GOD BLESS YOU

Well, a lavender filled pillow in the dog's bed should be soothing THEN do as the other writer advised and ignore the dog.  She is correct, ou are re-inforcing its fears and making it think oh wow this is a big deal. 

Good luck tough love is never easy.

Luckily my 4 dogs aren't bothered by storms.  In fact, they don't even go into their dog houses during a storm all the time.

Oh, catalogs are free and when you order watch out for FOB charges.  It's usually on those odd shape items. 

"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." - Micah 7:19

Stay at home wife and mommy!

 I use to work for a vet supply and a neurotic dog once that had no hair..they said it was her nerves...but, turned out to be a thyroid condition.  I used k-9 calm on her during t-storms and before her weekly dippings at the vet.  Here is the link...the k-9 calm is on the second page.  Some of these maybe worth a shot.  I use to sell these so they definately have good products.

http://www.jefferspet.com/ssc/products.asp?CID=0&mscssid=A21S7U35GJWE9LURQ645Q6LG603Q7CD0&area=dog&dept_id=422

"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." - Micah 7:19

Stay at home wife and mommy!

Sounds like you have a "Winn Dixie" on your hands.  Try giving the dog a tylenol we were told to do that for our doggy during fourth of july stuff, when I was growing up.

To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2:5

My daughter has a dog who is afraid of Storms.   When this accours all she has to do is turn the t.v. on,and the dog just lays there listening to it and falls asleep!

Next time there is a storm I may have to rub a dryer sheet over me..I am scared of storms!  Lol

Storms to faze my dog, she just sleeps right through it unless if I'm jumpy then she'll become nervous... :)

We had two dogs (not at the same time), first one was fine with storms and the other was in a panic every time.  Wish I had known then that we should have not tried to calm her.  We did have pills to give her but that meant we needed to know before the storm hit and she started to pant.  She is also the one who got car sick after only a one block ride.  Dogs are as different as people.

I've always believe that the dog I have now got the behavior from the dog we had when we got her, who got it from the dog we had we we got him (translation: Dutchess got it from Rusty who got it from Copper).  We do ignore the behavior, which has stop the most annoying behaviors, but she will make sure to be with us when the storm comes.  I don't need a weather radio to know a storm is coming, I have Dutchess instead.  She is also the dog that alerted my son right before we had our 'earthquake' in the spring. 

Susannah, I too love watching the dog whisperer.  Have learned so much from watching him, though I would love for him to come and help with some of the behaviors that we haven't yet mastered (namely barking and fighting with neighbor's dogs).

I too have a dog that is petrified of storms.  He is an 80lb black lab.  However, I saw on the Dog Whisperer one day a show about a dog that freaked out because he was afraid.  It wasn't of a storm, but I don't remember exactly what it was.  Anyway Ceasar said that by petting and talking to the dog, we are making it worse.  He said that while we think that we are heaping on love an reassurance, we are actually telling the dog that there IS something to be worried about.  We are actually feeding into their fear and validating it.  SO, I decided to try it the next storm we had.  Instead of letting my dog get into my lap (which if you've ever had a lab, you know AIN'T comfy) and feeding him herbal supplements to calm him and constantly telling him It's okay baby, I know...Mommy loves you, mommy won't let anything happen to you....... I IGNORED HIM ENTIRELY.  It took him about 5 minutes to calm down and lay on the floor.  Instead of sitting (where he would immediately try to leap into my lap) I stayed standing and walking around.  Finally, while I was in the kitchen, he just laid down and my feet and relaxed.  After that storm, it has been much easier.  He still comes and lets me know its getting ready to storm, but I just go about my usual routine.  He will follow me into whatever room I'm in, but he doesn't jump on me, drool and pant.  He just sticks close to me on the floor.  I even sit without danger of being crushed.  It has been a miracle.  I'm not saying it will work for everyone, but I would recommend trying it.  It has been a great experience and has kept him much calmer and kept him from injurying himself.

I have 2 and only 1 is frightened.  But I only need a small corner since he is only 8#.

Cindy/KS

I don't have a dog, but my son was doing the same thing during last night's storms.  I didn't even hear the storm until he came in and woke me up.  He said he couldn't sleep with all the thunder, and was determined NOT to go back to bed!  I ended up having to sleep downstairs on the couch for the rest of the night. 

Do you think the cape thing would work for my son????  LOL

BK, sounds like we are in the exact same situation, maybe you and I can go half $$ on the cape?  I, too, have 3 dogs and 2 of them are absolutely oblivious to the storm, but the other...yes, she is also like a ton of immovable bricks on our bed.....

Never heard of it before but know what you mean by the nervous dog.  My little 20 pound dog turns into 100 pounds when it storms.  She follows me around the house and stays right by my side. During Monday night's storm, she jumped into our bed and there was no getting her out of the bed.  Don't ask me how but she was like a ton of bricks, and nothing we did could budge her from the bed.  The thing that I always wonder is why my other two dogs could care less about the storms?  In fact they are the ones who can sleep through it!  I did read about  how it works, and the one thing that popped out to me was behavior management 101, with not petting or acknowledging the dog when it is in that agitated state (dogs find this rewarding and will increase the behavior).  So will it be the cape that works or you not acknowledging the behavior, or the combination of both