DOG DRAMA: If you have one of those pooches who gets hysterical
during a thunderstorm, help is on the way.
We got some information the other day from Penn State about a
study of this phenomenon and what is being done to provide
assistance to these crazed canines.
Over the 13 years that veterinarian Nancy Dreschel was in
private practice, she saw a lot of dogs that were severely
frightened by thunder and lightning storms. So when she got the
opportunity in 2003 to conduct research on what might be done to
help those animals, she jumped at it.
“They can really freak out,” said the instructor in the
Department of Dairy and Animal Science, College of Agricultural
Sciences. “Some pace the floors nervously, while others will hide
or chew the woodwork. I even had one patient crash through a closed
second-story window in total panic.”
Early on, the researcher tested dogs’ saliva for a hormone
called cortisol discovering the level increased tremendously during
storms and stayed high for a long time after.
Although the study was small — involving fewer than two dozen
dogs — her early efforts received a lot of attention, even meriting
a 2005 story in the New York Times.
“I think many people could identify with the study because so
many of us have encountered or owned dogs that are really bothered
by storms,” she said. Some 15-30 percent of pet dogs have
“thunderstorm anxiety.”
Nancy’s early work revealed one interesting conclusion: Dogs
that were around other dogs seemed to be less stressed
physiologically by thunder and lightning storms, and the stress
didn’t last as long after the storms were over.”
Nancy is now investigating ways to reduce stress suffered by
dogs that fear storms, including a possible use of aromatic
compounds.
The most promising substance being tested is called —
appropriately — dog-appeasing pheromone, which is emitted from the
cleft between the mammary glands of mother dogs and is thought to
have the effect of soothing puppies. Results are expected within a
year or so.
No word yet on how to help the harried dog owner.
