Our back fence borders a city park. A couple months ago there was some sort of “festival” going on, and there were a number of impressively gigantic kites beginf flown on the lawn. Our dogs were *not *happy with the strange winged beasts and their ominous flapping noises.
One afternoon, when I was very young, on the fourth of July, I went down to my room (in the basement) with a snack and started eating and reading. A few seconds later, a nose popped out from under the dust ruffle. Not the whole dog - that was too scary.
Of course, she got her part of the snack (I was young. “Don’t feed the dog people food” had not quite kicked in), and then went back under the bed once the fireworks started up again.
Loud noises, and things that vaguely looked like they’d make loud noises, freaked her out.
Border Collie/Springer Spaniel-mix owner checking in. We live in VA, but if a storm blows up over Oklahoma somewhere we know about it. She’s better than a barometer.
“Hmmm…Camille’s shivering and crawling under the door - storm must be brewing in the Midwest.”
None of mine are scared of storms, but Ernie will howl like all get-out if you accidently leave the alarm on the alarm clock beeping. It’s hilarious!
I have to dope my Jasmine if we’re expecting any kind of major storm, fireworks, or having a party. She gets a tranquilizer that juuuuust takes the edge off enough she’s not shivering and shaking the whole time. Bug isn’t terrified of anything, that I can tell, though she doesn’t like storms and would prefer to be near a person during one.
My neighbor’s dog can’t stand the sound the microwave makes to signal “done”. Even tho sometimes it means her food is ready. (?)
An old dog of mine, Max used to hate thunderstorms as well. He’d hop into the tub, or if it was night, he’d sit on your head and shiver like a leaf.
Yeah…a German Shepherd…on your head…panting and shivering…bad nights indeed.
What kind of dog, Rich?
Our Chow Chow, Bear, isn’t scared of ANYTHING (even Daddy and he should FEAR DADDY 
) but that. There is just no consoling him - that actually makes it worse. We just have to take care of the alarm battery and wait for the clinginess and tremors to pass.
A few months ago he would freak out, crying and pacing and whining whenever our female neighbor dropped over, which is usually daily. We finally found out she had a new cell phone and it was on vibrate. Or so we guessed, as Bear, just mellowed out after a few weeks of nightly fits. The vet was clueless (no offense meant Vetbridge! 
).
Bam Bam, our 8 month old English Mastiff heard me on the exercise bike for the first time this morning and wouldn’t stop bwoofing. He couldn’t figure out where the noise was coming from. I just don’t see how he and I and the bike will fit in our spare room, but I’ll find out tomorrow!
One of the dogs in the shelter for which I volunteer freaks out so badly during storms that she has to be sedated each time one approaches. This started after the time she literally chewed and thrashed through her steel mesh kennel, tearing up her face, and running around the shelter, splattering blood everywhere all night long and freaking out all the other dogs. I’m told it was like a crime scene when the volunteers arrived the next morning.
Our neighbors had a Siberian Husky - a BIG Siberian Husky, namd of ‘Bandit’ - that was deathly afraid of thunderstorms. Storm comes, and he would run to his ‘daddy’s’ room in fear.
One summer we were watching him, as his owners were out of town. I was sleeping on our back porch, and there was a thunderstorm. Bandit got out of his house, out of the fenced in back yard, and ran to our house (two doors down). I heard him at the porch door, and let him in.
Unfortunately, the door to the house was ALSO open, so he ran past me and jumped into my dad’s bed for comfort. Quite a thing to wake up to - a wet, frightened, HUGE Siberian Husky STANDING on you.
My dad’s reaction was basically “Dammit, Bandit!”
That happened to our poor Rusty, too – he was at the vet to have a tumor removed, and the asshole senior vet completely ignored the statement written by the young vet who normally took care of him in all caps on the front page of his medical records, “SCARED OF STORMS – INJURES HIMSELF,” and left him locked up in the back completely unattended during a storm while he ate lunch. By the time they found him, he’d managed to tear out three of his claws by the roots and knock half his bottom front teeth out. :eek: 
They insisted they’d only left him alone for “15 seconds.” Yeah, right, sure!
Needless to say, he did NOT stay for his surgery there; we had it done the next month after we moved.
And he also ran off during a storm – squeezed under a gate reinforced with a 2x4 to stop him doing just that, with a cement walk underneath the barely 3" gap, and by the time he was found and they called me, he’d made it a mile and a half away. :eek: I still have NO idea how he could have flattened himself out that much; he is not a small dog!
Our Malmute mix Cheyenne had loud noise issues. Terrified of storms and firecrackers. The vet gave us some tranquilizers: the instructions stated we were to give her a pill two hours before a storm. :dubious: How are we supposed to know within hours of a storm? Even the weather person isn’t that good.
They helped for a while – actually, just zoned her out. Dad discovered that ANY pill would have the same calming effect. (Apparently the placebo effect works on dogs too.) So for every storm, Cheyenne got an aspirin. She’d actually beg for her “pill.”
Joplin sleeps through storms unless the thunder gets really close. That might rouse him enough to turn over and fart. He gets concerned about computer sounds, though – the oh-oh .WAV sets him aquivering.
That’s awful, is he ok now? Did the vet compensate you in any way? Beautiful dog, by the way.