Monday, June 8, 2020

Mischief Monday - Fear Shared

As you all know, Hailey has some pretty severe anxiety, that in the past has resulted in her being medicated. Currently, while we are home 99% of the time, she is not being medicated. We had a thunderstorm Friday night (she gets an 7.5/10 with how she did, she did have a moment where she was scratching the door to get me out of bed, even though Man was up) and Saturday afternoon we had another one (also an 8/10). She tends to be pace, she will bark a few times, but she is not causing damage. 



While her anxiety has always been big and noticeable, our boy has slowly learned to be afraid from her. He is just afraid in a much quieter way. He has never liked the vacuum or the power going out. Now he doesn't like thunder storms or the Man leaving. 



On Thursday, the Man took the morning off to go to Costco. He was gone for about 3 hours. Phod tried to hid in the corner of my office. Clearly he was very upset. During the storms, he wanted to be with us or hiding in a corner. Those of us who know him, know he is stressed, but others may not notice.

It had been suggested we try playing the storm sounds to help desensitize Lee to them. Now that we have a fancy new sound system, we gave it a try. Hailey initially looked up, thought about it, realized it was not real and went back to sleep. Phod was the one who was stressed. He looked for comfort and was very alert. Now it could be that he just doesn't like the stereo either!

At any rate, we now have 1 very anxious dog and 1 sort of anxious dog. It is like the fear is shared between the 2 dogs instead of just being trapped in 1!



15 comments:

  1. we are so sorry that the evil thunderstorms cause such fears... we wish the fears would be less if shared but it seems that will not work like logic math...

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  2. Hari OM
    ...does this work like a problem shared, halving it? Maybe that's okay... or maybe not. I feel for you having to watch that. Pets simply cannot be comforted the way kids can. YAM xx

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  3. Dilly-Dog also hates storms. We had an all-nighter recently. I was the only one who got any sleep, but then, as the saying goes, I'm "deaf in one ear and hear out of the other."
    Sometimes that has its good points.

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  4. We're sorry about your doggies' fear of storms. We've had a few storms lately, but not bad enough to be scary.

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  5. I wish I had a solution. I too am quite uncomfortable with a storm and it is for sure something I learned from my Annie Ma (maternal Gma).
    Hugs my sweet furry friends
    Cecilia

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  6. I hate storms too so I totally understand, Hailey and Phod.

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  7. I'm afraid my solution of moving to a place where thunderstorms are very rare (Aberdeen, Scotland for example) will not be practical. Wish I had a better suggestion for reducing Hailey's (and Phod's) anxieties, but as I don't, please just give them both a belly rub from me.
    Cheers, Gail.

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  8. Maybe try it again at a lower volume? Poor buddy. Storm anxiety is heartbreaking to witness in sweet dogs.

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  9. YOur house sounds like ours. Lightning has always been a fearful dog, and now we see small signs of anxiety developing in Timber:(

    Hope the stereo can do the trick in conditioning Hailey.

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  10. So many dogs hate storms. It's sad to see them so upset. Hopefully, they'll learn the calming effect of the music.

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  11. We're sorry to hear Phod is learning some of Hailey's fears on top of the one's he already has. Our mom says his ears really give away his anxiety since they are in a more pinned back position than a relaxed upright one.

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  12. We are hoping that Phod's fears lessen or controlled...

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  13. My Lilly, whom I lost last year, was terrified of storms the older she got. Was it learned from one of the pugs we had? She finally got so she would hide when they happened. (I dreaded them). The only one I have now who ever shows anxiety is Fritz, my diabetic, and I have noticed she begins to pant heavily when one happens. We are expecting some this afternoon, we will see what happens.

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  14. I think it must be nice to have a buddy to share fear with. Seems like it makes it less fear all around. Mom will not share fears with me. When I was afraid of the fire extinguisher in the hallway of my building, she just fearlessly picked me up like a sack of potatoes and carried me past it. After a while, I forgot to be afraid so she forgot to carry me. I'm on my own here...

    Love and licks,
    Cupcake

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  15. Hi,

    Great article! Is that all settled?

    Regards,
    Wajos

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