Thunderstorms in the spring are a fact of life around here but . . a dog that flips out with even the most distant thunder . . that’s about to get the best of me.
Last night, right on schedule – 4:30 a.m. – Rita heard thunder in the distance and she was immediately in a panic. I got up and tried to keep her calm enough that Vince could finish sleeping but nope, that wasn’t going to happen. He was sure he could take her to bed and get her to calm down but nope, that wasn’t going to happen either.
A friend had suggested a cat cube and I got one of those and Rita likes to sleep in it sometimes but she wanted no part of it last night. We’ve tried the doggie xanax and that made things worse. We tried benadryl which did nothing. Someone suggested Dramamine so I have a call in to the vet now to see what he says about that idea.
Last night I kept trying to get her to lay down — either in her own bed on the sofa, or in the cat cube, or sometimes she likes her small bed on the floor next to me. No . . she wanted to run through the house in a panic. Finally, she decided to curl up in Speck’s bed.
Rita in Speck’s Bed
Poor, old Speck. He was so confused. Someone else was sleeping in his bed. He kept standing there looking at her, and trying to figure out what to do. I think Rita would have been comforted if Speck had gotten in the bed with her but he’s afraid of her and keeps his distance and didn’t want any part of snuggling with her in his bed. I finally convinced Speck to go back to the bedroom and get in his bed in there.
When the alarm went off at 5:45 and Vince got up . . I went back to bed. The weather was calming down and so was Rita. Even when she’s in her worst panic, I can still sleep through it but Vince can’t. And, if I close the bedroom door, and I go to bed and leave her in the rest of the house, I’m afraid she’ll scratch up the door. Maybe tonight I’ll put some boxes in front of the door so she can’t scratch the door; Vince and I will both go to bed with earplugs and let Rita sort it all out on her own! You know what will happen . . we’ll forget about the boxes and break our neck when we wake up in the morning and try to go out the door with boxes in front of the door.
Who would think that two little dogs could cause so much frustration . . for the humans and for each other?
Thunder – Accuweather.com
We’re scheduled to get thunder at midnight and again at 2 a.m. I think I’m going to take a nap this afternoon and then if I have to be up half the night with Rita, maybe I can sit and knit without being so sleepy.
There was a time . . pre-Rita . . when I looked at the weather to plan my day around the storms. Now, I’m trying to plan my days and my nights!
We moved here in 2011 in the midst of a horrible drought so I have no idea what’s “normal” or if there is such a thing any more but we have rain in our forecast today, tomorrow and Friday; no rain on Sunday, then thunderstorms again Monday through Saturday, no rain the next Sunday, then thunderstorms again for the next three days and I’m afraid to look any farther than that.
By July and August, no doubt, we’ll be beginning for rain and we’re so happy to have lots of rain in June. It just seems weird after our first few years here being so dry.
Jackie says
Luckily for me my dog (Clancy) isn’t affected by thunder but fireworks are another thing. He barks and runs around like a lunatic, and unfortunately there is a green space behind our house so everyone uses that area for their fireworks. Daytime naps are the only way I can get through the night as there are some fools around here who do their fireworks until the wee hours, I guess they need it to be really dark.
Theresa says
One of the theories about dogs and thundershowers is that it’s the build up of static in the air that freaks them out. They sell grounding mats for humans to sleep on, or grounding mats for working on electronics. Maybe make her a bed in the cat condo that lets her sleep without static?
Carolyn says
I would almost bet that baby had to be outside as a little one and probably in storms. I use to always tell Yoda, my chihuahua, the day we were suppose to have storms that they were coming in. It went like this….Yoda, it suppose to be stormy tonight, but remember Mom is here and everything is going to be fine. I went through the same thing with fireworks. What you have working against you is the life she previously had. Yes, I know you take care of her, but she still remembers from long ago. Bless her heart and your hrs too.
Teresa F. says
I often wonder how Rita survived by herself in the woods when there were bad thunderstorms before Vince caught and adopted her. She must have found a way to calm herself then and there she would have been right out in the weather. Too bad she can’t tell you about that. 🙂
JudyL says
We found her the end of September and it was the first of October when Vince caught her so hopefully, she was only out a few weeks or months and during about July – November we get very little rain . . in fact, sometimes, we get none. Hopefully she wasn’t out in a storm but I’m betting at some point in her life, she’s had bad experiences with storms.
Dianne Smith says
Cinder woke us up last night around midnight and the thunder was NOT close at all. When she jumped up, I was like what is wrong with you…I looked at the radar and yep, there was a storm heading our way but was NOT CLOSE enough for us to even see the lightning!! I was like REALLY!!! i expected storms this afternoon and it looks like it has missed us and fallen apart… At this rate we both could just chat/text or just call each other since our dogs seem to keep us awake during storms….
Rebecca in SoCal says
Normal: we’re getting “May gray” (clouds, no rain), but my friends are saying no way are they going to complain, since it’s finally NORMAL.
I just hope you don’t get another hailstorm on your tender, recovering garden!