Thunder Terrifes Teddy!
The forecast calls for scattered, severe thunderstorms with a great deal of cloud-to-ground lightning. Whether or not you personally like a good storm, you feel a lump in your throat knowing that Teddy is going to be very upset. Whenever the rains come, Teddy turns from his normal sweet, calm, well behaved pooch into an anxious, terrified dog who does things he would never ordinarily do.
As the storm approaches, Teddy begins to pace the house, pant and get very clingy to the humans that are around. He nearly trips his person as he tries to maintain himself right between her legs as she walks from room to room. If the human sits at a table or desk, Teddy is quick to try to squeeze under the desk and under his human's legs. You may find he's drooling excessively or digging at the floor, a rug or his bed like he's trying to create a den he can crawl into. Or, you may suddenly realize that you haven't seen Teddy in quite a while and search the house only to find him hiding: under furniture, in a closet, in the bathtub, in a room that he knows he is not allowed in. When he sees you, he looks at you with imploring eyes that seem to beg, "Make it stop. Make the Thunder Monster go away!!! Pleeeeeeaaaaase........" He may begin to pant upon seeing you and then begin the clingy behavior described earlier.
All of these are classic anxiety/stress signals that dogs display when they have a fear of thunder or storms. Many people are surprised at the sudden onset of this fear in a dog they've had since puppyhood. A lot of puppies, mine included, seem to find storms interesting and even exciting for their first year, only to suddenly get the canine memo that they are supposed to be afraid of this natural wonder. Suddenly, they begin displaying all of these signs that you thought you might have avoided with this pup.
An extremely common issue that many, many dog owners have to face is "How do I deal with Teddy during a storm? My heart breaks to see him so scared. All I want to do is sit with him and reassure him and hold him and tell him it's OK and it'll all be over soon." This is absolutely the right thing to do with our young children who are afraid of storms. Unfortunately, it's absolutely the WRONG thing to do with Teddy.
Dogs read our reassurance as praise. If they are showing any or all of the above signs of stress and we comfort them verbally, "It's OK, Teddy. It's just thunder. It can't hurt you..." or physically by petting/stroking/holding/hugging them, we are actually reinforcing their behavior. We are unwittingly telling them that their reaction is the correct reaction to the circumstances. By doing this, we are making it much more likely that Teddy will freak out next time there's a storm, and possibly more intensely than he is this time. Our efforts to calm them and reassure them will actually escalate their response to the Thunder Monster in the future.
So how do we help Teddy overcome his fear?
There are a couple of things we can do, and a combination of both is the best way to manage his fear.
DESENSITIZATION
The first step is to desensitize Teddy to the noise of thunder. Thunder is loud and sporadic with no rhyme or reason as to when it will suddenly be there. Even the flashes of lightning only tell us it's coming; it doesn't tell us how quickly it will be here, nor how loud it will be.
Dogs may learn to associate changes in barometric pressure and ozone levels with impending storms. Unfortunately, we cannot easily address these issues in our homes. But we can address the noise of thunder itself.
To desensitize your dog to the noise of rain and thunder, you will need a CD player that has a continuous loop feature and one or two CDs of thunderstorms that run at least one hour. It's important that the CDs do not have music overlapping the rain and thunder. These should be straight thunderstorms, preferably with a few really good, sudden, loud thunderclaps. Play a CD at the absolute lowest volume the CD player has. You should have to put your ear directly up to the speaker to hear the rain/thunder. Put the CD player somewhere fairly central to the house so that the dog can hear it from most anywhere. Put the CD player on continuous loop and allow it to play for a full 24 hours at this volume.
Every 24 hours you will nudge the volume up a little. Perhaps only half a step if you are able. As long as the dog is not reacting to it - completely ignoring it, you are doing great! If, after several days and several nudges in volume, you find that when you go, say, from volume level 4 to 5, your dog begins to show signs of stress/anxiety at the noise, bring the volume back to level 3. That's right, two full steps back. Leave it at this level for 48 hours, then try to increase the volume at a slower pace. Instead of going from 3 to 3 1/2, try going from 3 to just barely more than 3 - if your volume knob allows you to make such small adjustments. The goal is to get the CD playing at the top volume available on your player for 24 hours without any reaction from your dog.
You may want to switch the CD every 3rd day so that the dog doesn't just learn the pattern that every hour or every 90 minutes there's a loud noise and then it's softer again for a while.
If your dog can live with the noise on the CD at full volume and not react to it, he will then be less likely to react to the natural noise of a real storm. It's not a cure-all and there's other work that will need to be done, but it's one step in helping Teddy overcome his fear.
DO NOT CODDLE/REINFORCE BEHAVIOR
If he is reacting to the noise of the CD player (or a real storm if one comes through) do not speak sweetly to him, do not pet/stroke/hold him. These behaviors from us will reinforce for him that his reaction is the correct reaction and make him more likely to be anxious in the future. The better choice is to ignore Teddy when he paces through the house panting and trying to create a glue-like bond to your lower legs. If he decides to hide under some furniture, or in a closet, bathtub or seldom used room - just ignore him. Pretend it's not happening.
If it's necessary to move him or interact with him, give him an easy command that he can do and then you can praise him for doing the command. Call him with a happy, chipper, "Teddy, come!" and then give him a treat for coming to you. Or, "Teddy, sit," to get him out from under your feet. Praise him with a treat for sitting like a gentleman.
DISTRACT/REDIRECT
When you begin the desensitization with the CD, be sure to get in at least 5 minutes every day of training and 5 minutes every day of game play - in the house where he can hear the CD player. Use these opportunities to create happy, fun times with Teddy where he is getting a lot of positive attention and treats and praise. Training can be simple - going through his already learned commands, or more complex - teaching him new commands or tricks. Play should be his favorite games (in my house that's catch/chase with a racquetball). You can even intermix the training with the game whereby you play the game for a couple minutes, and then tell Teddy to 'sit' and 'stay.' Then you count to 10 and toss the toy, telling him "Teddy, go get it!" Provide big praise when he does his commands well and gets really involved in his game.
If you have begun to learn the CD and can anticipate when a particularly loud thunderclap is going to happen, use this to your advantage. Put Teddy in a 'sit/stay' command just before the thunder and wait for it to hit. Then, just as the noise comes, start the game again, or praise him for such a good stay.
You will do this same process during an actual storm. Use the lightning as your guide to when the thunder will come. The more focused Teddy is on obeying a command or on his favorite game during the noisy parts, the less he will react to the noise. Treat him and praise him when he does well. Be extremely proud of him when he shows no reaction to the storm.
What you are doing is distracting him from his fear and creating a new association for him. Up until now, Teddy has associated all the signs of a storm with fear and anxiety. He has learned that when these things happen, he is to be afraid. By distracting him, he is forgetting (even momentarily) to be afraid. Despite his best efforts, Teddy is actually having fun. This is the process of redirecting his behavior. We are creating a new association for Teddy that fun things happen when there is a storm overhead.
It will not be necessary to play/train for the entire duration of the storm. That would be exhausting. But, if you can do some play or training (or both) during the first 10 minutes of the storm, and then some reinforcing play/training say, every 60-90 minutes throughout the storm, you will be teaching Teddy that storms are things to be enjoyed because he has fun during a storm.
PRAISE CALM AND RELAXED BODY LANGUAGE
In between play/training throughout the storm, you should only interact with Teddy if he is being calm. If he is lying near you and calm - no tension in his body, no reaction other than an ear twitch, to a thunderclap, tell him he's doing right. Tell him quietly, "Good job, Teddy." Don't get worked up in your praise during these relaxed moments or you will get Teddy's energy level worked up as well. Your praise should match his energy; if he is calm and relaxed, so should be your praise.
If you can get a meal time in during a storm, that's a great opportunity to reinforce that good things happen. Call him to you, put him in a 'sit-stay,' put his bowl down and then tell him "OK." Eating during a storm will certainly distract him. Hang out with him during these meals. If he does not flinch away from his bowl when a big thunderclap rolls through, praise him calmly, "Good boy, Teddy. You're my brave little man." If he does flinch, just ignore the behavior and wait for him to begin eating again. If he is too scared to return to his bowl, toss him a kibble and tell him, "Keep eating." Once his face is back in his bowl, praise him with a very quiet, "Good boy."
RETRAINING EVERY WET SEASON
Since most places do not get thunderstorms year round, it will likely be necessary to do this retraining at the start of the season each year. But if you do both the desensitization and the distract/redirect exercises, Teddy will be much calmer overall throughout the season. It may never be a complete recovery and he may continue to startle when there is a particularly loud thunderclap, but that's normal. Even I jump when one happens so close it makes the windows rattle...
Hopefully with consistent training and redirection from you, both you and Teddy will get to enjoy the wonder of a good thunderstorm.
As the storm approaches, Teddy begins to pace the house, pant and get very clingy to the humans that are around. He nearly trips his person as he tries to maintain himself right between her legs as she walks from room to room. If the human sits at a table or desk, Teddy is quick to try to squeeze under the desk and under his human's legs. You may find he's drooling excessively or digging at the floor, a rug or his bed like he's trying to create a den he can crawl into. Or, you may suddenly realize that you haven't seen Teddy in quite a while and search the house only to find him hiding: under furniture, in a closet, in the bathtub, in a room that he knows he is not allowed in. When he sees you, he looks at you with imploring eyes that seem to beg, "Make it stop. Make the Thunder Monster go away!!! Pleeeeeeaaaaase........" He may begin to pant upon seeing you and then begin the clingy behavior described earlier.
All of these are classic anxiety/stress signals that dogs display when they have a fear of thunder or storms. Many people are surprised at the sudden onset of this fear in a dog they've had since puppyhood. A lot of puppies, mine included, seem to find storms interesting and even exciting for their first year, only to suddenly get the canine memo that they are supposed to be afraid of this natural wonder. Suddenly, they begin displaying all of these signs that you thought you might have avoided with this pup.
An extremely common issue that many, many dog owners have to face is "How do I deal with Teddy during a storm? My heart breaks to see him so scared. All I want to do is sit with him and reassure him and hold him and tell him it's OK and it'll all be over soon." This is absolutely the right thing to do with our young children who are afraid of storms. Unfortunately, it's absolutely the WRONG thing to do with Teddy.
Dogs read our reassurance as praise. If they are showing any or all of the above signs of stress and we comfort them verbally, "It's OK, Teddy. It's just thunder. It can't hurt you..." or physically by petting/stroking/holding/hugging them, we are actually reinforcing their behavior. We are unwittingly telling them that their reaction is the correct reaction to the circumstances. By doing this, we are making it much more likely that Teddy will freak out next time there's a storm, and possibly more intensely than he is this time. Our efforts to calm them and reassure them will actually escalate their response to the Thunder Monster in the future.
So how do we help Teddy overcome his fear?
There are a couple of things we can do, and a combination of both is the best way to manage his fear.
DESENSITIZATION
The first step is to desensitize Teddy to the noise of thunder. Thunder is loud and sporadic with no rhyme or reason as to when it will suddenly be there. Even the flashes of lightning only tell us it's coming; it doesn't tell us how quickly it will be here, nor how loud it will be.
Dogs may learn to associate changes in barometric pressure and ozone levels with impending storms. Unfortunately, we cannot easily address these issues in our homes. But we can address the noise of thunder itself.
To desensitize your dog to the noise of rain and thunder, you will need a CD player that has a continuous loop feature and one or two CDs of thunderstorms that run at least one hour. It's important that the CDs do not have music overlapping the rain and thunder. These should be straight thunderstorms, preferably with a few really good, sudden, loud thunderclaps. Play a CD at the absolute lowest volume the CD player has. You should have to put your ear directly up to the speaker to hear the rain/thunder. Put the CD player somewhere fairly central to the house so that the dog can hear it from most anywhere. Put the CD player on continuous loop and allow it to play for a full 24 hours at this volume.
Every 24 hours you will nudge the volume up a little. Perhaps only half a step if you are able. As long as the dog is not reacting to it - completely ignoring it, you are doing great! If, after several days and several nudges in volume, you find that when you go, say, from volume level 4 to 5, your dog begins to show signs of stress/anxiety at the noise, bring the volume back to level 3. That's right, two full steps back. Leave it at this level for 48 hours, then try to increase the volume at a slower pace. Instead of going from 3 to 3 1/2, try going from 3 to just barely more than 3 - if your volume knob allows you to make such small adjustments. The goal is to get the CD playing at the top volume available on your player for 24 hours without any reaction from your dog.
You may want to switch the CD every 3rd day so that the dog doesn't just learn the pattern that every hour or every 90 minutes there's a loud noise and then it's softer again for a while.
If your dog can live with the noise on the CD at full volume and not react to it, he will then be less likely to react to the natural noise of a real storm. It's not a cure-all and there's other work that will need to be done, but it's one step in helping Teddy overcome his fear.
DO NOT CODDLE/REINFORCE BEHAVIOR
If he is reacting to the noise of the CD player (or a real storm if one comes through) do not speak sweetly to him, do not pet/stroke/hold him. These behaviors from us will reinforce for him that his reaction is the correct reaction and make him more likely to be anxious in the future. The better choice is to ignore Teddy when he paces through the house panting and trying to create a glue-like bond to your lower legs. If he decides to hide under some furniture, or in a closet, bathtub or seldom used room - just ignore him. Pretend it's not happening.
If it's necessary to move him or interact with him, give him an easy command that he can do and then you can praise him for doing the command. Call him with a happy, chipper, "Teddy, come!" and then give him a treat for coming to you. Or, "Teddy, sit," to get him out from under your feet. Praise him with a treat for sitting like a gentleman.
DISTRACT/REDIRECT
When you begin the desensitization with the CD, be sure to get in at least 5 minutes every day of training and 5 minutes every day of game play - in the house where he can hear the CD player. Use these opportunities to create happy, fun times with Teddy where he is getting a lot of positive attention and treats and praise. Training can be simple - going through his already learned commands, or more complex - teaching him new commands or tricks. Play should be his favorite games (in my house that's catch/chase with a racquetball). You can even intermix the training with the game whereby you play the game for a couple minutes, and then tell Teddy to 'sit' and 'stay.' Then you count to 10 and toss the toy, telling him "Teddy, go get it!" Provide big praise when he does his commands well and gets really involved in his game.
If you have begun to learn the CD and can anticipate when a particularly loud thunderclap is going to happen, use this to your advantage. Put Teddy in a 'sit/stay' command just before the thunder and wait for it to hit. Then, just as the noise comes, start the game again, or praise him for such a good stay.
You will do this same process during an actual storm. Use the lightning as your guide to when the thunder will come. The more focused Teddy is on obeying a command or on his favorite game during the noisy parts, the less he will react to the noise. Treat him and praise him when he does well. Be extremely proud of him when he shows no reaction to the storm.
What you are doing is distracting him from his fear and creating a new association for him. Up until now, Teddy has associated all the signs of a storm with fear and anxiety. He has learned that when these things happen, he is to be afraid. By distracting him, he is forgetting (even momentarily) to be afraid. Despite his best efforts, Teddy is actually having fun. This is the process of redirecting his behavior. We are creating a new association for Teddy that fun things happen when there is a storm overhead.
It will not be necessary to play/train for the entire duration of the storm. That would be exhausting. But, if you can do some play or training (or both) during the first 10 minutes of the storm, and then some reinforcing play/training say, every 60-90 minutes throughout the storm, you will be teaching Teddy that storms are things to be enjoyed because he has fun during a storm.
PRAISE CALM AND RELAXED BODY LANGUAGE
In between play/training throughout the storm, you should only interact with Teddy if he is being calm. If he is lying near you and calm - no tension in his body, no reaction other than an ear twitch, to a thunderclap, tell him he's doing right. Tell him quietly, "Good job, Teddy." Don't get worked up in your praise during these relaxed moments or you will get Teddy's energy level worked up as well. Your praise should match his energy; if he is calm and relaxed, so should be your praise.
If you can get a meal time in during a storm, that's a great opportunity to reinforce that good things happen. Call him to you, put him in a 'sit-stay,' put his bowl down and then tell him "OK." Eating during a storm will certainly distract him. Hang out with him during these meals. If he does not flinch away from his bowl when a big thunderclap rolls through, praise him calmly, "Good boy, Teddy. You're my brave little man." If he does flinch, just ignore the behavior and wait for him to begin eating again. If he is too scared to return to his bowl, toss him a kibble and tell him, "Keep eating." Once his face is back in his bowl, praise him with a very quiet, "Good boy."
RETRAINING EVERY WET SEASON
Since most places do not get thunderstorms year round, it will likely be necessary to do this retraining at the start of the season each year. But if you do both the desensitization and the distract/redirect exercises, Teddy will be much calmer overall throughout the season. It may never be a complete recovery and he may continue to startle when there is a particularly loud thunderclap, but that's normal. Even I jump when one happens so close it makes the windows rattle...
Hopefully with consistent training and redirection from you, both you and Teddy will get to enjoy the wonder of a good thunderstorm.
Posted by The Good Dog Blog at 7/9/2009 10:31 AM 
Categories: Fears and Phobias
Tags: fear desensitize distract redirect
Categories: Fears and Phobias
Tags: fear desensitize distract redirect
Excellent advice! My normally unflappable German shepherd is reduced to whimpering and immediately heads under our bed at the first sign of thunder (sometimes when the storm is several miles away) and won't come out despite our best efforts. While amusing, I'll admit that I've done just what you've said not to do...wheedle, cajole and offer reassurance that the thunder isn't out to get him. We will try your technique of distracting him with treats or a toy.
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