Thunderstorm scare
As some of you might remember, my family adopted a one-and-a-half year old "puppy" from the SPCA a few months back. Back then, she was a hyper but surprisingly sweet angel - no barking, no biting, no aggressive behavior - it was like a miracle. Today, she's a bit more - ahem- comfortable in her surroundings, and we've found that she really does have a voice (but fortunately only uses it when she's trying to protect us). For all of the 45-pounds boxer/lab that she is, Lily seems to think she's a 120-pound St. Bernhard, and when she's tackling the dogs next door or wrestling with my 6-foot brother, her false sense of reality can be pretty entertaining. She's rough, she's tough and she can run for hours.
But she can't handle thunder. Or water. And unfortunately for her, we've pretty much had Noah's Ark these past few days. We don't know what it is, but as crazy and as strong as she is, she absolutely freaks when she hears even the slightest thunder rumble or even when we bring the hose out for bath time. If a storm starts brewing, Lily automatically starts shaking like a leaf right on cue, and burrows her body as close to you as she can. I laugh at this picture (which was totally not staged - she's a natural paw-crosser) because she looks like she's praying to get through the storm. All kidding aside though, it's one of the hard parts about having a rescued dog - wondering what happened to them to make them so scared in such a situation.
Has anyone else had a pet with a problem like this? If so, what can we do to help ease her fear?
--- Molly Hirschbeck
