Bit Worried About Dog And Rain

[Doofus]

Our dog is fine out in the rain. He's very scared of thunder though, which won't be uncommon.

However, recently, if he's in the house and it starts to rain, he turns into a quivering wreck, literally shaking with fear.

This morning we were out for nearly two hours inthe drizzle and he was perfectly happy. In about an hour's time, my wife will take him for a walk and he'll be fine.

But at the moment he's shivering under a blanket on the sofa because of raindrops on the windows.

Not sure what's caused this change, or what we can do about it. We've ordered a snood thing. Any comments or observations?

[Doofus]

Click for video.

[Kes Arevo]

He may be connecting it to the lightning, so a bit of Pavlov's dog going on?

[Doofus]

Kes Arevo said:

He may be connecting it to the lightning, so a bit of Pavlov's dog going on?

We wondered that, but he's perfectly happy to be outside in the rain.

Apparently dogs' hearing is amplified when it rains. Somehow...

[juice]

How about some positive reinforcement ?

Get some ambient rain sounds going on a speaker and give him treats to associate rain with good things happening rather than bad (just a thought)

[Doofus]

juice said:

How about some positive reinforcement ?

Get some ambient rain sounds going on a speaker and give him treats to associate rain with good things happening rather than bad (just a thought)

We tried that, briefly. I suspect he's aware of changes in air pressure, because rain playing on a speaker doesn't affect him at all. He's relaxed about rain on the tv too.

[Doofus]

He's gone out with Mrs Doofus, in the pouring rain and is happy as Larry, woofing and bouncing and sneezing

[Kes Arevo]

Doofus said:

He's gone out with Mrs Doofus, in the pouring rain and is happy as Larry, woofing and bouncing and sneezing

Clearly completely nuts then.

[Doofus]

She's not that bad...

[Doofus]

And now he's decided to hide in the downstairs bog because it's raining again.

[LordHaveMurci]

My old working cocker (who was worked in his younger days) was absolutely fine with thunder, as long as he was outside. Inside, not so keen!

Not scared, just not as keen - dogs are weird!

Sonething has triggered this, goid luck figuring out what!

[Doofus]

LordHaveMurci said:

My old working cocker (who was worked in his younger days) was absolutely fine with thunder, as long as he was outside. Inside, not so keen!

Not scared, just not as keen - dogs are weird!

Sonething has triggered this, goid luck figuring out what!

He's st-scared of thunder whether indoors or out. My wife's suggested it might be down to new double-glazing and he can't discern the changes in air pressure so easily, so the rain on the windows has no context for him. This is the only significant external factor we can think of in the past six months.

We play a game when I'm cooking. He drops a ball at my feet, and I throw it out of the back door and down the garden. He retrieves and returns. It's the only time he'll willingly drop a ball, incidentally.

This evening, he suddenly decided to go and sit in the downstairs loo (or so I'm told it is named), and ten seconds later it started to rain.

But this afternoon, when walking with my wife, in a huge downpour, there was apparently no way he was going home, because he was perfectly happy getting soaked (apart from the bits covered by his coat).

[LunarOne]

Do you have a conservatory with a plastic roof? Or even a glass roof? Rain can sound much worse indoors if you do and it could be that your doggy doesn't like the sound of it. How is he in the car when it's raining heavily?

[Doofus]

LunarOne said:

Do you have a conservatory?

How is he in the car when it's raining heavily?

No.

Fine.

As I said, he is perfectly happy in the rain, just not when he's in the house. And it is fairly new. Thunder/fireworks/gunshot has always been a thing, but the pitter-patter of raindrops is new.

[Big Red Cat]

You could try a Thunder Shirt on him.
I was very sceptical about this but we tried it with Lottie, Mini Bull Terrier, & it really works.
Calms her down immediately if something spooks her.

[Doofus]

Big Red Cat said:

You could try a Thunder Shirt on him.
I was very sceptical about this but we tried it with Lottie, Mini Bull Terrier, & it really works.
Calms her down immediately if something spooks her.

We tried this because we live in France a lot of the time and hunting season is a festival of (drunken) gunshot from morning to morning.

No dice.

We tried the same thing here and it didn't work. I mentioned earlier buying a snood as those cover the ears, rather than hugging the body.

[Evoluzione]

This was covered on telly last week, watch last Fridays Gogglebox for more.

[Doofus]

Evoluzione said:

This was covered on telly last week, watch last Fridays Gogglebox for more.

Was it Gogglebox, or one of the shows they featured on Gogglebox? If the latter, which one?

[Evoluzione]

Doofus said:

Evoluzione said:

This was covered on telly last week, watch last Fridays Gogglebox for more.

Was it Gogglebox, or one of the shows they featured on Gogglebox? If the latter, which one?

Read it again in the cold light of day, it'll make sense then.

[Doofus]

Evoluzione said:

Doofus said:

Evoluzione said:

This was covered on telly last week, watch last Fridays Gogglebox for more.

Was it Gogglebox, or one of the shows they featured on Gogglebox? If the latter, which one?

Read it again in the cold light of day, it'll make sense then.

Thanks for the patronising reply. Was it people on Gogglebox, or was it a programme that was shown on Gogglebox?

It's ok to not be superior all the fking time.