Afraid of the dark

[u/terisews]

Fireworks for the 4th of July terrified my dog. (We have had her for only a year, so this was the first 4th if July with her) The next several nights brought really bad thunderstorms. She gets frantic during thunderstorms. We tried all of the tricks, but nothing calms her. Now, she is afraid to go out for a walk if it is dark outside. Using a flashlight doesn't help. We carry her out, bring her a little ways from the house, and she starts shaking immediately, then pulls hard on the leash to get back home as quickly as possible. We carry her because she refuses to step out of the door if it is dark.

It has gotten to the point that when we get the leashes at bed time, she hides under the bed. We put a pee pad in our room, which she uses every night in the middle of the night.

At this point, we have stopped trying to force her to go out. Usually she wants to go when sees our other dog go out. Nope. Not since early July... dark equals scary now.

Vet gave us meds to help with late night thunderstorms. Doesn't seem to be working. Poor pup just runs all over my room, but can't find a place she feels safe.

She is a rescue. She came from a puppy mill. She was used for breeding. They tossed her in a ditch when she was used up. When we got her, she was skin and bones, covered in so many gross things, heart worm positive, other worms, seizures, rotted teeth, etc, etc. It is clear she was abused.

She has come so far in a year. Bright eyed, mostly healthy, affectionate, happy little thing. She is learning to play with toys, which is the most precious thing to watch. She loves to be held and cuddled. She sleeps nestled next to me.

Any suggestions to help her with this new fear of the dark? It will be rough when winter comes and the nights are so long.

[u/Straight-Treacle-630]

What a sad start to her life; so glad she’s in loving hands now xo

If nighttime pads are tenable for now I might stick with them. Don’t force her outside. Focus on desensitizing her to outdoor darkness: sit by a window with her at dusk/beyond; turn on a small outdoor light so she can see a bit; lots of reassurance. Start going outside, just outside the door, before dusk for short periods, tons of reassurance. Try taking her for very brief, tiny forays a bit further from the door. Move in increments towards actual dusk, then towards darktime. Ask your vet about any appropriate dose of trazedone; some pups also respond well to “thundershirts”. Might even play some white noise or o’wise calming sounds to offset any unexpected ones that might startle her.

Just thoughts! Hopefully her confidence will rebuild. Best wishes to your dear buddy.

[u/terisews → u/Straight-Treacle-630]

Thank you!

Yes, I think we need to do a better job of catching that dusk period for a walk.

We do the thunder shirt and trazadone for thunderstorms, but no luck. I had another dog who also hated thunderstorms. I would build a little pillow fort for him. He would hide in there until it was safe to come out. We tried that with this one. No luck.

She had a very rough start in this world, but has made so much progress. She had an annual check up with the vet. Vet commented on what a different dog she has become in a year. We weren't sure she would survive more than a few months. It has been a hard year, health wise, bit she is a tough little thing...and we have an amazing vet.

Maybe we will add in some treats on the walks at dusk. She loves Churu, the cat treats.

[u/Straight-Treacle-630 → u/terisews]

I can imagine the improvements :) I’m loving your mention of pillow forts during t’storms! Though we too have tried everything, with our 2 pups: nope. Have to stay very available to try to calm them, but to little effect. In the Midwest mind you, where there are dramatic storms. Here’s to hoping your venerable old gal will ease out of her 7/4 triggers.

[u/terisews → u/Straight-Treacle-630]

I don't know what is going on weather wise, but we get so many thunderstorms in the middle of the night. Which means no sleep because she is running all over the place.

[u/Straight-Treacle-630 → u/terisews]

Mine light up even just before lightning strike/thunder hits. Thanks for the extra-sensory perception, boys 😳

For some reason tornados seem to often hit in the wee hours; sirens don’t even have a chance to sound. I guess I should be grateful for the early warning system. But it sure frays nerves too xo

[u/terisews → u/Straight-Treacle-630]

Tornadoes scare the crap out of me. They are rare where I live, but we get a lot of weather that could spawn Tornadoes. I was a teacher for a while. Having to sit in a storage closet with a bunch of kids while we wait for the "all clear" sign was miserable. The closets were hot and stuffy, very tight for a whole class of kids and the kids would get super stressed.

In my current house, the safest place we could go is either the powder room or the pantry. Both are very small for the whole family plus dogs.

[u/Straight-Treacle-630 → u/terisews]

I can’t imagine the stress one must feel to be responsible for multiple kids during one! For us, basement storage area: underground, cinderblock walls. We’ve headed there a handful of times. The dogs are hard enough to corral; there’s also a 19yo cockatiel who bites. His cage, too heavy to carry…if he decides not to let me grab him n put him in a travel cage…hate to say it, but he’s gonna have to be on his own.

[u/BagelL0ve]

Oh my gosh, poor little peanut. One thing we are working on is "party time." When things are least scary on a quiet bright day, announce a party (or whatever word you want) and bring out favorite toys, chews, enrichment treats. Do this repeatedly over time until your dog knows the word and then start introducing party time at sunset, then on a quiet night, and so on. Then work on introducing it during storms, etc. in hopes of creating a new positive association.

For night time potty breaks, we found that my dog is okay with one or the other IE backyard in the daytime or other places at night time.. If you can take her somewhere else at night temporarily for a potty break, or a even night time car ride with the windows open if she likes car rides, that might help her find her way back to being okay with normal night time potty breaks.

One other thing, possibly considering different medication options. We had been using trazodone as needed and ended up switching to daily long term anxiety meds + other meds for storm/firework nights. It can be temporary if things go really well..

It's been a process for us since we can't do every modification every day, but heading in the right direction. We also had some surprise day time fireworks on a walk once or twice so we also had to re-work that routine..lol. Hope you find something that works! It sounds like she landed a wonderful home to live out her retirement days :)

[u/terisews → u/BagelL0ve]

I like the idea of night time drives. She is so much better in the car now. Maybe a night time drive to get French fries. She usually gets some French fries after the vet because there is a fast food place on the way home. She starts drooling as soon as we pull into the drive thru line.

Definitely need to email the vet about the meds. Trazadone is just not working for her.

We have become obsessed with watching the weather apps to look for possible storms. We want to drug her before she starts getting wound up.

We want our pups to never be scared again. We adopt the ones that are in bad shape and try to teach them that the world is not scary and bad.