Thunderstorm Troubles

My Black Lab is absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. Its almost like he can sense they are coming and gets himself worked up hourss before it even starts raining. He's a magnificent dog, my best friend in the whole world, and I cant complain about thing except for this one weakness he has.

Is there anything I can do to help him out during a storm?

Has anyone else experienced this with their dog?

Thunderstorm Trouble

My Black Lab is absolutely terrified of thunderstorms. Its almost like he can sense they are coming and gets himself worked up hourss before it even starts raining. He's a magnificent dog, my best friend in the whole world, and I cant complain about thing except for this one weakness he has.

Is there anything I can do to help him out during a storm?

Has anyone else experienced this with their dog?

I've found that despite being bred to be gun-dogs, many Labs are storm-sensitive. Remedies can range from providing a safe hiding place (my foster lab used to like hiding in my closet) to T-Touch massage, Bach's Rescue Remedy and in extreme cases, you can get anti-anxieties like Prozac from your vet.

You can also try to desensitize your Lab to storms by making storms a fun time, but if they can sense the atmospheric disturbance well in advance, it can be a little more difficult.

You might want to post this in the general dog section or health section.

My dog just wants to be with me during storms and that helps.

I know some others on the board use natural herbal drops.

if it is really bad and there is absolutely no way to calm her you can always go to your vet for an anti anxiety med.

I know we hate to pump more meds into our dogs but sometimes this is the best thing for these circumstances.

My moms dog had to be put on one for fireworks. she is terrified of them. she just trembles and hides behind the couch and eventually just has diarrhea all over the house. she's just a mess. and no matter what my mom tried it wasn't helping. So she got some anxiety meds and they work like a charm. Shelby can reasonably relax during a storm or fireworks with the meds. they really help her.

Just something you might want to look into if you can't find any other solution

Please PLease check into t-touch. THere is something you can do. IT takes practice but i believe it works. THere is a way to calm very much like what is done with autisitic children.
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I have tried to stay open minded. I believe we never know enough about the dogs we care for so i attended two seminars made possible through Pets For Life. One on calming the anxious dog with a vet who discussed eastern medicine and why she has found this more exciting then western medicine and has been blown away by the results. Everything she taught me was spot on effective with my dogs now. I had no idea it was MARy that would reap the most benefits of her lecture. SHe met with me afterwards and answered some questions. I have the pressure points charts on my bedroom wall and practiced looking at them, until i felt i was comfortable with where they are. Certains spots trigger a calming reaction from the body. One between the eyes at the base of the muzzle, one on the center of the chest...the point of the sternum. There are a half of dozen THe other was with this woman. N2Paws -- Connect with your pets through touch!
Here again what we have practiced has shown fabulous results. IT has eleviated some of Mary's pain. Helped me reach Pepper who was shut down on all people, and very well might have saved Victor's life. As well as helping him pass a hard test. Everything i have tried has worked just like they said it would. I would have loved to have given Virgo the same opportunity.

Last night we had the biggest boom shaker ever and my dogs didn't even flinch. I did.THey'd look up but then it's a big sigh and they go back to sleep. I wish with all my heart i had more time to work with VIrgo.

Thank you very much everyone. I'll look in to these ideas

I have a 4 year old Lab mix that within the last year or so has become very storm reactive.

I was told that some dogs are more sensitive to the build up of electrical charges and rubbing them with a dryer sheet can help get rid of the static build up. I haven't tried it yet - but it's worth a try?