WWYD??Dog issues

[mickeyluvr004]

Hi all ok heres my question.. we have a 4 year old Brittany Spaniel, we have an electric fence, and she is crated at night and when we are away.. heres my problem last week we had some severe storms and a tornado touched down not too far from where we live. My DH accidently left her collar on and put her in the crate (night time) and this storm came.. well she was soo scared that she broke out of her crate and now everytime we try to put her in it she breaks out constantly. Night time I just leave her to roam the house. we are having constant thunderstorms all week and she just paces and hides under the desk or where ever she can.. Any one know how we can help her get over this?? she has never acted like this before and when we put her in her crate she bites at it and screams to get out... We don't know what to do any help out there??? Thanks

 

[whitneyNC]

I wouldn't give up on crating her. She needs a new crate that she can't get the door open on. Maybe even in a new place. If you anticipate that she's going to be scared of the storm, she'll be more so. Don't comfort her or give affection if she's not calm. When she's pacing and hiding and you say, "it's okay, that's a good dog" it only reniforces that behavior. I would crate her, and hope that it again becomes her safe place. Remember dogs live in the moment, owners anticipate! Good luck. We worry about our pets, they really are part of the family.
oh yeah- I didn't understand what the electric fence or collar had to do with her traumatic night, I think I missed something.

 

[taintedzodiac]

I wouldn't give up on crating her. She needs a new crate that she can't get the door open on. Maybe even in a new place. If you anticipate that she's going to be scared of the storm, she'll be more so. Don't comfort her or give affection if she's not calm. When she's pacing and hiding and you say, "it's okay, that's a good dog" it only reniforces that behavior. I would crate her, and hope that it again becomes her safe place. Remember dogs live in the moment, owners anticipate! Good luck. We worry about our pets, they really are part of the family.
oh yeah- I didn't understand what the electric fence or collar had to do with her traumatic night, I think I missed something.

This is exactly what we did with both of my parents' dogs who had similar problems with thunder. Took us a while but it works!

 

[Leajess99]

I wouldn't give up on crating her. She needs a new crate that she can't get the door open on. Maybe even in a new place. If you anticipate that she's going to be scared of the storm, she'll be more so. Don't comfort her or give affection if she's not calm. When she's pacing and hiding and you say, "it's okay, that's a good dog" it only reniforces that behavior. I would crate her, and hope that it again becomes her safe place. Remember dogs live in the moment, owners anticipate! Good luck. We worry about our pets, they really are part of the family.
oh yeah- I didn't understand what the electric fence or collar had to do with her traumatic night, I think I missed something.

There were severe storms and I would have to wonder if with the storms the electric fence did not cause the collar to shock the dog. I could be wrong but for a dog to be that scared all of a sudden would lead me to believe the collar and fence caused the issue.

OP - Is the dog having problems with using the bathroom in the house while not crated?? Is there a reason for crating the dog?? I do not have a dog anymore but most of the people I know with dogs let them have free roam of the house as they are family as well so was wondering why the crate? Also, the dog may not get over the storms. I know my friends dog goes running and hides when it hears thunder just like my mom's cat does.

 

[BigEeyore]

Please talk to your vet about it - there are medications that can help calm your dog (I am a vet myself!). I know some people are hesitant to "medicate" their pet, but storm phobia is a real problem for a lot of dogs, and the anxiety they are feeling is scary for them.
Good luck!

 

[momofrrr]

Poor Baby! Our dog is terrified of storms. She hears thunder and starts to panic. We have some medication that we got from the vet that works really well. She takes it willingly and it really calms her. I think it has St Johns Wart (from memory so I could be off). She is such a sweetie so anything we can do to make her feel better is worth it for us. Good luck.

 

[deva]

As another posted asked, why are you currently crating your dog? I crate both of mine now (2 whippets) but, when we only had one, we tried to crate her and she went beserk. Whined all day (the neighbors in the house next door heard her), chewed at the openings (the first crate was plastic and she chewed through the 1-inch or so plastic strip between two "windows"), and tore up any bedding we put in with her. Decided to leave her out in the kitchen so we put up a baby gate - she jumped it. Put another gate on top - jumped both. Stacked up cardboard on top the gates (literally 6 feet off the ground leaving maybe 18 inches to the top of the door) - again came home to find her on the other side. But we realized nothing was ever damaged and she just spent the day snoozing on the couch. Never had a problem leaving her out.

When we got the second, she was having accident issues if we left her out so she needed to be crated. We decided to put them in a big crate together. They are fine with it and sometimes hang out in there even if we are home and the door is open.

I don't know what to tell you if the problem is related to storms or separation issues, but if she just does not like the crate it might work to leave her out. Good luck.

 

[taymacsmom]

Hi all ok heres my question.. we have a 4 year old Brittany Spaniel, we have an electric fence, and she is crated at night and when we are away.. heres my problem last week we had some severe storms and a tornado touched down not too far from where we live. My DH accidently left her collar on and put her in the crate (night time) and this storm came.. well she was soo scared that she broke out of her crate and now everytime we try to put her in it she breaks out constantly. Night time I just leave her to roam the house. we are having constant thunderstorms all week and she just paces and hides under the desk or where ever she can.. Any one know how we can help her get over this?? she has never acted like this before and when we put her in her crate she bites at it and screams to get out... We don't know what to do any help out there??? Thanks

Not to hijack your thread but...I have to ask where you are from. I am in a town in CT where a freak tornado touched down last Friday. Coincidence??

 

[teresajoy]

We use to have a Brittany, she was terrified of storms too. She never got over it. I hope you find something that works for you guys.

 

[alloyd1170]

Our lab used to fine during storms and fireworks. Then one 4th, our neighbors shot off fireworks right over our house and this scared our dog. Now, whenever we see storms approaching, we drug her with Rescue Remedy (found at health food store). Seems to help calm her down and it's natural. It does take 30 mins to kick in, so it won't work for sudden storms.

We too have an electric fence. It also loops under our crawl space confining our dog to one room. However, like most dogs, she does not want to be confined during storms. She'd rather be outside or cowering under our feet. She will run through the fence and risk getting shocked, so we put up a gate.

There have been times when I think her collar has shocked her without being near the fence. I notice her acting strange and cowering. It can happen when the battery runs low, or with one collar, it had a short in it. The storm you described may have caused some disturbance with her collar and shocked her. You might want to get it checked out.

 

[mickeyluvr004]

Hi OP here I want to thank all that responded with my dilema , I will answer some of your questions she is crated at night and when we go out, my husband feels that is her house and she is comfortable (she now will go in it ) but like today this morning we had a small thunderstorm and she was out pacing the house following my husband all over the house, this afternoon we were just coming in (she was crated) and she heard the thunder again and started screaming my husband felt that she needs to understand she will be fine (especially when we are not home when these storms hit) she barked and screamed until it was over (totally pulled at my heart strings) but she stopped once it was over. we crate her as we do have another dog she is still a puppy and is being trained, but they are allowed to roam free in the house while we are here, I have let the Brittany actually roam several times while I ran out for a little while and she did great so I think we can trust her to stay out more I just worry about when these storms hit and we aren't here. I also will look into a sedative I don't like seeing her upset like this. Yes I do live close to Wethersfield so maybe she senced that there was a tornado around as my husband told me it was real bad, I thought because she had her collar on that she may have gotten a zap or two, as she never has acted like this before this storm. On a good note my 2 DD's are totally enjoying her up here all the time they continue to put little shirts on her and my 5 yo was putting Mickey bracelets on her to make her look pretty and she let them we love our Sassy that's for sure and our big loofy lab Lilly Belle thanks again for the input

 

[mickeyluvr004]

have another UPDATE: well last night we had another storm late and I heard her crying at 1 am so I went down and she had gotten her head stuck in between the metal bars so I dislodged her head and let her roam free no more crate at least for awhile. If I didn't go downstairs I fear what would have happened to her. But I am definetly going to the health food store to get some sedative for her, I hate seeing her soo upset like this. So again no more crate and I did check several times on her throughout the night and she fell asleep in my daughters room first on the floor and the next time I checked on her she was sleeping in my daughters bed so I think she will do fine running free all the time and my husband agrees Thanks again to all for your advise I would have never thought of a sedative for her.

 

[meldobe]

Not sure if you have this product but its great for dogs that are scared of thunder etc - its called DAP - dog appeasing pheramone and comes in a spray, a plug in or a collar and releases a scent that female dogs release when feeding their pups which keeps them calm and makes them feel safe, humans can't smell it and you can buy it online.

I used it with my dog when we had builders in she hated the noise of the drill and would pace up and down crying and wouldn't settle i bought the spray and put it on her bandanna and within a couple of days she was much calmer and was able to settle down and sleep when the builders were drilling. My sister also used it for her dog that hated travelling in the car she would shake and drool non stop we sprayed the car and after a week she travelled any distance with no drooling or shaking.
May not work but definately worth a try.