Re: Behavior -- Spooked and Shivvery

In Reply to: Behavior -- Spooked and Shivvery
Category:   Behavior Problems
Posted by:  Nick
Posted on:  March 27, 2003 at 08:17:31

: Our three-year-old female, who shivvers and gets very quiet during thunderstorms, is sporadically exhibiting the same behavior when there are no storms.

: Most recently, it occurs in the evening and seems to be associated with one room in the house. She appears very spooked by it for no reason we've been able to fathom.

: Any similar stories out there? Thanks for your help.

Response:

Dear Nick,

Dogs are quite capable of associating a person/place/thing with an experience -- be it good or bad. Unfortunately, we don't always know what our dogs consider "bad" so it can be difficult to find out why they are spooked.

However, since your female finds thunderstorms unpleasant, it is likely that something LOUD has happened (and continues to happen) in the room, in the evening. Dealing with this behavior is the same as dealing with thunderstorm fears -- distract her with a game, a chew toy, etc instead of reinforcing the behavior by soothing her. Please use our search engine to read more about this.