Agreed ^^

Your dog is terrified and crates and desensitization alone will most likely not work for him.

I believe Valium has more sedation properties and xanax has more anti-anxiety properties. That said, valium has worked for my dog and after a summer of using it he is not nearly as anxious about approaching storms anymore.

 Quote: Angela Burrell

P.S. - I took valium before a dental procedure and it did the same as acepromazine (sp) does for dogs - I felt woozy and drugged, but still as anxious as before I took it. However, it works on the majority of people otherwise they wouldn't prescribe it. So, I would say that if one thing doesn't work, try another and work closely with your vet.

This is so very true!
I have also found that if you get very small quantities at a time the vet may be more willing to let you try alternative medicines like valium and xanex. I think they may be hesitant to write scripts for those sometimes, but he was more than happy to give me three or 4 to try out, and another 3 or 4 for the next storm.

It is the exact opposite for me, the xanex made me feel physically drugged but it mentally wound me up more before the dentist and I wound up with a full blown panic attack. Valium on the other hand totally gets rid of the panic and I can make it through the appointment without tears or the shakes.
(I have a nearly full blown dental phobia)

I don't like having to drug her, but if I have a way to alleviate her anxiety I am going to use it, its only fair to her to use whatever methods I have to make her comfortable IMO.

My sympathies! We adopted a GS female from a shelter in 1999. She had the storm anxiety too, and in So Cal we do not get many thunderstorms. However, she was afraid of fireworks too. When a noise would freak her out, she would try to escape, it was like a giant monster was coming at her and she got super doggie strength, able to climb over things she normally could not. She has chewed thru a few doors and tried to go thru windows. I had never had a dog that did this. What finally helped was Acepromazine and putting her near a sound machine, like one that does white noise, or anything to muffle the sound she is scared of. Of course she was still panting and shaking, so although she was not trying to escape, she was still scared. If the noise happened when we were not there, we would come home to chewed blinds, or door,and sometimes blood from injuring herself. Toward the end of her life, she developed a sort of doggie alzheimers, and nothing worked, any unusual noise would freak her out. I felt so bad for her, like she was tortured. I figured it must be time, and while deciding if that was the right decision, she developed cancer. We had to put her to sleep last year, she was around 10 yrs old.
It was so hard leave the house and worry that she would panic from some noise. She ate thru a crate when she barely had any teeth (her teeth were almost gone from her panic chewing).

I still have not repaired one set of the blinds. There are two slates with teeth marks!

Erla Mae was so sweet, and I really loved that dog. She was a good dog overall, but she had a horrible, horrible fear that was so difficult for her, and our family.

I am sure I tried many things that I do not even remember, including using noise to get her not to react to it.

I wish I had the magic answer!!