[mimosa]

i have heard that if you make your dog listen to noises that they are affraid of they will get over it. well, i know that would not work. It is just pathetic how she acts and we can't help her. pants for hours and she is over 10 so we worry. do tranqs work? i tried them in pill form and she either spit it out or it just didnt do a thing. tis the season for this and we are at a loss as to what do do. she runs and lays on my husband's head when she is scared.

[irishmom]

Originally Posted by mimosa

i have heard that if you make your dog listen to noises that they are affraid of they will get over it. well, i know that would not work. It is just pathetic how she acts and we can't help her. pants for hours and she is over 10 so we worry. do tranqs work? i tried them in pill form and she either spit it out or it just didnt do a thing. tis the season for this and we are at a loss as to what do do. she runs and lays on my husband's head when she is scared.

Tranquilizers do help but you wouldn't be able to give it to her for thunderstorms...I mean even the weather men don't usually know when they are coming. I would just comfort her through them. Now for a day like 4th of July or if you had construction going on...yes I would definitely look into tranquilizers. I'm sure your vet can give you good recommendations about how to handle the situation.

[cleosmom]

Here's what I do, Benedryl. I spoke with my vet and did give acepromizine (tranq) a try, however after having only one she was nearly comatose for 36 hours and still would not go out and relieve herself.

The Benedryl takes the edge off without making her a veggie pup. Mine is 11 and we've been dealing with this from the git go unfortunately.

During the few days surrounding and including the 4th of July we board her at the kennel where I work. In fact, there was only a year or two that we did not board her and that was miserable for all of us. She's been gong there longer than I've been working there so she's quite comfy and it's located in a commercial/ag zoning so they don't all if any of the noise.

Before giving her even one Benedryl, I urge you to talk to your vet regarding the proper dosage for her size, age and health.

[citybythebay]

Originally Posted by mimosa

i have heard that if you make your dog listen to noises that they are affraid of they will get over it.

I'm with you...I don't think that will work...one of my dogs is 13, and she is still just as jumpy now as she was when she was a tot...

My other dog...all she needs to do is get a whiff of sulfur and she goes into panic mode!....fireworks are already going off here in my neighborhood...so, I have a stationary fan in the bdrm on high (the hum of the fan drowns out the noise outside) and the TV volume up a few notches.
Even if I'm not here I leave the fan and TV on...

[Lisa_from_Debary]

Poor thing...my Mothers Yorkie was like that her whole life, she got nervous before the humans even knew there was a storm coming, like she had a sixth sense, I always wondered if it was the barometric pressure change she sensed.

My kitty Salem was affraid of fireworks and rain storms when we first brought him home, he was a year old. I'll never forget when he was looking out the window and someone set off some fireworks...it frightened him so that he ran through the house and opened the cabinet door in my daughters bathroom and hid inside...he used to cower during rain storms as well but he has slowly gotten over that.

I had another cat named Nigel that was affraid of storms...I had a CD of a rain storm that I would play to help me relax...he could tell the different in the CD and a real storm...it was funny to watch him go back and forth at first from the CD player and the window...then it clicked.

[irishmom]

Originally Posted by Lisa_from_Debary

Poor thing...my Mothers Yorkie was like that her whole life, she got nervous before the humans even knew there was a storm coming, like she had a sixth sense, I always wondered if it was the barometric pressure change she sensed.

One of mine is like that, our Rainbow. She runs upstairs and hides under our bed...I've tried to comfort her but she really just wants to be under the bed, so now I just let her be and make sure she can get in my room.

I call her "barometer dog"...it's kind of cool to know when to take the kids out of the pool though.

[riveree]

We have 2 dogs that have very different personalities. My male is cautious and thoughtful, my female dives into anything without a thought.

Both dogs have always gone a little nuts with the sound of fireworks (the female also barks at thunder).

Two years ago, early into the Fourth of July festivities, some of our neighbors were setting off fireworks. We were walking the dogs and they could hear and see the fireworks. We decided to walk into the culdesac where they were being set off to show the dogs "see? That's what fireworks are. That's where the noise comes from."

HUGE MISTAKE.

My female would have been happy to eat the fireworks had she been off leash...nothing unusual there...but my male FREAKED. He dragged me at top speed straight back to the house and has been afraid of loud noises since. This is just from the SIGHT of fireworks (and he was 7 years old at the time).

When he looks for safety (thunderstorms, etc.), he usually heads for my bedroom, so that's where I'll have him spend fourth of July.

It's really a pain. If it was only the city fireworks, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but when you neighbors are doing it too, that's what freaks out the dogs.

[Turtle]

The Benedryl is very good advise...we suggest this to our clients quite frequently to try before getting into prescribed tranquilizers that alot of people don't want to use because they don't like how their pets are when they take them.

From a training aspect, I know this is hard for most of us, but don't baby your dog during this 'freak out'. Sitting with them and petting and saying it's ok only reinforces the behavior. I know it kind of seems counter intuitive to not try to comfort them, but it's true. Try to get your dog set up somewhere that will be the most quiet and comfortable for her (my dogs love the curl up on the little area where our toilet is, I don't know why, but they always go in there, and they have also been known to go into our closets {they're big closets, but I was still surprised they went in} but we never close the doors to these areas with them in there) get them set up and comfortable and maybe keep a radio or tv on nearby. If you are home, go on with your business like normal. You can talk to her (if you're like me, I do this all the time) but just don't coddle her.

Both of my dogs used to be scared during fireworks and thunderstorms. My old guy seems to have just gotten over it like he doesn't want to bother with getting all worked up, and my younger guy has really gotten tons better. If it thunders, he will still come find me if I am home and be a little off for a bit, but as soon as he realizes it's life as normal in our house and I am not going to baby him, he just goes about his business.

I wouldn't necessarily offer the exact same advice to someone who has a dog that gets destructive in these situations, but for dogs that just get anxious, it's worth a try, and again, a Benedryl can do wonders.

Good luck

[Sam I Am]

You can also try Rescue Remedy, available at Petsmart - it's a sort of herbal doggy tranquilizer that just chills them out. Try to find an interior room where the noise isn't as loud, and put a t.v. or CD player in there (on "continual play") to help drown out the noise...I will be going the Benadryl route myself since we've lived through this longer than I care to tell. My oldest Rottweiler wasn't destructive but would literally move every piece of furniture in the house to try and get away from it. No amount of comforting did any good - and he barked back (and Rottweilers have a very large bark!). It wasn't so bad except on New Year's, when the fireworks went on for hours and into the wee hours of the morning, but we knew we'd never get any sleep on those nights. Ignoring his behavior only made him freak out more, so we learned to give as much comfort as we could and just grin and bear it.

We have a blind Rottweiler now who has never been exposed to fireworks since we were in the Caribbean last year for New Year's and all fireworks were miles from our home.....obviously I think this could be a problem for him - very loud thunder scares him, but he'll get up in bed with us and settle down. The rest of them will get a VERY good night's sleep with Benadryl, as six Rottweilers in one bed is not an option.

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by Turtle

The Benedryl is very good advise...we suggest this to our clients quite frequently to try before getting into prescribed tranquilizers that alot of people don't want to use because they don't like how their pets are when they take them.

From a training aspect, I know this is hard for most of us, but don't baby your dog during this 'freak out'. Sitting with them and petting and saying it's ok only reinforces the behavior. I know it kind of seems counter intuitive to not try to comfort them, but it's true. Try to get your dog set up somewhere that will be the most quiet and comfortable for her (my dogs love the curl up on the little area where our toilet is, I don't know why, but they always go in there, and they have also been known to go into our closets {they're big closets, but I was still surprised they went in} but we never close the doors to these areas with them in there) get them set up and comfortable and maybe keep a radio or tv on nearby. If you are home, go on with your business like normal. You can talk to her (if you're like me, I do this all the time) but just don't coddle her.

Both of my dogs used to be scared during fireworks and thunderstorms. My old guy seems to have just gotten over it like he doesn't want to bother with getting all worked up, and my younger guy has really gotten tons better. If it thunders, he will still come find me if I am home and be a little off for a bit, but as soon as he realizes it's life as normal in our house and I am not going to baby him, he just goes about his business.

I wouldn't necessarily offer the exact same advice to someone who has a dog that gets destructive in these situations, but for dogs that just get anxious, it's worth a try, and again, a Benedryl can do wonders.

Good luck

Awesome advice! I totally forgot to mention not feeding their fear by coddling them.

What's with the bathroom thing? My girl has been known to jump in the tub during t-storms. Last summer we had a night of rolling t-storms, which does not give you the normal good night's sleep when you've a dog whose afraid. She was wanting up behind my head on the bed, however wouldn't jump completely up. So when she'd wake me to alert me that it was still storming, I'd get up adn plunk another Benedryl down.