April 25, 2014

Five Things I Learned About My Fearful Dog During a Thunderstorm


I was in the middle of grocery shopping after work Wednesday night when I heard the first ominous rumble of thunder. I hurried as much as possible, knowing poor noise-sensitive Ruby was probably frightened at home, and got absolutely soaked running to my car with my cart. As I unlocked the door I didn't see Ruby in her bed and found that she was hiding under the table. She came right over to me, and practically crawled into my arms. The worst of it was over, but I learned some things as the storm passed us by.

The Thundershirt really does work! 

I noticed an almost immediate difference when I swaddled Ruby up in her Kelly green Thundershirt.  She stopped trembling and followed me around while I put the groceries away. I've used it a few times to help Ruby's anxiousness in the car, but never during an actual thunderstorm. The day I adopted Ruby we drove home in a a downpour and deafening claps of thunder. She didn't seem to mind it,  but as I'll talk about in the next point, she was not quite herself at first. Our thunderstorm season in Colorado is generally in the late summer, so yesterday's weather was unexpected. I'm glad to know the Thundershirt helps and we'll be prepared when the next one rolls in.

I completely misread Ruby when I first adopted her. 

I knew this already but the thunderstorm experience only proved to strengthen the realization. Ruby curled up in my lap for close to an hour when I got home, a time she is normally bouncing off the walls bringing me one toy after another and begging for a walk. She didn't whine, but she did press close against me and yawn a lot, a classic sign of stress. What I thought was calm and cuddly when I took her to a sidewalk cafe, farmers market and the Warrior Dash shortly after adopting her was actually intimidated and afraid. I couldn't understand the sudden change when her reactivity began to surface, but now believe she was actually in a defensive, shut-down state those first few weeks. She was so overwhelmed by everything that she couldn't react to any one thing. I have a hard time forgiving myself for this.

There is no such thing as rewarding fear.

As I held Ruby in my lap and spoke softly to her, stroking her ears back against her head to possibly muffle some of the sound, I didn't think for a moment that I was reinforcing her fear. That notion always sounded suspicious to me, and it never stopped me from comforting my dogs when they needed it. The attention in combination with the Thundershirt seemed to relax Ruby, it certainly did not cause her to shake or worry more. As always, Patricia McConnell says it better.

Being afraid is exhausting.

Ruby and I were both ready to go to bed early last night. She finally did eat her dinner and shared some veggies with me while I watched TV, but wasn't up to her usual shenanigans. I could tell that the storm wore her out. Keep this in mind if you have an anxious or fearful dog, and don't ask too much of them after they've had a trying experience. Sometimes those behaviors that happen "out of nowhere" are the trickle-down effect of compounded distress.

Storms pass. 

I could tell that Ruby was starting to feel better as the loudest part of the storm was over, although it continued pouring all through the night, preventing us from taking our evening walk.  She started rolling around on the carpet and so I took her Thundershirt off.  Her tail began wagging again and while she was more subdued than normal I could tell that she was feeling better. Fear can paralyze us in the moment and send us running for cover, but I'll take this opportunity to be dangerously corny, give a nod to one of my favorite movies, The Crow, and say "it can't rain all the time."

13 comments:

  1. Oh poor Ruby. Fear and stress can be so debilitating and exhausting. I am so glad the ThunderShirt worked for her. I hope through time, she can overcome her fear.

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  2. I had exactly the same experience with Vulpe when she first came to us at 4 months. I thought she was a perfect little angel - but she was just very scared! Her reactivity surfaced over the next few months. I really wish I'd known then what I know now - but I'm glad the Thundershirt helped Ruby :)

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  3. Kelly green! Leo's jealous! I totally relate to the misreading thing. It's heartbreaking to realize after the fact that we misinterpreted signals our dogs gave us loud and clear. For me, it was Isis licking her lips when tried teaching her to down by pressing her with our bodies.

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  4. Silas's dog trainer, in our last round of obedience classes, praised him for being "so calm!" I almost had a meltdown, because he wasn't calm; he was completely catatonic from the stress. So don't feel bad that you missed it.

    Silas is weirdly okay with thunder AND he loves the park that's right next to the really loud shooting range. But on the Fourth of July last year he barked *every time* a firework went off. Dogs are weird.

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    1. I was so focused on socialization, excited that I had gotten her at a relatively young age, even though I was well aware the "crucial" stage was long past.

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    2. And I'll never know (or stop wondering) if I contributed to her issues or if they were already present, but masked.

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  5. LOVE THE NEW HEADER!!!

    I so agree about rewarding fear. I did this so often and it really amped up Rodrigo's fears, but now we act normally and I notice that he's becoming braver about things.

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    1. I think I may have been misunderstood. I do not believe based on things I have read and my own experience, that we CAN "reward fear."

      I am all for comforting my dog when she is scared and do not believe that it is reinforcing the behavior. Fear, after all, is not a behavior - it's an emotion. Think of it in human terms...if you are afraid to walk across a bridge, and your friend says "well, I'm not going to offer to hold your head or tell you it's okay because then you will be afraid at the next bridge" does that really make any sense?

      I do agree that if *we* are also scared or anxious it can translate to our dogs, but I see no problem with giving some verbal or physical reassurance from a calm place myself.

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  6. Awww poor Ruby. I can't get over how beautiful she is. I am happy to know the Thundershirt works. Wynston isn't noise sensitive (and it NEVER storms here!) but it's nice to know I can suggest this to people!!!

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  7. We've had so much luck with our Thundershirt, too. Those are really great discoveries... my biggest is the thing about rewarding fear!!! That was a huge realization for me with Lucas many years ago. He felt better when I crawled under the table to snuggle him, so there can't possibly be in harm in that!

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  8. Thundershirts don't work for every dog. I'm so glad you're finding they work for Ruby.

    Honey also gets very cuddly when she's afraid. As we get ready to take her for her first week's sailing trip, I hope she stays far away from my lap. Only then will I know if she's comfortable.

    I've never used a Thundershirt with Honey but you're making me think I should give it a shot.

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  9. I'm so glad the Thundershirt has helped her. My parents have a golden who is so fearful of storms, and they haven't really found anything that helps. Poor girl.

    I'm torn on the whole "rewarding fear" issue. I give my dog comfort when he is scared and his behavior isn't resulting in any aggression or unwanted behavior, such as when he's curled up on his bed afraid of a tornado siren. I don't comfort him when he's showing unwanted behavior such as barking at a stranger out of fear. Instead, I redirect him and reward the calm behavior.

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    1. There is definitely a difference between shut-down fear and reactive fear, and I agree that they should be handled differently. Classic counter-conditioning, could look like "rewarding fear or reactivity" since you are giving the dog treats during a reaction to a trigger, and many R+ trainers recommend this method.

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