Sonya
Well-Known Member
Hello All,
Let me give you a little bit of background on my two dogs. Radar is a mix, 12 years old. He has always been afraid/anxious with loud noises and especially thunderstorms. But he managed through it with the help of Brutus, my 13 year old lab who died a year and a half ago. I could tell Radar was anxious during a storm then, but Brutus wasn’t and Radar would just go lay by Brutus and would be fine. He no longer has his old buddy and has gotten worse. Tanga is a rat terrier, 3 years old. Tanga was not afraid of storms until just recently. Tanga is a monkey see, monkey do dog and I believe he is now feeding off Radar’s anxiety/fear so he too is afraid of storms now. Neither of my dogs are crated anymore and both listen fairly well…normally.
They do sleep in our bedroom at night, but not in our bed, they have their own beds. My husband can not sleep with them in our bed and staying off furniture is a boundary we set with them at an early age (we have had them since they were under a year old). The past week we have had 3 thunderstorms at night which resulted in us, especially me, getting hardly any sleep and having to get up for work extremely tired. They will both jump on the bed and wake us. I will make them get down and get in their beds but it only lasts for a few minutes…even the sound of heavy rain or the light of lightning alone without the thunder seems to be setting them off now. When not jumping on the bed, they will pace around the room making all kinds of noise, they will cry a little, put their paws up on the bed and lick my face, they gravitate towards me when they are afraid. Although I feel terrible for them, I resist the urge and do not comfort them as I know this will only encourage their behavior. We thought about putting them in another room, but I think they will just cry louder, they are not used to being without us at night. We do want them with us at night, but not in our bed…during storms is the only time they do this.
Radar is the one who starts the behavior, and then Tanga follows suit….whatever Radar does, Tanga does. So how can I ease their anxiety/fear….if not only for myself but for them. I do worry that if there is a storm while I’m at work, they will be afraid and do something to hurt themselves, like try to go through a window or something. Of course they never have, but I do worry something will happen when I’m not there.
Help and Thanks in advance,
Sleepless in Michigan (lol)
Let me give you a little bit of background on my two dogs. Radar is a mix, 12 years old. He has always been afraid/anxious with loud noises and especially thunderstorms. But he managed through it with the help of Brutus, my 13 year old lab who died a year and a half ago. I could tell Radar was anxious during a storm then, but Brutus wasn’t and Radar would just go lay by Brutus and would be fine. He no longer has his old buddy and has gotten worse. Tanga is a rat terrier, 3 years old. Tanga was not afraid of storms until just recently. Tanga is a monkey see, monkey do dog and I believe he is now feeding off Radar’s anxiety/fear so he too is afraid of storms now. Neither of my dogs are crated anymore and both listen fairly well…normally.
They do sleep in our bedroom at night, but not in our bed, they have their own beds. My husband can not sleep with them in our bed and staying off furniture is a boundary we set with them at an early age (we have had them since they were under a year old). The past week we have had 3 thunderstorms at night which resulted in us, especially me, getting hardly any sleep and having to get up for work extremely tired. They will both jump on the bed and wake us. I will make them get down and get in their beds but it only lasts for a few minutes…even the sound of heavy rain or the light of lightning alone without the thunder seems to be setting them off now. When not jumping on the bed, they will pace around the room making all kinds of noise, they will cry a little, put their paws up on the bed and lick my face, they gravitate towards me when they are afraid. Although I feel terrible for them, I resist the urge and do not comfort them as I know this will only encourage their behavior. We thought about putting them in another room, but I think they will just cry louder, they are not used to being without us at night. We do want them with us at night, but not in our bed…during storms is the only time they do this.
Radar is the one who starts the behavior, and then Tanga follows suit….whatever Radar does, Tanga does. So how can I ease their anxiety/fear….if not only for myself but for them. I do worry that if there is a storm while I’m at work, they will be afraid and do something to hurt themselves, like try to go through a window or something. Of course they never have, but I do worry something will happen when I’m not there.
Help and Thanks in advance,
Sleepless in Michigan (lol)