STORM FEAR UPDATE
As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been working with Dakota on a new storm fear desensitization program. It has come with surprises and a need to reassess the problem. I am more than half way through the program and would you believe Dakota continues to sleep through the whole darn thing. The thunder gets louder and louder and he continues to sleep through it all.
But I had a huge surprise recently. As I sat in the family room watching TV, my husband was in his office above the room playing a game of golf on his computer. He becomes quite involved in his game playing and this translates into loud sounds on the bare, uncarpeted floor. He also drops tools when he’s working on his electronic toys. This scares Dakota. He totally freaked out this past weekend. Before I knew what was happening, he was in my lap and trying to get over the couch and behind it. My, my, my, this wasn’t a thunderstorm but his behavior was exactly the same as if it were a storm. Noises from my husband at his workbench in the basement produced the same thing.
Through the years I’ve had two dogs that went through obedience school doing everything exactly right. Now that was frustrating. You just cannot have that. It required setting up situations so they could be corrected or they never would learn. That was challenging.
I figure I have the same problem here. I’m going to have to ask for help in figuring out how to correct this. I am hoping that by doing so, perhaps the storm fear will go away – at least partially, as I’m not really getting anywhere with the storm fear program. I heard we might have some thunderstorms next week. That will be very unusual, but should it happen, I will have an indication if I’ve made any progress. Things just don’t add up here so it’s time to put on the darn thinking cap again and try to figure out what the base problem is and how best to deal with it as all parts are different. I think the storms are going to be related to the barometer and the charged air as I’ve said before and I’m not going to be able to fix that. But perhaps Dakota’s response it could be lessened if I can work on my husband’s noise and get him used to that. Keep watching for my next update.
But I had a huge surprise recently. As I sat in the family room watching TV, my husband was in his office above the room playing a game of golf on his computer. He becomes quite involved in his game playing and this translates into loud sounds on the bare, uncarpeted floor. He also drops tools when he’s working on his electronic toys. This scares Dakota. He totally freaked out this past weekend. Before I knew what was happening, he was in my lap and trying to get over the couch and behind it. My, my, my, this wasn’t a thunderstorm but his behavior was exactly the same as if it were a storm. Noises from my husband at his workbench in the basement produced the same thing.
Through the years I’ve had two dogs that went through obedience school doing everything exactly right. Now that was frustrating. You just cannot have that. It required setting up situations so they could be corrected or they never would learn. That was challenging.
I figure I have the same problem here. I’m going to have to ask for help in figuring out how to correct this. I am hoping that by doing so, perhaps the storm fear will go away – at least partially, as I’m not really getting anywhere with the storm fear program. I heard we might have some thunderstorms next week. That will be very unusual, but should it happen, I will have an indication if I’ve made any progress. Things just don’t add up here so it’s time to put on the darn thinking cap again and try to figure out what the base problem is and how best to deal with it as all parts are different. I think the storms are going to be related to the barometer and the charged air as I’ve said before and I’m not going to be able to fix that. But perhaps Dakota’s response it could be lessened if I can work on my husband’s noise and get him used to that. Keep watching for my next update.
posted by Katie | 9:00 AM
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