By Dr. Jan Bellows

Many dogs have a natural fear of loud noises. Thunder in particularly can be especially upsetting. With a dog’s sensitive hearing, thunder is like a giant animal growling angrily at them – an animal they can’t see or find. Thunder causes incredible fear, and that fear is only exacerbated when the thunder continues to go away and come back.

Training your dog to note fear thunder is difficult – you cannot train your child to not fear someone yelling angrily at it for no reason – but it is possible to at the very least reduce the anxiety and suppress many of the unwanted behaviors that come from fearing thunder.

What Not to Do

Ironically, the most important part of training your dog to not fear thunder is to not perform several actions that pet owners love to do to “help” their dogs. When thunder occurs, it is not uncommon to grab a bunch of treats and try to distract your dog from the noise, or shower your dog with affection in order to let it know that it is safe.

These are actually the wrong behaviors. When you give your dog treats or praise, you are rewarding your dog for its anxious outbursts rather than calming your dog down. You are saying, essentially, that by acting fearful your dog will be rewarded, so fear must be the appropriate response. As much as it may be difficult to ignore your dog’s yelping, throwing treats or affection at your dog will only make the problem worse.

You also do not want to put your dog in its crate if you can help it. Your dog’s crate should always be a place of relaxation. In some ways it makes sense to place your dog in its crate, because it will feel protected, but there is a big risk to that as well. If your dog still experiences a great deal of fear, than being trapped in the crate can be dangerous, and your dog may associate the crate with fear. If possible, crates should be avoided.

What to Do

Now that all of those have been addressed, there is still the matter of training your dog to not be afraid of thunder anymore. As mentioned previously, there is no surefire solution. Fear is fear, and the loud noise of the thunder may be something that your dog simply has a problem handling. However, some experts recommend that when there is no thunder or rain at all, you should “crate train” train your dog to something other than a crate – in other words, find a semi-enclosed, safer area that your dog can look to for safety. Some suggested areas are:

• A corner of the house
• A closet
• A bathtub
• A cardboard box

The area does not have to be completely enclosed, but it should be at least not out in the wide open. Then, start to train your dog to go to that area on command. By doing so, you make the location a place of happiness and relaxation.

When thunder occurs, instruct your dog to go to the safe place you have selected. Your dog will adhere to your command, and find itself in a location that is safer and calmer. Then, once you have given the command, if your dog exhibits less anxious behaviors you can reward your dog for listening to your command without rewarding your pet for it anxiety. Over time, your dog should reduce unwanted behaviors, and soon get used to the sounds of thunder without reacting too strongly.