How To Survive A Storm With An Anxious Dog

How to Help An Dog Anxious Through A Stormy Night, High Wind or Lightening

She had only been with us a short while and we were still getting use to each other.  Bear was always so quiet.  At night she would not make a move until morning.  But tonight she was pacing, panting and had only one thing in mind bolting out of the door.

She was obviously in distress and it took me a little while to realize what was going on.
It was a stormy night and the wind was blowing really strong. She was scared of the storm and nothing was distracting her. To top it all the thunder started growling and the sky lit up. I thought she was going to go through the window.

I could not keep her still, I tried talking to her, massage, Reiki, Ttchouch nothing worked. She had passed a tipping point.  I grabbed a tshirt and put it on her. It might looked funny or strange but it worked.
I had learn this trick from a friend of mine working with the SPCA. She settled down a bit and started paying attention to me again. I put on some classical music and moved her bed to an area in the house with no windows so she could not see the lightening

I layed down with her and started massaging her. After a little while I could feel her muscles relaxing and the tension going away. The storm was still going but she fell asleep. Every time I moved she would wake up and was on alert, working herself up again.

I ended up covering her with a small blanket and tucked her in. It seemed to do the trick. I was able to get back to  bed and had a decent night sleep.

Tags: anxious dog, fear of storm, thunder