Well thanks to one and all for the input, pretty interesting and thought provoking stuff, well I contacted a vet and he did a investigation for us, he said that one the kennels are at the foot of a mountain, and at the base or foot is a river and the kennels are about 100 meter from the river, so he concluded that a lightning strike must have spiked to the kennel and must have electrocuted the dog, or the mountain contains high volumes of iron and water that cause a rumble/explosion in the layers of the mountain, that echo’s, the old folk use to call this / moving furniture – because it sure sounds like some one moving heavy furniture like in a double story house when some one is moving stuff on the upper floor, well the strikes can carry in a fold of the mountain for up to 30 miles, the static thing well he does not by in to that one, so the conclusion is that In my mind no one has done enough research in this field to give clear straight answers, or advice.

I still believe in my experience with dogs that 90% of dogs showing this phenomenon has it’s roots in genetics, rather that learned or induced behaviour, for the animal behaviourist recon it can be unlearned, well show me how you un learn a dog this type of behaviour, un heard of. We found the owner and she confirmed that she had in a previous litter that had two dogs that showed fear of thunder only at a late stage as well.

The sad part is, after spending a lot of time and money - the poor animal died today of the injuries she sustained when she could no longer get out, and falling back to the floor time and again must have broken a rib last night during yet another thunderstorm and she puncture a lung, we had to put her down. –Fait?

Just for the record, in Guateng South Africa we have some of the most impressive thunderstorms in the world, and December month is the worst, most of our computers and modems were out, and that’s why I could not get back to keep the info going. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Reinier,

Please clean out you private message box. I would like to send you something!

This certainly will not help Reinier and his loss but, has anyone read as I have that, very few animals were victims in the tsunami disaster in Indonesia. Apparently they sensed the impending tidal wave somehow and sought the safety of higher ground. What allows these animals to be so in tune with nature that they can save themselves. We are so much more advanced and allow ourselves to be devestated.
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Sorry for the loss of your dog Reinier

I'm sure someone out there will take her and buy the meds. do you get a lot of storms where you live? My Maggie hides in the bath tub.

I'm sorry for your loss, I didnt read all the posts

I used to have a couple of dogs that reacted the same way to impending thunderstorms. My hypothesis, based on observation, was that they were reacting to the infrasonics (the rumble) that is below our hearing range but can be sensed many miles away.

I’ve heard some theories about the dogs and horses being able to smell the electricity in the air when storms approach….. who knows if it’s a change in ozone levels or being able to smell the “charged particles” in the air due to static electricity.

I know I can sit outside in the summer and “smell” that it’s going to storm bad (when it’s real close)….. with a sense of smell 1,000 times greater (or more) who knows weather a dog can smell the weather changes miles away.