Jazz has issues with three loud noises - thunderstorms, fireworks, and guns. We've been working on de-sensitizing her on this, but the biggest problem arises due to the inability to predict thunderstorms and hunters. Fireworks are relatively easy to prepare for - usually the 4th of July & New Year's Eve. It's easy to dose Jazz with melatonin on those days. Hunting is easier than thunderstorms and I make sure she's dosed on opening & closing weekends. Living in the South means unpredictable thunderstorms. It also means you can have a little bit of thunder everyday.
Last night, we had a loud thunderstorm come through. Jazz crawled up into my bed, just trembling. With most dogs, I'd recommend never to cuddle as it only reinforces the behaviour you are trying to get rid of - but with Jazz, it's different. In about 3 minutes, she'd stopped trembling completely. The thunder was still rolling on and about - she was calmly curled up next to me and didn't jump once. She had no melatonin in her whatsoever. 2.5 years ago - Jazz would have trembled at every roll of thunder and kept trembling for an hour or so after. Now, she trembles at the start - I equate to a human jumping at being startled, but then she calms down. She calms quicker if I am home, but as long as there is a human in the house - she's good. Luckily for her, she is very rarely left alone.
She slept the entire night curled up next to me - a rarity of sorts. She tends to start off adjacent to me and move to the foot of the bed or onto her ottoman. While my desensitization to loud stimuli isn't complete, we have definitely made improvements!
