run in fear giver her a treat.
Eventually she will start to see storms are associated with good things (the treats) an she will calm down.
If none of this works however, she may have a major case of fear. Some vets can give her medication to reduce her stress level during storms. But I would suggest trying all the above things for awhile first.
Other Answers:
Maybe it is because that is just the way it is, no all dogs are the same, like the same food, or are afraid of the same things
The pressure changes right before and during a storm hurts dogs ears.
Just like each person is different, so is each dog. Who knows why some are scared of storms? Maybe something happened when they were puppies, maybe it is the noise, etc.
I have never had a dog afraid of storms either until I got Belle. She is so frightened that she won't even let me comfort her. She has to find a tight dark corner to hide out in until the storm passes. My heart just breaks for her.
animals are scared of thunder, i think, to my opinion, is because of the loud noise, i heard that dogs have a six sense, and they know when something bad is happening, not much related to the topic, but they are often scared of things that are loud, or run away becuz someone is trying to catch them
They hate the lights I guess
Many dogs are afraid of the noise, it's a really huge sound-
one of my cats hides during storms, too.
At the vet's we used to have to go out in the rain and try to find this sweet old grandma's German Shepherd that would leap the fence if it thundered. Sometimes people would find him 10 miles from home.
There isn't much you can do to treat this- some dogs respond to conditioning- get a CD of storm sounds and play it at increasing volumes. With my dog I just hoped for the day he would finally go deaf- at last he got one summer when he didn't even notice the storms.
Loud sounds can be scary to a little dog. Duh.
Dogs act scared during thunderstorms because of the noise and lightening. I have a male chow who is scared to death of thunder. He lived outside for a year before we got him. I imagine that's why he hates thunder so much. It scared him as a pup and he will always be scared of it. My alaskan malmute is terrified of lightening. She spent all her time outside before we got her and was severely abused by the guy who had her before we did. She will always be afraid of lightening. Some dogs go through traumatic experiences and believe it or not, they remember. Your dog may have had a bad experience with storms as a puppy. Maybe it scared her so much then that she will always be afraid of thunder.
Some dogs are really sensitive to thunder while others don't mind. I think it may be due to their sensitive hearing or the surprise of a noise they do not anticipate or understand the origin. I have had dogs that were terrified during storms and you just have to lay down with them and hold, comfort and tell them it is okay until the storm passes.
Dogs are a bit like us, scared, hungry and thirsty. as some people are scared of thunderstorms, so are some dogs.
Tell you dog that God is simply moving around his furniture and there is nothing to be scared of. How baout that?
Chavat
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