Said It Here

How to help a pet terrified of thunder and loud noises

Pets with severe anxiety shake and hide in corners or flee the room entirely during loud events like storms. This leaves owners helpless and distressed, unable to comfort them or reduce their fear.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Making a safe space with a kiddie pop-up tent and blankets to drown out noise
  2. 2
    Providing dark quiet places like a blanket closet to hide in
  3. 3
    Leaving the guitar lying around the room to spark curiosity
  4. 4
    Trying to use treats or food rewards to get the dog's attention near the object
  5. 5
    Playing calm music to get the dog used to sounds

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/cats1 person · September 2026

“I found my Gemma bean hiding in the corner during a storm. I let her enjoy dinner time in a place she felt safe, but I hate seeing her shake :(”source ↗

Glum-Blueberry-3870 · r/cats · 11 upvotes
r/dogs1 person · September 2026

“My dog (almost 2-yo German Shepherd, let's call her N) has always been a bit scared of things, I tried my best to desensitized her from a lot of things while she was a puppy but she runs away - literally leaves the room if she sees a guitar around - immediately and doesn't return unless I put it away.”source ↗

“And I think that is when this whole thing started, although I'm not so sure, since again, N has always been a bit scared of crazy stuff.”source ↗

“But anyways, I've been trying to leave the guitar around, just to strike N's curiosity and maybe approach when she's ready and comfortable but it's not working.”source ↗

Asleep-Read7655 · r/dogs · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

r/catsr/dogsanimal anxietycatsdog behaviorpet trainingpetsweather

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