Scared of Thunderstorms

Posted on Apr 18 in Small Dog Behaviorby Jeff K.Print

Dear Reader: Can you believe I originally published this article on fear of thunderstorms last November just before the first snow fell? How’s that for bad timing? Here is a reprint of that article, with updated information, at a time when you are more likely to need it. Jeff

When thunderstorms are in the area, some dogs really suffer.

“The Boogie Man is going to get you tonight. Watch out for the Boogie Man,” my uncle would tell me when I was very young. “He’ll come out at night and bite off a hand or a foot if you let them dangle over the edge of the bed.” Later, as I matured, I could use my power of rationalization to ignore my uncle’s warnings. Unfortunately, dogs do not possess this important power. Once a dog learns to fear something, that fear will stick around, in full force, for the rest of the dog’s life, unless its owner intervenes. Now, during thunderstorms season, we are reminded how powerful learned fear can be.

Let me give you an example of the strength of learned fear in a dog. Kelsey, our terrier mix, is extremely timid. On the very first day I took her for a walk, (she was about a year and a half at the time,) Kelsey would stop walking very abruptly. She would do an about face and watch for a car that was approaching from the rear. We were on a sidewalk next to the road, and she was in no danger of being hit. Nevertheless, she would not continue walking until that car passed. Then she ambled on as though nothing had happened, until the next car approached from the rear. Same behavior, over and over again. Cars approaching from the front produced no reaction whatsoever. I can’t tell you how or when she learned this fear because it was established before we got her from a rescue organization. Fast forward two years later. We are out for a walk on a sidewalk next to a busy street. A car approaches from the rear. Kelsey turns around and waits for the car to pass. We walk every day, and yet she still fears cars approaching from the rear.

If you look up the term “habituation” at Dictonary.com, you will find this definition: “Reduction of psychological or behavioral response occurring when a specific stimulus occurs repeatedly.” Even though Kelsey has been safely exposed to thousands of cars approaching from the rear, over two years of daily walks, she has never habituated to the situation. There is a reason for this and you will know what it is by the end of this article.

Before we get to possible solutions to your dogs fears, lets talk about what does not work. According to one study by a veterinarian, sympathizing with your dog does not help.

“Having a sympathetic owner did not lower the stress reaction of dogs that become anxious or fearful during noisy thunderstorms but living in a multi-dog household did, a Penn State study has found.

“Dr. Nancy Dreschel, a veterinarian who conducted the study as part of her work toward a doctoral degree in biobehavioral health, says, “There were no effects of the owners’ behavior or the quality of the dog-owner relationship on the stress hormone response that we measured in the canine. However, the presence of other dogs in the household was linked to less pronounced stress reactivity and more rapid recovery of the thunderstorm-phobic animal.

“Thunderstorm-anxious dogs not only suffer classic signs of fear, including pacing whining and hiding, during a storm but also experience a 207 percent spike in the production of cortisol, a hormone also produced by humans during stress, the new study has shown.” Even though dogs living in a multi-dog household produced less cortisol during the study, the behavioral reactions to thunderstorms were still extremely high. The researchers said getting an additional dog will not reduce a scared dog’s fearful behavior.”

Dreschel did recommend trying a program of desensitization but added, “It doesn’t always work.” (Physiological and Behavioral Reactivity to Stress in Thunderstorm-phobic Dogs and Their Caregivers.” N. Dreschel, D.Granger, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Dec. 2005.)

Where does this leave us? Trying to ease your dogs fear by stroking and talking soothingly will not help. In fact, in my opinion, empathizing with your dog may be interpreted as a reward. Essentially, you may be rewarding fearful behavior by attempting to comfort your dog. Your best option is to try and habituate your dog to a fear-inducing stimulus through controlled, gradual exposure to that stimulus. Here is how to go about it.

• Introduce the fear-producing stimulus at an unnaturally reduced, barely perceptible level.
• Engage your dog in some distracting and enjoyable activity each time the fear-inducing stimulus is presented.
• Increase the intensity of the fear-producing stimulus very gradually, and only when the dog shows no fear reaction to the current level of intensity.

Let’s use thunderstorm fear, for an example. You could play a recording of a thunderstorm at a barely audible level. (Some people who have tried this have also added strobe lights to the mix to simulate lightening. Use caution. Strobes lights are intense and sudden stimuli. You will need a way to reduce their intensity to a barely perceptible level when starting this process.) With the barely audible recording playing in the background, and with your dog showing little or no response to the recording, give your dog a treat that takes a while to finish—perhaps a rawhide stick or a Kong ball filled with snacks. This allows your dog to hear the stimulus and disassociate from it for a prolonged period. Play the recording again the next day, at a slightly higher volume, always providing a pleasant distraction for your dog as the recording plays. When I say increase the volume slightly higher, I mean just barely higher than the day before. You might mark the volume knob of your stereo or computer speakers with a piece of tape each day, and increase the volume a tiny fraction above the mark the next day. If your dog begins to show anxious behavior at a certain volume level, back down until there is no fearful reaction. You will know you have taken this project as far as you can if your reach a volume level during the recording’s playback that mimics the natural level of a strong storm. You won’t know whether your effort has paid off until the next real thunderstorm passes overhead.

Here are links to audio recordings of thunder. The link on the left is in CD format. The link on the right is an MP3 download suitable for iPods or other MP3 players. Either of these two recordings should work well because they are powerful and heavy with the bass tones of thunderstorms.

Whichever format you choose, make sure you have the capability to play these recordings on stereo speakers with enough oomph to reproduce the bass tones and vibration of a real thunderstorm. Although you will start this project at an extremely low volume, there should come a point in the future where the sound coming from your player mimics an intense thunderstorm. Don’t overdo it either. Your goal is to get your dog use to thunderstorms, not blast him/her out of the room. (Do I need to mention that putting ear buds from your iPod into your dog’s ears will not work?)

This process takes patience over weeks, if not months. The trick is to turn a fear-producing stimulus into background noise—one that your dog pays no attention. Take your time with the process, go slowly, and let me know how it goes for you.

*****

One other idea before I sign off. There is a product out there for dogs that is supposed to reduce anxiety by creating a continuous and gentle all-over hug. It is essentially a snug-fitting coat that squeezes your dog in a manner similar to an elastic wrap used for athletic injuries. I have not tried this device on my dog and I do not personally know anyone who has. However, there is some evidence that would support its usefulness. In her book Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, author Temple Grandin notes that cattle are often placed in a squeeze chute, a device that hugs the animal and holds it steady for branding or medical procedures. She says as soon as the animal is embraced by the squeeze chute, the animal immediately calms down. Additionally, hug therapy has been shown to be an effective method for calming autistic children at moments of high anxiety. I am going to place a link to the anxiety wrap for small dogs here so you can investigate on your own. I will not recommend this device until I get some positive feedback from others who have tried it on their dogs. If you have had any experience with the wrap, let me know in the comments section of this article.

One caution based on common sense. A dog that is displaying anxious behavior probably has an elevated metabolism during the period of anxiousness. Putting any sort of wrap or jacket on a dog that is already warm can cause additional stress if steps are not taken to keep the dog cool.

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