well, brooklyn is 11 months old now and he's a ckcs breed. he has this very strange barking behaviour and its only happens when its raining with thunder. suddenly he becomes so hyper, n starts runnin out of da house regardless of da rain which is makin him wet. He faces da sky n barks non-stop. He will only stop barkin when thunder stops. can feel his heart beatin very fast n hyperventilatin...
i tried closin da door preventin him from goin outside da house. but its useless coz he will ran 2wards da back of da house n did da same thing. furthermore, he's toilet trained n only will pee or poo outside da house. tats why i cant close da door all da time or else he will does his business in da house.
if he's scared of da thunder, he should be hiding under da sofa instead of charging n barking against da sky. dunno how he learnt dis behaviour from though....
And tats not all folks, when he hears da fireworks sound from da tv, he did da same thing. cant even differenciate where da sound come from. stupid.... i can assure u all my house is not equip with those high tech sound system
Maybe any sifu or master from dis forum here can help me deal wit it coz i cant stand da barkin everytime it rains. somemore now rainy season...damn noisy
(This post was edited by 2ephyr on May 8, 2004, 12:58 AM)
Many dogs are affected when it starts to rain ... especially with lightening and/or thunder ... some say it's the change in ozone level ... others say it's because of the change in atmospheric pressure ... But what we know for sure, is that dogs sense many things that humans cannot perceive ... whatever it may be that they sense ...
You posted:" ... can feel his heart beatin very fast n hyperventilatin ..."
Hyperventilation is a good indication that a dog is stressed or nervous ... but it could be that your dog is simply breathing heavily because he is barking so much ... it's hard to say without actually seeing/hearing your dog ...
For the purpose of this post ... let's go with your dog feeling stressed or nervous because of the change in weather ... And at 11months, that is the 2nd major fear period for dogs ...
A dog that is nervous about thunder, can react in many different ways ... The most common of course, will be for the dog to try and hide, but it is not uncommon for a dog to bark when nervous ...
A recommended method for dealing with such situations is to (a) try and distract the dog ... and (b) recondition the dog to associate the situation that makes the dog nervous with good and happy things ...
So ...
The next time the skies get dark ... that's the time to get out your dog's favourite treat and/or toy ... and before the thunder begins ... get your dog into intensive play and/or quick training setups ... fetch ball & treat ... tug & treat ... sit & treat ... stay & treat ... play chase ... hide & seek ... wrestle with the dog ... whatever the dog loves to do ... keep it going ... ignore the thunder ... and make like normal ...
Trying to recondition a dog from reacting adversely to weather is not easy ... requires consistency and patience on the part of the owner ... but it is not impossible ...
If your dog reacts the same way to the sound of fireworks ... then maybe you can record the sound of fireworks going off, replicate the situation and go through the routine described above ... and gradually get your dog used to the sound of fireworks ... hopefully that will help when there is thunder ...
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