HELP! Dog scared of wind

[lolbrador]

We're on night number 3 of no sleep. Big black lab has developed a fear of the wind, but only in the house and not outside.

Pants all night, paws at me, cries, paces. Currently struggling to write this as I have what feels like 20 stone of smelly black lab in my face. Literally on top of my head, he can't get any closer. I've got calmex from the vet but it is making no difference.

I'm praying that someone has a top tip to help me calm the big nugget down?

Tia

[lolbrador]

Anyone? 

[LEMtheoriginal]

Storm vests - tight(ish) fitting vest that "hugs" dogs. Especially if he is craving physical contact.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

Is it all that windy where you are? It's not here!

As this sounds like a sudden change, are you sure DDog isn't in pain?

[poppy196]

We have /had exactly the same problem op .
Dog can be out in the wind no problems at all but if in house he pants , paces and keeps trying to hide .
I have had so many sleepless nights .
When he had been home alone in wind he has knocked things everywhere by trying to escape out of the window 😟
We tried a Thunder vest which I had to chase him round the house to put on so not great and we tried natural sedatives which didn't help .
He's 5 and his started at Christmas.
He's definitely getting better now , he doesn't seem so bothered by the wind not sure why .
He was generally worse at night which started with him wanting to go into the garden but won't come back indoors .
Hopefully your dog will be the same and over time he won't be so bad .

[Scootergrrrl]

Our rescue dog used to go bonkers in the house when it was windy. We bought a crate and covered it with a blanket to make a kind of den then put it in the bit of the house where you could hear the wind the least, which turned out to be the back of the kitchen. I leave the radio on for her and she seems quite happy - we don't shut the crate doors or the kitchen door but she seems to know that she'll be ok there.

[lolbrador]

All good suggestions, I was googling dog dens at 3am so I think an amazon order for that and a storm vest will be happening today. It's definitely not pain as there's other nights where it's calm outside and he's absolutely grand.

We're in the Scottish Borders and the town is right at the top of a hill. We're in for a long winter unless I can find a solution

Thank you

[poppy196]

Hi op thinking of you as meant to be in for a windy night .
How has your darling dog been recently?
I'm on tenterhooks as ours was very bad but seems to have forgotten his fear but still waiting for it to start again , so will be going to bed tonight but not sure if he will start barking during the night .
Ours has a cage with blanket over which is his safe space but in the February storm we had to just sit with him on his lead and coller to keep him close because all he wanted to do was stand and bark and then try and hide but every place he chose was impossible to get to like behind fish tank or tv 🙄
Fingers crossed for you .

[lolbrador]

We ordered him a dog igloo. It's bloody massive as he's a large dog and it takes up half my room but hopefully it's going to be worth it. It was crazy windy here last night and he started his panting and pawing so I put him into his igloo and put two blankets over the top and made sure one of them was covering most of the entrance. It worked, he went back to sleep! He must feel really safe in there.

I bought a cheaper version of the storm shirt and tried it on him but he was doing everything to try and get it off!! It's a good job we love him.

[poppy196]

That's great that he feels safe in his igloo , must be lovely for him . I would love an igloo to lol .
All least you have found a way of calming him so you can all sleep .
We found the same with thunder/storm shirt , I had to chase dog round house to put it on him and by then we were both stressed 😁
Hopefully with time his fear will ease and he will forget that he's scared of wind .

[lolbrador]

Fingers crossed for you too @poppy196  here's to a wind free night

[poppy196]

Thank you @lolbrador Not too bad here at the moment , definitely less windy than it was earlier.
We are down south and not that high up so sheltered from worst of the wind .
I have put duct tape on the letterbox though as wind can make that rattle and start him off .

[Maelstrop]

I think a pp meant thundershirt, not storm! Try the plugin calmer too.

[poppy196]

@Maelstrop have you tried the plug in ? I brought the tablets by same company as better reviews than plug in. But they did sod all 😁
How was last night op ?
All good here , not too windy and letter box taped up so we all slept .
Hope same for you .

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

White noise machine?

I've been recommending these all time with the fireworks going on.

Commiserations, I had a dog once who was terrified of wind.

[poppy196]

@ChardonnaysPrettySister not thought of white noise 🤔we usually put radio on for ours but always unsure if he would prefer radio 2 with music or 4 just talking , maybe white noise is the way forward .
Trouble is with dogs their hearing is so much better than ours .

[ChardonnaysPrettySister]

I usually have a talk radio on for the dogs.

I worry occasionally about the topics they cover though....

[poppy196]

@ChardonnaysPrettySister Ours is only 5 so not sure if some of the Jeremy Vine topics are suitable 😂

[Maelstrop]

@poppy196 no, my lot don’t need it, although one has decided he’s scared to go outside when it’s windy. Apparently fine if going on a walk, tho.

[poppy196]

@Maelstrop Ha Ha mine is like that if it's raining, won't go out in garden for a wee but get his lead out and will go out happily 😁

[europe39]

My dog just recently starting to being afraid of the wind...inside the house. He was on pain meds when this started and I decided to stop giving them because one of the side effects could be neurological and/or behavior change. I hope once all the medical residue is flushed out he will be back to normal. In the mean time I turned on a sound machine to help him relax....seems to work at the moment. In case you don't have a sound machine you can go on YouTube and search for relaxing music for dogs....there is a lot!! Hope this helps.

[qensita]

My Maltese hides under the sofa throughout the day when it's windy but night time we have huge problems. She sleeps on my bed and claws me, pants, tries to get under the duvet....its a nightmare. I end up sitting up all night with her. I've tried plugins, various calming tablets, lavender oil on the pillow, classical music on the radio........nothing works. I'm exhausted.

[qensita]

She also has a thunder jacket