Puppy and thunder??

Texas Pete · Post by **Texas Pete** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:07 am

Well this morning my pup had his first experience with a loud thunder storm, and although he wasn't afraid or scared in the house I had to take him out to potty when I thought the coast was clear and sure enough I saw the lighting flash and then boom and he about jumped out of his skin!! My question is I have not introduced him to gun fire but have had him around other loud noises and he didnt care at all,will this mean he might not like gunfire? He's a 4 month old gsp. Thanks for any input

Post by **kninebirddog** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:24 am

Thunder and shot are two different sounds..Biggest thing is how You react when something scarey happens to the pup...Most Important thing you can do is NOT console or coddle the pup when he is scared Act as if all is good and just ignore the scared behavior. When you try to coddle the dog all you will be doing is telling the dog it is OK to be afraid ..Dogs do not think like we do.

When you do teach the dog about the gun..this should be done when the pup is excited about chasing a bird...and the first shot off in a distance..or pup off in the back ground watching an older dog getting a bird shot over them and getting to go for a retrieve

The big difference the gun shot is a localized sound..where Thunder fills the air ..same with fireworks..I know quite a few dogs that will shut down when there is lightning but be=ring a gun out they are all about it as they know they get to go for birds

MI-Man · Post by **MI-Man** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:59 am

Make sure you mix the gun pow with birds!

Neil · Post by **Neil** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:44 pm

Usually it is the static electricity from the lightning, wipe him down with a dryer sheet.

Brazosvalleyvizslas · Post by **Brazosvalleyvizslas** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:15 pm

Dogs don't associate thunder or fireworks with anything positive. I have dogs that love the gun but get nervous around thunder or fireworks. If you properly introduce the dog to the gun, you should not have a problem even if it is still nervous about thunder.

Texas Pete · Post by **Texas Pete** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:23 pm

Ok good to hear that it's not a big problem,I'm going to be introducing him to the gun with pigeons soon and I will be taking it slow and from a distance thanks again for the input

Brazosvalleyvizslas · Post by **Brazosvalleyvizslas** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 1:35 pm

Where in Texas do you live? Unless thats just a screen name.

Texas Pete · Post by **Texas Pete** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 2:57 pm

Yes just a screen name,I lived in Texas years ago when I was in the army

reba · Post by **reba** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 4:00 pm

10-4 to all that said thunder has nothing to do with being gun shy.

I have a 10 year old ACD that hates thunder and low flying jets; BUT loves the shotgun! YES, it is because of the BIRDS.

Brazos · Post by **Brazos** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:04 pm

Just be careful. Dogs scared of t-storms can be a terrible, destructive experience. I agree with the above advice to ignore the thunder and carry on as nothing happened. I am no dog expert and am sure I did everything wrong with my dog in regards to thunder. I learned a lot about dogs, myself, life, and so on living with a dog with an extreme T-storm phobia. It cost me a lot of money in repairs, sleepless nights (when it rained), and figuring out how to deal with it day by day. My dog went from a perfect angel to Don Knotts (think Ghost & Mr. Chicken) when the weather changed. I have tons of stories (my dog was famous around where I live due to his t-storm issues) but no way I can type them all here. I stuck with that dog until he died of cancer earlier this year. He was my friend and I owed him that. I probably replaced over 30 window blinds in my house over the last few years of his life. I started a window blind business so I could replace my blinds at cost. I managed to sell enough to other people to pay for what he tore up and make a profit (in fact I have 3 houses to go to Saturday to install blinds). I named my little side business Bird Dog Blind Co. I will stop here but with one last word of advice and that is to study up on it and be prepared on how to deal with it before it happens to ensure you know how to react and not foster a phobia that can turn into a nightmare.

Texas Pete · Post by **Texas Pete** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 9:02 pm

He didnt at all mind the thunder inside only when he was out, so hopefully we won't have a problems with him being scared or destructive in the house! thanks for all your advice

Neil · Post by **Neil** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:19 am

Texas Pete wrote:He didnt at all mind the thunder inside only when he was out, so hopefully we won't have a problems with him being scared or destructive in the house! thanks for all your advice

I did note it didn't seem to bother him inside, as with the noise the static eectricity is greater the closer you are to the strike. Try the dryer sheets.

SXS ohio · Post by **SXS ohio** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 5:48 am

I was lucky...It was first week in may her in Ohio...pup was about 14-15 weeks old. It was the first thunder storm of her life...We were playing on the front porch when the storm was way off but we new there was a storm comming soon. Me and my wife were going out for for eats and I made a good choice to stay home with pup till the storm passed. As the storm came we were playing happily with no notice of the rumbles......then a big one hit! Pup stoped playing with a look of.#!@%&**!? I could tell she was confused about it. I turned up the play as if nothing happened and she joined in...boom a 2nd bad loud one...again she stoped ..froze...but I exitedly played with her toy like she loved to do and she joined right in again....I acted as if nothing was happening at all...just some great play games she loves....after the third boom she no longer even noticed the storm or lightning. It was lucky I was there for her first storm. She has no fear of storms! We both learned to learn that day! We were only delayed about one hour.....that was the best hour spent I can think of...(-: SXS ohio Ruby is her name, she is a gordon setter....she is 2 years 4 months old. She is a bird hunter!!!

Hoosierdaddy · Post by **Hoosierdaddy** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 6:05 am

I never thought i would say or post this but here goes. Our 9 month old female Brit is terrified of thunder.She would bite the wire on her crate try to dig out of it. She would start to shake with fear.

My wife(against my wishes) bought her a Thundershirt.The first time we put it on her she was a different dog.No more shaking,no more trying to get out of her crate.At least a 90% improvement.She still does not enjoy storms,but that thing was the best $40 bucks we ever spent.And i had to eat a little crow.

It looks stupid on her,but she never tries to get it off.The thing worked wonders for us.

Neil · Post by **Neil** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 8:22 am

Hoosierdaddy wrote:I never thought i would say or post this but here goes. Our 9 month old female Brit is terrified of thunder.She would bite the wire on her crate try to dig out of it. She would start to shake with fear.

My wife(against my wishes) bought her a Thundershirt.The first time we put it on her she was a different dog.No more shaking,no more trying to get out of her crate.At least a 90% improvement.She still does not enjoy storms,but that thing was the best $40 bucks we ever spent.And i had to eat a little crow.

It looks stupid on her,but she never tries to get it off.The thing worked wonders for us.

The Thunder Shirt has the same effect as a 10 cent dryer sheet.

Brazos · Post by **Brazos** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:40 pm

I posted above about my dog with the EXTREME t-storm phobia. I got the thunder shirt and it was worthless. My dog also chewed out of his wire kennel onetime and it cost me $802 in stiches. That was when I had him all drugged up and just a couple doors down the street at my neighbors b-day party. I walked home at thefirst clap of thunder thinking the drugs bought me time. I came home to a dog with a sliced up leg and 4 more widow blinds totally destroyed and blood all over the house. I am not trying to tell you what to do. I am just advising to figure out how to handle it ahead of time so you are ready when it happens. It does you no good to be "winging it" the first time a bad t-storm comes up, it could cost you big time after the fact for many years.

Brazosvalleyvizslas · Post by **Brazosvalleyvizslas** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 7:51 pm

Brazos wrote:I posted above about my dog with the EXTREME t-storm phobia. I got the thunder shirt and it was worthless. My dog also chewed out of his wire kennel onetime and it cost me $802 in stiches. That was when I had him all drugged up and just a couple doors down the street at my neighbors b-day party. I walked home at thefirst clap of thunder thinking the drugs bought me time. I came home to a dog with a sliced up leg and 4 more widow blinds totally destroyed and blood all over the house. I am not trying to tell you what to do. I am just advising to figure out how to handle it ahead of time so you are ready when it happens. It does you no good to be "winging it" the first time a bad t-storm comes up, it could cost you big time after the fact for many years.

Out of curiosity, was this dog gun shy?......It sounds like this dog was severely neurotic about thunder (or lightning) but did it have any effect on its hunting? I'm seriously just asking you a question?

buckeyebowman · Post by **buckeyebowman** » Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:41 am

My buddy's main hunter, a GSP bitch, will turn inside out during a bad T-storm or a fireworks show. Gunshots? She loves them! They mean birds in the air! In fact, when we're out hunting, and a fusillade erupts from another party, we have to watch to make sure she tends strictly to our business and not someone else's.

I like the tip about the dryer sheets. We'll try that. We're also thinking about the Thundershirt for the following reason. While we realize that nothing is 100% successful, the last time we had her out for a run makes us think it might work. There's a 90 acre farm adjacent to my friend's property and we have permission to be there. We always put on her Mendota Skid Plate. Lots of barbed wire fences out there and we don't want to risk a ripped open belly.

Well, a storm started blowing in, and we got back to the house just about the time it was breaking for real. We took her collars off but left the Skid Plate on. She was remarkably calmer during that storm. She laid on the couch and would pick her head up when a big ripper tore across the sky, but nothing more.

deke · Post by **deke** » Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:40 am

We had an old mutt that had a thing for fireworks, he would completely lose his mind anytime one went off. We went through a couple years of just letting him go crazy, then we decided to wrap a blanket around him while he was laying down and duct tape him into it. ( think dog straight jacket) It actually worked, I think he was more ashamed of his predicament then anything else, but we got to have a fourth of july without a dog going crazy in the house.

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