My dog won’t let me sleep because she’s afraid of the rain and thunderstorms at night. How do I calm her down?
She’s a 7 y.o German Shepard, and she never encountered this problem before, it first occurred a week ago. She usually sleeps in the living room, but tonight for example, she came frightened to my room in the middle of the night, I had to pet her and talk to her. I ended up leaving my door open so she could sleep in my room, and she came to my bed with her long wet nose at least 4 times. Then she went upstairs and I have no idea when she finally fell asleep.
How could I solve this problem? She keeps waking up the whole household, I’m being tolerant but my parents just yell at her.
More Questions From This User See All
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
BASIC MISTAKE YOU MADE!!! do you know what you did?? you PRAISED HER for acting scared of the storm... DO NOT PRAISE HER FOR THAT or it will become worse.. when this happens,, just say its ok and ignore her.... when she sees you are not distressed by the storm,, it will calm her...... petting and cuddling are forms of praise,, and the dog will act that way even more to get more praise.... do not praise undesirable behavior..
My lab did the same thing, he started being afraid of storms about 3 years ago. Maybe a close lightning strike started it, not sure. He would go nuts in the house. but if i went to the shop with him he was better. Getting mad did nothing, not sure theres anything that can be done except try comforting her.
My dog got over his fear last night. He passed away. Dont matter how old i get, it always hurts more to lose your best friend.
Just give your dog love, and accept her problem.
If it is so bad that it is disrupting you take him to the vet to try to get some sedatives for him, only to be used when there is a storm. I have an 8 yr old shepherd mix that we adopted from a shelter about two yrs ago and he is afraid of storms too. He actually knows when they are coming, he just lays in the floor shaking and slobbering. during really bad storms he tries to get into a small confined space, like in the cabinet with the pots and pans( once or twice) or under the computer desk.
Good Luck!
NEVER pet or comfort a dog who is showing signs of thunder shyness or noise shyness, when you do you are rewarding her for her fear. She thinks hmm little scared=petting so maybe very scared=cuddling etc. You can give several diff types of calming meds such as Rescue Remedy, make sure she gets enough exercise and instead of a cuddle when it starts to rain or she starts getting scared try a pig ear, cow hoof, stuffed Kong or equally really good chewies. She will learn storms=treats and look forward to her treat. I had a very thunder phobic GSD who was phobic because her original owners kept her outside during the day. She ignored pigs ears etc but was very ball driven so we went out in storms throwing her tennis balls until her attitude was WHEE storms=fun.
Well what an idiot saying you praised her for being scared... My dog was affraid too, so it what I did was take her outside during a storm and held her and talked to her. ever since she has not been scared.
Some veterinarians will actually prescribe you small doses of xanax or other types of calming medications for the animal. You can get them at your local pharmacy for relatively cheap!
.Oh my gosh, you actually got rain? I would say the blanket idea is a good one That will help her feel protected.
dogs have very sensitive ears so it might hurt when they hear really loud noises
put a piece of cloth to cover her body,..(not the head)
and then,.. give it a rub.. to calm down
take your dog inside and sit down with it and relax it.