Stormphobia
Part I
It's storm season again...
As is normal in Texas in May, we had quite a serious storm roll through Jack County a few nights ago. We got over 3 1/2 inches of rain overnight and we had hours of severe lightning. Along with that lightning came impressive thunder claps, of course, and some of our animals once again battled their storm anxiety.
We have several dogs that stay inside the house with us at night, and when strong storms approach, we’ll often allow a few others to come inside as well. Interestingly, in spite of being raised in the same location, by the same people and in the same way, some of our dogs experience stormphobia and others don’t seem to notice.
Baldie and Bonnie didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Mellie and Hank were terrified. Dicey, who had never before shown signs of storm anxiety, was suddenly extremely frightened by the thunder.
What causes Stormphobia?
Dogs often start having storm-related panic attacks seemingly out of nowhere
Well before this storm arrived, Hank and I were out feeding goats. I felt a faint rumble, far off thunder, and Hank ran for the house. I whistled, no response. I called his name and he slowed at our gate, but didn’t look back. He jumped into the front yard and went to the front door.
Once inside, Hank panted heavily. His eyes were big and round. He yawned. You could tell his heart was pounding and he was extremely uneasy.
Nothing we tried would help him other than talking to him in a soft, easy voice and petting him lightly. And that really didn’t help him much. So what caused this physical response?
Vets really don’t know for sure what causes one dog to react this way and others to act as if nothing’s happening. Some dogs show signs of stormphobia at an early age. Perhaps there was an event early in life that made an imprint on the pup. But often this isn’t the case. Sometimes a dog previously unbothered by storms will suddenly change.
“Dogs often start having storm-related panic attacks seemingly out of nowhere,” says Barbara L. Sherman, PhD, DVM, Assoc. Prof of Veterinary Behavior, NC State University.
And unfortunately, most of the time, dogs don’t outgrow it.
What triggers the response?
There’s some debate as to what actually frightens the dog, and it may vary from dog to dog. It might simply be the noise or perhaps the flashes of lightning. It could be a change in air-pressure or maybe low frequency rumblings of thunder that they hear long before we hear them.
Dr. Nicholas H. Dodman of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University suggests however, that it might in fact be that dogs experience small electric shocks during a thunderstorm. It’s possible that static electricity runs through the dog’s fur, causing an uncomfortable tingling feeling…or worse. Some scientists believe that this is why dogs try to find locations that are grounded during storms (bathtubs, enclosed spaces). There may be some truth to this as Hank usually ends up in the bathroom near the tub.
What can we do to help?
Some dogs suffer greatly from this anxiety. Some don’t. Some are fine for many years, then out of nowhere they’re terrified. We don’t know what causes it, but is there anything we can do about it? How can we help our loyal family members?
While there doesn’t seem to be an easy cure, there are steps we can take to help. Stay tuned, Part II will give you a few ideas that may help.
