How To Get Your Dog Used To Thunder and Loud Noises

Thunder storms can be a very harrowing experience for dogs. The sudden onset of loud claps of thunder and lightning tend to freak dogs out. Generally, their flight instinct will kick in and they can often escape the confines of the yard or house in an attempt to escape the frightful experience.

Prevention Is Better Than The Cure

If you have a new dog or puppy, introducing thunder and loud noises as part of a socialising program is ideal. Below are some steps you can do to introduce your dog to loud noises.

1. Whilst playing with your puppy, have another house member bang on a saucepan in another room. If the dog is startled, ignore that behaviour and attempt to give them attention to distract them. Make the introduction of the loud noises a positive experience.

2. At the next session, move the noise closer and closer until you are making the noise in the same room. Even use food and rewards to give the dog a positive experience of the sound.

3. If the dog acts startled or shows fear, do not reinforce this behaviour or try to reassure it, just lessen the noise and continue as if nothing is happening, try to make you and the play/rewards really really fun.

4. Eventually, you should be able to drop pans and all sorts of things beside the dog without them flinching. As far as the thunder goes, there are cd’s and digital recordings of thunder everywhere that can be purchased. Expose the dog or puppy to the replays of the thunder the same as you would introduce the loud banging noises of pots and pans.

5. Another great place to expose dogs to loud noises is beside roads and cars driving past. Start in a suburban street and just let cars drive by. The fast motion and noise should intrigue the dog but not be too overwhelming to scare it. Again make the experience positive and fun.

6. Increase the exposure to the side of busy roads over time. These roads will have a multitude of vehicles, trucks and motorbikes that will expose your dog to the different tones of vehicles.

It won’t be long before your dog is taking all of these things in its stride. Desensitizing to loud noises should be part of a dog’s socialising program from the get go. Like in all dog training, addressing possible problems before the arise is a much better way to own a dog than dealing with the problem after it exists.

For dogs that already have a fear of loud noises, use the same exposure program. You may have to take things quite slow and let the dog’s reaction dictate as to how fast you expose them to the louder noises.

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