hey, y'all! :--)

i am here going to predict that thunder-phobia and associated anxieties and severe-stress or panic-disorders will become more common; the global change in climate-patterns means that more sudden downpours, intense storms, lightning, hail, tornadoes,
and other severe weather events will occur.
Extreme Events | Climate Change - Health and Environmental Effects | U.S. EPA

Freak floods in US predicted by 2009 climate change report

the increase in decibels of heavy-rain hitting the roof, thunderstorms in places that did not often experience them before,
more-intense storms in places that ALWAYS have thunderstorms [Florida, anyone?], and so on, will increase the likelihood
of thunder-phobia considerably.
since thunder-phobia is extremely difficult to treat, prevention seems better than treatment.

thunder-phobia is opportunistic behavioral-fallout -
if owners are warned ahead of time, they can put some management in place, so that pups who have never experienced
a full-blown violent storm are not entirely un-prepared for their first.

JMO + IME, Ur experience may vary,
--- terry

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

The problem I have with thunder in mine and clients' dogs is that weather is sooooo unpredicatable in Ireland. We don't have thunder/storm seasons here making medicating very difficult. We could and do have thunder very rarely, randomly and for such varying lengths of time that it is impossible to prepare.

Slow desens work can be totally thrown off by a freak half hour of thunder and then I don't believe that true noise phobias are totally modifiable alone. So difficult in my experience

__________________
Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar

i realize that barometric-pressure changes, static-charge, etc, make true storms virtually impossible to mimic -
but what about a strobe-flash with an audio-recording of a real storm, beginning at low volume and rising?
or simply noise-proofing in general - drop pots and pans, shake a piece of sheet-metal, slam a door?

2 brothers who train gundogs here in the USA go into total-klutz while training clients teen-dogs -
drop objects, trip over the hassock, bang into things, slam doors, let drawers crash shut, fall onto something, etc.
their boarding-dogs start out round-eyed and wondering what the H*** is going on - in a few weeks, it takes
artillery-fire to get their ears up, of course, they begin low-key + increase the decibels, the first bangs
are in another room, there is a BOMB-proof adult-dog to model utter calm + unconcern, and so on.

by the time the dogs leave their home, U can drop a 22-qt stockpot on a lino-floor, and get not much more than
a mild surprise and orient to the source, with excellent rebound.
they *are* very difficult, especially if it is weather related - fear of diesel-engines is rough, but thunder
is among the most-difficult phobias to tackle, in part i am sure, due to the multi-stimuli nature of the event.

one trainer is frantic over her now-approx 9 to 10-YO dog, a rescue who was kept tied outside with a shed for shelter.
this Golden came to her at 2 - 3-YO with a heap of problems, (dog-aggro, severe sep-anx, thunder-phobia, etc); she had 6 other dogs, at the time. his sep-anx and storm-phobia were gone, after months of work; he was crated for the past 7-yrs, loves his crate, no worries re storms...

a few months ago, SEVERE storms made him abruptly worse than ever before, when she is not home; he broke teeth and had major surgery. his sep-anx resurfaced and is intensifying; he takes Clomicalm and melatonin regularly during storm-season, plus Xanax as needed;
TWICE he has re-injured his mouth requiring surgery, and needs a 4th surgery! with no other noise phobias, other than this,
he is a well-adjusted, social dog -- a therapy and obedience dog for years.

she must leave him to work, and he MUST be crated to prevent serious destruction - with of course, mouth-injuries.
i was very frank, and said that he must have a human around - a pet-sitter, dog-daycare, board at another home, stay with the vet, SOMEbody.
otherwise, i recommended euthanasia - self-injury is as bad as it gets. he cannot be alone, period.
if she cannot find an alternative, i suggested euthanasia - re-homing him is only passing the hot-potato.

poor dog - BUT she gave him 7-years of a happy second-life, light-years from his former existence;
that must be some small comfort.
- terry

__________________
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007