Suddenly Afraid Of Thunder?

[auir]

Hi

I have read the previous posts on dogs that suddenly become afraid of thunder and im pretty sure i know why (but could be wrong), but more so after some advice on what i can do not to encourage the behavior.

Over the past week there has been 2 or 3 thunder storms and our BC has started barking and running around gruffing etc when the thunder starts, he is about 20months old and never done this until this week. We do have a 5 month old baby at home now as well, of which he is very protective of (so i figure he is doing it to scare the thunder away from the house???), also at the end of last summer some new dogs moved into the street and these appear to be very afraid of storms (there is about 4 or 5 of them and they all go nuts at the first crack of thunder) so could he be learning the behavior them (there like 3 house down but he can hear them going nuts and as pup he use to get stressed when he could hear the another neighbors dog crying).

Anyway, he is okay once he is distracted or asked to do something else but i don't want to encourage the behavior. So what am i best to do? He does come into the front of the house regularly but that is more a reward, he is allowed into the sun room whenever the door is open tho, so by letting him into the front of the house for barking and carrying on am i rewarding him for letting him into the lounge room? I played and did some training with him in the garage and the back room to distract him while the heaviest part of the thunder was happening and he was okay. He was also okay if he wanted to go bark at the storm and i told him no and to come back he would.

Is there a particular order i should follow? Ie, so if the thunder starts and he starts barking i guess the right thing would be to ask him to stop, then once he is settled then do something to distract him such as patting, playing etc?

any suggestions or ideas would be great

cheers

[Malamum]

We have a dog who also developed a fear of thunder about 18 months ago. He is 8 so I'm not sure why he was ok with it for so long and now goes crazy.

The only thing that seems to calm him down is either the OH or I being near him. I don't baby him or even acknowledge that he's carrying on like a pork chop. I find that if I sit in the room with him and just do my own thing he tends to calm down as long I'm close by.

We came home yesterday and there had been a storm while we were away. By the amount of leaves and mud that were spread from one end of the kitchen to other, I could tell he'd been tearing around the backyard like an absolute lunatic.

Anyway, he is okay once he is distracted or asked to do something else but i don't want to encourage the behavior. So what am i best to do? He does come into the front of the house regularly but that is more a reward, he is allowed into the sun room whenever the door is open tho, so by letting him into the front of the house for barking and carrying on am i rewarding him for letting him into the lounge room?

We have this issue too. Our dogs area is the kitchen and backy of the house and we also only let them into the front of the house as treat. When there is thunder Indy bangs on the doors (so hard, I swear he is going to go through it). I don't want to reward this behavour, so rather than letting him through I go and sit in there with him instead until he is calm.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Malamum

[noisymina]

Kaisie was OK with storms when we first got her. Some time later - maye 18months or so - she decided she would be stoopid and go running around out in them amd carry on.

IF we are home, we let her in - well, she's usually in with us anyway. She starts shaking and running around. She'd climb into my lap if I let her!

These days I take her into the "office", a room with minimal windows, close the blinds, turn on the lights and make her stay on her mat in there. I don't always stay with her, but she seems to feel safer that way and will stay there for a bit without me now. Until the storm has passed.