I don't really have a problem, but I'd love to hear some thoughts on something I'm expierencing with Rupert my 8 year old mixed breed dog. He's about 65lbs, and he's storm phobic and has been for an unknown reason since he was approximately 3 months old. Had him neutered at 5 months, he has shown agression towards people but he listens very well when on lead and inside the house. He's got a solid understanding of basic obediance.

Rupert is my dog, a fantastic dog that I couldn't love more but he tends to be clingy and I've discouraged that behavior as much as possible from around a year old when he first started getting defensive of me with people out in public.

I live in the midwest, it's storm seasion and there's a Tstorm on right now. Rupert is being a complete butt head about it, tho less so in the past. From early on in his life till two years ago Rupert was absolutely uncontrollable during thunderstorms, he shook, drools, runs from one end of the house to another, clambors on people, knocks things over, ect and the most common way I knew when it was storming was because I would wake up to him putting all this weight and power into digging a hole into my door, or with him sitting on my head if the door wasn't latched properly and the only thing that would somewhat seem to take down his drive to flee was sitting on my lap or if he couldn't get to me my parents laps. 2 years ago I had had enough and realised he need some direction, even if it wouldn't get rid of his fear so I put him on leash, tighened his collar told him to heel and corrected him until he would listen to me(praising when he did of course). Since then he's been a bit more manageable, he actually listens to heel, sit, down, and stay while it's storming and now looks to me more when he's stressed AND he takes food now where before that was out of the question. Was that the right thing to do tho?

A few times during light showers I've taken him for walks in the rain and he was unpredictable, sometimes he would accept it and settle into walking, sometimes he acted like he was freaking out and wanted to bolt, trying to slip his collar. Tonight was one of those nights I decided to take him for a walk and here was what happened:

Basically, he wouldn't leave the garage with me, I had to say 'come' which he listened to, he stayed in a heel after that for the most part but several times he jumped on my hip which he very rarely does. He kept trying to go the 'normal' route to his chain but I wouldn't let him, I was trying to break up the routine to get him to listen so when I turned in a different direction he did something a bit startling and I'm not sure what he meant by it, which is why I'm writing this long winded question - when at the vets our vet insists that we use her cloth muzzel to not only muzzel him but also to blindfold him by putting it on upside down, years ago for the inevitable times when he's like that I taught him to keep his head touching my left leg so he wouldn't wander off the wrong way, well when he smells or hears a person he used to go ape and one of the first things he would do if I kept walking when he went crazy was drop behind me and punch my right calf with his muzzle.

Tonight he had no muzzle on, as I turned him he was on my left, I brought my left leg forward for a step and he punched me - hard, intentionally, with his face.

I was so stunned I missed my opportunity to correct it, so I asked him to sit, down and then praised we came back inside. Now he's still panting heavily but he's laying about 2 feet from me and noticeably calmer... I'm just curious, because I know there is a lot of intelligence and expierence on this board - is Rupert's behavior something I can correct by using training under the distraction of thunderstorms to basically help him rise above his fear, should I maybe not push this dog because he just about took my calf off tonight, any thoughts? Thanks for hearing me out.

I'm sorry I can't answer your question but I do wonder if you have tried giving your dog Melatonin before a storm? I use it on my foster dog that is fearful (though not of storms) and it has helped a great deal. My dog trainer swears by it for her boarding kennel during thunderstorms.

Maybe if the melatonin would help calm him down, and you work with him consistently as you've been doing, he will learn to respond more calmly during storms??

Hi Tiffany: Ive been training for a long time. Have You ever tried getting a CD with sound effects with storm sound s on it rather than wait till it is to late ? Playing the
sounds of a storm over and over and over and over until it gets to be a noise Your Dog gets used to. You can try playing the Cd at a low volume and gradually turn it up. Hopefully it's some help to a real problem, Cordially, Tom

I would second the advice that Tom has given now, I've been able to rehab dozens of storm fearing canines from my clients with the gradual introduction of recorded storm noises on tape ( and now CD's... ).

I've got a couple of CDs called "scary sounds", they work very well. I used them on my pup just because, and I loaned them to a local state attorney for his storm fearing dog. Its about the best way to go.

Howard

Thanks for the answers, I haven't ever tried a CD tho that is a great idea I could work with him a bit more gradually and have more control. If I can find anything locally I'll give that a try.

The CD idea is great. I'll have to mention that to our neighbors. They have four big dogs who are storm phobic. They have even torn the screen door off the house once when it thundered. Since the guy is a radio talk show host and plays in a blues band they shouldn't have any trouble playing it convincingly. Just hook up the amp and crank up the volume and everyone for miles around will be running outside to roll up their car windows.