THE WEATHER GETS WORSE
A huge problem pops up. Yes, I know I said Dakota didn't have any bad habits. What he did have is what so many dogs seem to have these days.....storm fear! Here I was trying to figure out what to do about the darn rain to get him out and along comes thunder and lightening. This is no small matter with some dogs. It was one of the most often asked questions when I was writing my column and during my classes at the libraries. I had answers. I had solutions. I never had the problem with any of my dogs except for one Golden. As a puppy he started to show signs of fear but luckily Melodie, my Springer, wasn't phased by storms so that little Golden kept looking to her for answers and he finally decided it wasn't worth the effort to be frightened because of Melodie's lack of concern so the problem passed quickly.
Such is not the case with Dakota. I'd heard stories of dogs bouncing off of the wall, chewing their way through doors, walls, and furniture but it really didn't hit home until Dakota came to live with me. Talk about a wake up call. He's a big guy - really big and heavy and when he wants to go somewhere he goes and there's no stopping him.
Our weather got worse. Storm after storm. Thunder and lightening flourished. Dakota became more and more determined to hide. It didn't make any difference how he got to where he wanted to be - he got there. Luckily he didn't take it out on the furniture or the house. I decided we had to resort to the herbal drops. It calmed him down somewhat but wasn't a perfect. I talked to my vet about alternate solutions but the news was not good. I started searching the web. I guess I spent hours looking for answers but didn't find any help. Then one day I found myself on a sportsman page. They had several CD systems that sounded promising. One was called "Kennel Calm" and the other was for storm fear.
I read all that I could about this desensitizing program. A very nice sports writer contacted me and gave me so much advice and help. I decided that there was no point in starting the program until our fall thunder storm weather was past. That would give me a long winter to work on it. However, I started the Kennel Calm CD. It is music that is composed especially for dogs and is geared to play just below their heart beat. I don't understand it, but for all intense and purposes it works on Dakota. We play it when we go shopping. We play it during the day. He seems to relax and usually curls up and goes to sleep. I don't use any of the herbal drops when we leave the house. I do stuff a couple of his bones to pass the time, but I've noticed that he doesn't even finish working on them...so he must sleep while we're gone. He hasn't touched a thing in the house. He's been a perfect gentleman.
This coming spring might be a totally different story. He has not been left when storms are in the area. I'm starting the storm fear program so I don't know if that will help or not. It may totally fall apart with the first bang of spring. I do not think it's totally the thunder and lightening that scares him. I think the barometric pressure is another source of trouble. Being such a sensitive dog, he feels that barometer going down and there isn't much you can do about that. So far he doesn't move until the storms have moved out of the area.
As for the rain. He and I had a talk about that and he now is willing to go out during light rain where no thunder is involved. For me, that's real progress. I remain upbeat but realistic. I don't think I will succeed 100% but maybe I'll get to a point where he doesn't jump on top of me or try to move the couch to get behind it or climb through the table to get behind the bed. I'll keep you posted.
Such is not the case with Dakota. I'd heard stories of dogs bouncing off of the wall, chewing their way through doors, walls, and furniture but it really didn't hit home until Dakota came to live with me. Talk about a wake up call. He's a big guy - really big and heavy and when he wants to go somewhere he goes and there's no stopping him.
Our weather got worse. Storm after storm. Thunder and lightening flourished. Dakota became more and more determined to hide. It didn't make any difference how he got to where he wanted to be - he got there. Luckily he didn't take it out on the furniture or the house. I decided we had to resort to the herbal drops. It calmed him down somewhat but wasn't a perfect. I talked to my vet about alternate solutions but the news was not good. I started searching the web. I guess I spent hours looking for answers but didn't find any help. Then one day I found myself on a sportsman page. They had several CD systems that sounded promising. One was called "Kennel Calm" and the other was for storm fear.
I read all that I could about this desensitizing program. A very nice sports writer contacted me and gave me so much advice and help. I decided that there was no point in starting the program until our fall thunder storm weather was past. That would give me a long winter to work on it. However, I started the Kennel Calm CD. It is music that is composed especially for dogs and is geared to play just below their heart beat. I don't understand it, but for all intense and purposes it works on Dakota. We play it when we go shopping. We play it during the day. He seems to relax and usually curls up and goes to sleep. I don't use any of the herbal drops when we leave the house. I do stuff a couple of his bones to pass the time, but I've noticed that he doesn't even finish working on them...so he must sleep while we're gone. He hasn't touched a thing in the house. He's been a perfect gentleman.
This coming spring might be a totally different story. He has not been left when storms are in the area. I'm starting the storm fear program so I don't know if that will help or not. It may totally fall apart with the first bang of spring. I do not think it's totally the thunder and lightening that scares him. I think the barometric pressure is another source of trouble. Being such a sensitive dog, he feels that barometer going down and there isn't much you can do about that. So far he doesn't move until the storms have moved out of the area.
As for the rain. He and I had a talk about that and he now is willing to go out during light rain where no thunder is involved. For me, that's real progress. I remain upbeat but realistic. I don't think I will succeed 100% but maybe I'll get to a point where he doesn't jump on top of me or try to move the couch to get behind it or climb through the table to get behind the bed. I'll keep you posted.
posted by Katie | 2:49 PM
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