- Use music to help soothe your dog.
- Experiment with using scents.
- Change the focus.
- Break out the doggy massage.
- Consider a Thundershirt or similar garment.
Why Is My Dog Scared of Wind?
Do you have a phobia? Some people are terrified of snakes. Others cannot stand to be around spiders and they don’t care if their eight-legged visitors are considered harmless.
Other common phobias in people include a fear of heights, the darkness, and speaking in public.
Phobias often aren’t rational. You just know that you are afraid of something and no amount of rationalizing can cause you to feel differently.
Interestingly, phobias are not limited to humans. Other members of the animal kingdom can also develop phobias of their own. Dogs happen to be among those animals.
If you noticed that your canine companion seems to get startled whenever a strong gust of wind blows nearby, there’s a chance that they have a wind phobia. Your dog may not even need to feel the wind to suddenly get spooked. The mere sound of the wind swirling nearby may be enough to cause your pet to cower behind you.
Dogs can develop phobias to all kinds of things. Wind phobias just happen to be fairly common among dogs due to exposure.
Best of luck with the blustery days ahead and lets hope your dog is not affected. Exercise and walking helps keep minds off the challenges, so be sure to hire a professional dog walker to help combat the issue. By
As a professional pet sitter, we come across all sorts of challenges in our service areas from Kenosha to Brookfield. Today is one of those special occasions where one of our dogs is feeling deep anxiety over the wind and he’s completely stressed out.
Treatment for phobia of the wind can vary, depending on other components of the phobia (thunder, etc.).
The signs of wind phobia are closely related to thunderstorms and any other weather related challenges. As wind is unpredictable, one can’t give a dog or cat calming aids before the issue, such as Rescue Remedy, Benedryl, Lavender oil, or Pet Acoustics Cubes because it JUST HAPPENS. Its not in the forecast, and with wind can come lots of odd noises-bells ringing, things clanking and clambering and trash cans being strewn about.
Why is My Dog Afraid of the Wind?
I recently had a case of a dog that tried to escape the owners’ house or yard whenever the wind picked up. They live in Marin County, so there are several windy days per year. Any time there was more than a stiff breeze, one of the owners needed to rush home and make sure the dog was safe; usually that meant working from home for the rest of the day. These owners had that luxury – most don’t.
So, how did this happen? As in most cases of phobic responses to the wind, it didn’t start out as a fear of the wind at all. In this case, the dog was afraid of rain/thunderstorms and became very afraid during a recent rain storm. The owners were home and saw him looking for a good place in the house to hide. When he couldn’t find a place that made him feel better, he tried to break out of the house. These fairly savvy owners helped the dog find an interior closet and played white noise for him. Together, they weathered the storm and the dog seemed no worse for the experience… until the next big winds.
The owners were not expecting wind to be a big trigger for their dog, as is never had been before. But, the bad rain storm he experienced had big winds as a component; and the dog had become sensitized to the sounds. And, if you think about it, wind comes with many loud sounds. Beyond the whine and whistle of the wind itself, there are the sounds of garden items falling over, neighbors’ garbage cans rolling down the street, tree branches cracking and falling, and windows shaking during particularly strong gusts.
In this case, the diagnosis was straightforward: Storm phobia with sensitivity to wind. The progression seemed apparent to the owners once it was pointed out: He generalized his fear of thunderstorms to include rain, which always (in California) accompanies thunder. Then, since this rain storm was very windy, he generalized to include wind. Other problems to rule out would be generalized anxiety, noise phobia, and severe attention-seeking behavior. Noise and storm phobia differ from each other in the fact that storms are more than just the sounds that accompany them; some dogs are very sensitive to drops in atmospheric pressure, rapid ionization changes during lightning strikes, and the feel of wind and rain on their bodies. Noise phobic dogs are triggered mainly by the sounds themselves (usually lightning, fireworks, gun shots, and engines).
Treatment for phobia of the wind can vary, depending on other components of the phobia (thunder, etc.). In this case, it consisted mainly of desensitization and counter-conditioning (DS/CC) to the sounds of wind and thunder and medications to aid the process of DS/CC in this scared dog. Other options include relaxation protocols to train a calm response on command, nutraceuticals like l-theanine or a dog appeasing pheromone collar, or a tight wrap made for anxious dogs. The medication selected for this case was fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, to be given every day. For days when wind was expected to be a problem, the dog was also given a benzodiazepine, which is a very potent and fast-acting (but short duration) inhibitor of anxiety; the most common of these in human medicine are Valium and Xanax.
In this case, treatment seems to be going pretty well and the owners are less panicked when they see wind in the weather forecast. If your dog, or one you know, is afraid of wind (or other facets of storms), please seek help from a veterinarian.
FAQ
Can wind make dogs anxious?
Sudden gusts of wind and pressure drops are known to agitate dogs. Your pet might show restlessness and an inability to sit still when they are affected by wind chill. The high winds can also send unfamiliar smells to your dog, which will either make them curious to explore or stressed.
Does strong wind affect dogs?
Does wind affect dogs Behaviour?