[Flylihop]

I have a 6 nearly 7 year old labrador! She has always been of a more nervous disposition! Lately things have been getting from bad to worse in the middle of the night! She is terrified when it's raining, when there's strong wind, hail, thunder and lightning, and being that we're still in the height of winter I'm at my wits end! She will shake and pant all night long, and when left she tears up the carpet! I even attempted to have her in my room as after 3 hours of no sleep in the night I just couldn't think what else to do. Needless to say that didn't go down well! After a while she started to pull at my cables and knock things about. Despite how ANGRY I was! I'm tired and exhausted and I don't know how much more of it we can take as a family! She's a very lovely natured dog just terrified of absolutely everything! We've had herbal pills from the vets, we've had a scented plug in, we've tried everything, from playing with her during a storm, taking her out in it, everything. It's impossible to play with her the entire night! I am considering getting a crate le
She had as a puppy but I really didn't want to have to resort to this! She was never like this as a youngster it's just seems to of got significantly bad over the last year! I really don't know what to do! :(... If anyone's get any other advice/ suggestions that would be fab.

[Alty]

Most dogs develop fears based on a bad episode, or human reaction or cruelty. Not saying that you've abused your dog, I don't know you well enough to say that. I did notice the part of your post when you hadn't gotten any sleep because of your dogs fear and posted:

After a while she started to pull at my cables and knock things about. Despite how ANGRY I was!

Your anger at her behavior shows in what you posted. I do understand being frustrated when you're not getting sleep because of a dogs fear behavior, but anger just intensifies that behavior, it doesn't resolve it.

From what you posted your dog has always been fearful. My only guess, and sadly all we can do is guess, is that something happened a year ago to make her afraid of rain and storms. Was she left outside during a storm? Was there a particularly bad storm where she was left alone? Did you react badly to a storm and your reaction caused her to fear storms?

I would highly suggest seeing an animal behaviorist. That's really the only advice I can offer.

Please note that I can only base my advice on what you posted, and there's very limited information to go by with your post.

I wish you, and especially the dog, the best of luck. Remember that a patient hand is far more likely to elicit a response, than an angry hand.

[Alty]

I just looked at your previous posts. You said this fear of rain started a year ago, yet this question is from 4 years ago:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/d...in-461334.html

It seems that this has always been a fear of Roo's, and it's just intensified throughout the years.

Your posts about this dog go back for years, since you first got her. I'm wondering if a lot of her issues are because of the things she's been exposed to, the way her fear was handled, your reaction etc. Most animal fears are brought about by their owners.

[busymomma2013]

You can request a subscription for doggie downers from your veterinarian. We had to do this for one of our dogs. She was terrified of thunder storms and fireworks.

She was never abused. We never left her alone on the Fourth of July. She was just simply afraid of these things.

Our other dog however, would attack the fireworks.

[Flylihop]

Haha because I said I was angry does NOT under any circumstances mean I abuse my dog :0! God sake, she is from a very happy home, looked after extremely well and I was just seeking advice to help her with this problem. We are getting a behaviour theropist in to work with her now. Her problem has been ongoing yes, but we have tried all different suggestions of how to react. Spoken to the vet a million times, we've taken her to dog classes. We have dealt with this in every way possible. It is not under any circumstances our fault that she is scared of thunder. It's wonderful that I have to clarify all of this when I was just seeking some further advice. It's like busymomma said 'she's just simply afraid of these things'. We have also had herbal prescriptions from the vet and never leave her on her own during fireworks. Hopefully the behavioural therapist can help us work on this problem, I certainly won't be posting anything further on this website.

[busymomma2013]

It is a question/answer site. Some answer you receive, you may not like or agree with. But everybody has his/her own opinion and we durably do not know anyone personally. Sometimes you have to roll with the punches here, and stand your ground.

I say you are doing everything possible to help your fur baby. Sometimes, it may not be fixable. :(

You probably have tried this before, but maybe making yourself and the dog a cozy bed on the floor and snuggling her would help. Just some extra comfort?

I think you are doing great. Good luck.

[tickle]

We have some very good advise here and most times we have to read between the lines to give it. Not always acceptable but we try not to put your shirt in a knot doing it, but if you have a thin skin, there is no other option.

Not knowing you or your dog, Alty did the best she good.

[Alty]

Haha because I said I was angry does NOT under any circumstances mean I abuse my dog :0! God sake, she is from a very happy home, looked after extremely well and I was just seeking advice to help her with this problem. We are getting a behaviour theropist in to work with her now. Her problem has been ongoing yes, but we have tried all different suggestions of how to react. Spoken to the vet a million times, we've taken her to dog classes. We have dealt with this in every way possible. It is not under any circumstances our fault that she is scared of thunder. It's wonderful that I have to clarify all of this when I was just seeking some further advice. It's like busymomma said 'she's just simply afraid of these things'. We have also had herbal prescriptions from the vet and never leave her on her own during fireworks. Hopefully the behavioural therapist can help us work on this problem, I certainly won't be posting anything further on this website.

If you re-read my post, I listed abuse as a possibility for fear, and then clearly stated that I wasn't suggesting you abuse your dog, as I don't know you or your dog well enough to say that.

Saying that you may have caused the fear by a reaction you had when something happened, doesn't mean abuse. I'll give you an example. When my late dog Indy was a puppy he was at my parents house. My parents didn't have a fenced in yard so my mom always went out with Indy to potty. Well one day he decided to explore, and before my mom could grab him he headed down the driveway into the front yard. The neighbor across the street was having his roof re-shingled. As luck would have it, just as Indy got to the front yard the roofers threw a huge load of old shingles down. It made a very loud noise. Indy was so terrified that he not only turned tail and ran, but messed himself while he was running. For his entire life after that he was terrified of my parents neighbors house. Wouldn't even walk by it when we went for walks, just flat out refused. Since we lived elsewhere and Indy only had to confront his fear once a week, and we could simply adjust our walks so we didn't go near that house, it wasn't a huge concern, or a fear that really needed to be addressed. But it was a fear based on an event that happened in his life.

Another example. My poodle, Silver, growing up, was attacked twice, both times by German Shepherds. After the first attack he simply avoided that breed. After the second, every German Shepherd he saw he'd attack. Every other dog he met he was fine with, it was only German Shepherds.

Here's an example of something I reacted to badly that caused a fear, but not in my dogs, in my son. My son was around 1 1/2 years old, taking a bath. I was in the bathroom with him, watching him, but turned for a second to wash my hands in the sink. When I turned back around he had pooped in the tub, and was holding it in his hands. Sadly my instant reaction was to scream "NO!" very loudly. Of course that made him cry, for which I was instantly sorry for my over reaction. For months after that incident he was afraid to take a bath. It took a lot to fix the fear he had from one very small incident.

Some dogs are naturally fearful, but for most dogs it's an event in their life that causes the fear. If he's just naturally fearful I'm afraid there's really not much you can do other than medicate. If it's a learned fear you have a lot more options, none of them easy, and not every one of them proven to work, but there is a better chance of getting rid of the fear if it was a fear that was caused by an event.

I'm sorry that you overreacted to my advice. Sadly, the advice we give we can only base on what we read, and most times, especially when it comes to animal behavior, we have to guess a lot because we're not given near enough information to actually help.

I wish you all the best with your fearful dog.