I have 6yr old black male German Shepherd, 110 lbs, that is terrified of thunderstorms (lightning and thunder). He was not like this as a puppy until after 6-8 mo old. It has gotten worse with each season and this has been the worst storms. He has been jumping up on the door and the knob for the last 3yrs. Now he chews on the handle to the point of buying new ones about every couple of storms. The door is steel but he has scraped away the paint. The last 2 yrs, he is now chewing on the wood trim and this yr the siding. He stays outside during the day. If inside, he will paw at me until I get up, he shakes like a leaf, pants, tried to dig in the closet, etc. He has also developed separation anxiety that is getting worse. My vet has tried him on several anti anxiety drugs and just last month put him on Prozac. Nothing works. I give him Ace when I'm at home, but he still is terrified. And if the storms are during the day, there is nothing I can do. I have trained and shown GS for 12 yrs, and owned them for 40 yrs, and am pretty sure that I am not doing anything to enable this behavior. My biggest concern is the absolute terror that he must feel. In discussions with my vet and their experts, it is looking like I might need to put him down. I am hoping that someone may have one more suggestion that I can try before I do anything. Thanks in advance for your time.

Try Cesar Millan(Dog Wisperers)site:
Cesar Millan

Girlfriend suggest Low dose of Benaydryl to help calm down her dog.

Most of Caesar Milan's techniques are out of date. Much of the dog training world is moving towards more positive methods.

Does he have a dog house or other small shelter to retreat to outside? It is possible he had a bad time of it sometime with a violent storm and many near by strikes. If he was a puppy in the winter, he may have been too old to adjust well by spring.

Speculating about the causes doesn't help fix the problem. This seems to be a common problem and if the drugs aren't working, it could be difficult to fix. Somebody I respect once suggested playing tapes of a storm at higher and higher volumes.