If you think the pacing, panting, hiding out and neurotic behavior during thunderstorms, or around the 4th of July, is exclusive to your otherwise calm pooch, you’re wrong. You aren’t alone!
At Mighty Pet, we offer a variety of calming products to help ease the stress during these events. If the anxiety is severe, please consult with your veterinarian. In some cases anxiety medication may need to be prescribed.
Here are a few behavior modifications we recommend:
- Give your pet a “safe place” by watching where he or she naturally goes during a storm. Try to give your pet access to that area of the house during storms or other stressful events. Make sure your pet can come and go, as some pets get more anxious when confined.
Try putting your pet in a snug pressure garment. We’ve had great feedback on the Thundershirt! With a 45 day guarantee from the company, it’s worth a try!- Reward Calm Behavior – Trying to console a panicky dog only encourages the behavior. While you don’t want to scold the dog for panicking, rewarding panicky behavior will only make it worse. Instead, when it’s not storming, practice training your dog to calm on command and reward accordingly. Then, your dog will know the routine when it starts to storm.
- Work on desensitizing your pet to storm noises during the winter. Play a CD track of thunderstorms and slowly increase the volume over a few months. The end goal is to get your pet used to the noises associated with thunderstorms.
