I’ve had several dogs that have had thunder phobias and I hear about it from clients all the time. Charleston developed a relatively mild phobia at about 3 years old and he would be very clingy and alert during storms. Magic’s phobia got worse as she got older so that by the time she was 12 I’d sometimes find her shivering in the bath tub during storms.

I hope that Hank doesn’t develop a fear like that because it’s pretty sad to see your best friend in such a heightened state of anxiety. So, I took yesterday’s thunder storm as an opportunity to teach him that thunder isn’t going to hurt him. I was prepared… I put on my rain gear, strapped on Hank’s leash and brought a big bag of hot dogs!

It was pouring. As soon as we got outside, he knew something was different but it took a couple of steps for it to freak him out. He ran back to the door and sat under the overhang. I whipped out my hot dogs and began to praise him like crazy. In just a minute or so he was ready to go for a walk.

I got pretty lucky, because the thunder was crashing often and just over our heads. The first crash made Hank jump off the ground and run to the end of his leash. I continued to praise him and make with the hot dogs. By the end of the walk he was barely registering the thunder and paid no mind to the rain at all.

There’s no guarantee that Hank’s never going to develop a thunder phobia (especially since of all the things we’ve introduced him to, it’s been loud noises that startle him the most), but I’m going to continue this work with him. Maybe hot dogs can work miracles!