For those of us with thunder-fearing dogs in western Switzerland (lake area), last night was rough!

We have tried everything from DAP to sound CD therapy, and the famous ThunderShirt with no luck... Any tips or ideas to eliminate would be appreciated.

I would imagine that dog behavorilists in Switzerland specialize in this area, given the amount of thunderstorms and fireworks during this time of year...

Anyone manage to rid the fear successfully? Please do share...

Thunderstorms (and fireworks) are very difficult for some dogs.

Have a read through this thread - lots of good tips for dealing with firework fears, many of which are applicable to thunder as well.

August 1 and all that noise

(Storm-phobic dogs can often sense the air pressure drop prior to a storm, for many this becomes a trigger. We used to call one of my collies my canine barometer - the minute he began to seek the lowest interior spot in the house I knew we had exactly 2 hours until the heavens broke loose.)

Ehm...I am embarassed to say that, when I read the thread title (and did not pay attention that it was under the "Pet corner" section), I was hoping there would be advice for PEOPLE being storm-phobic

A good friend who has a dog that is terrified of storms and fireworks prepared a special crate for him to "hide" (different one than the one the dog usually sleeps in) and gives him a special treat and soothes him/pets him for a few minutes. It took a bit to get used to at the beginning, but now he has learned that, when there is a storm, he goes in his special crate, has his special treat, my friend is there, and he sort of "knows" that nothing bad will happen. Good luck!

I sympathize with your dog on all fronts...I am TERRIFIED of thunderstorms

We have three dogs, but only one is scared of loud bangs. As Federica suggested, provide a 'safe' place to go. Like a modern-day cave.
We have a cellar, and she has her emergency bed down there. Previously, we lived in an apartment, and her 'bunker' was in the bathroom. It was dark, cooler and she couldn't see the lightning. I find sitting with her for the first few minutes helps, then I leave her in peace, put some classical music on and wait it out.
Good luck to you and your poor pooch.

This seems like the appropriate thread to post information about an initiative in Canton Aargau to ban private fireworks on August 1 and New Year's Eve.

Here is a link to the sign up sheet.
http://www.ag.ch/wabag/shared/dokume...te_a4_quer.pdf

If you live in Canton Aargau and have the right to vote, you can sign it.

If they obtain a sufficient amount of signatures by Oct 31, 2012, it will go to a cantonal vote.

I hope it gets to that stage and passes.

My two seem to calm down with BBC Radio 6 music on quite loud ( they have good taste), the blinds down and we are there with them. On 1 August they ad an almighty fright when our neighbour let off a volcano outside our window :-( then he had the cheek to complain about the dogs barking. What a doof he is !!!!

Try the radio technique and blinds down technique. It works for us well.

And now would be a good time to bring up some changing ideas of dealing with fear and phobias in dogs. The classic advice is to ignore fear, to remain neutral when a dog shows signs of phobic behavior - during thunderstorms or fireworks, for instance. Which is something I've always done - the idea was not to reward fear behavior, and thus avoid reinforcing it. Makes sense... or does it?

Experts are beginning to re-think this - similar to the change in parenting advice about strictly ignoring a crying baby vs. comforting the baby. Some experts say that strictly ignoring a dog's signs of fear adds to the stress the dog is under, while gentle acknowledgement, although it may not change the coping mechanism itself, strengthens the bond between owner and dog - helping the dog to cope better. Patricia McConnell - a behaviorist I respect - has an couple of interesting articles on the subject:

http://www.thebark.com/content/reducing-fear-your-dog

http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com...-thunderstorms
http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com...der-phobia-iii
http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com...phobia-in-dogs
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/thu...a-in-dogs.html

And similar article from Dr Ute Blashke-Berthold, in German:
http://www.cavecani.de/wissenswertes...ammenmaerchen/

Anyway, something to think about - in preparation for our next fireworks fright night, 1 August.


Hope all your critters made it through the fireworks without too much stress.

This is one way of looking at it but not applicable in my case. Well, i can ignore the mutt being scared when we are inside the flat. Even then he runs and hides. When we are outside though he also runs. And pulls me with him. And he is strong

Last night i closed all windows (love double glazing) and fed him just at that time so he had something else to do. We survived ok. The cats didnt seemed bothered though

This is fantastic thank you so much, we will definitely be signing this!

Last night our amazingly useless (brainless, selfish etc) neighbours decided it would be a good idea to set fireworks off (very large and very loud) in our visitor car park at 11pm. When I asked them to stop explaining that they were doing it underneath our baby daughter's room, I was met with a lot of abuse.

Did they fire off the highly illegal Bodenknaller type fireworks?

Not sure I know which ones they are?

If they are illegal, are they even sold in Switzerland?

My cat in New Orleans was highly anxious and couldn't handle Mardi Gras related noise. After trying everything (fleurs de bach, quiet windowless room, white noise machine) our vet prescribed him what is sold as Temesta here.It really chilled him out, he went to sleep on the couch right in front of the window facing the street.
Benzos have a high lethal dose unless mixed with alcohol so I wasn't worried about "drugging" him. Might be worth looking into as a last resort.

I remember the first thunder storm post purchasing Louix and looking to see his reaction, he didn't flinch. Fireworks the same, he doesn't care. Lucky I guess.

But what's all this petition malarkey? Do the scrooges want to ban people celebrating new years. Crikey, it's one bloody day, that you have 364 days,365 this year, to prepare for.

Who cares if your dog gets scared or your baby gets woken up, it's one day for Christ sake.

I do.

Who cares if you have to miss out on a couple of bangs and flashes?

I'm not fussed either way. My dog isn't a big girls blouse and if and when I have kids I won't feel the world revolves around me, which is seemingly your attitude to the subject. Fortunately it does not, weeeeeee BOOM.

Awwww how sweet, lots bad rep to dish out too because I have a different opinion to you and your neighbors like to celebrate the new year like the rest of the world and your car got scratched.

Take it out on me, best that way. its all over for another year now anyway

Well what better way to let you know that I think you're an idiot without broadcasting it? But now that you raised the issue.....

You can call me an idiot if you like :-D

But you didn't

So...... Bit strange really.

Well im not very font of kids either but id rather have them sleeping quietly instead of crying because some fireworks woke them up. You want to celebrate with fireworks? No problem. Just go in the middle of nowhere were there are no people to disturb and blow the place up