If your husky gets afraid of thunder and lightning, this post will show you why and what you can do about it.
So, why is my husky afraid of thunder and lightning? Possible reasons are that it is due to its sensitive hearing, it senses a change in the air pressure or that you become anxious yourself.
There are a number of things that you can consider that will help you in figuring out the exact reason that your husky does it. Depending on the cause, there are also a number of things that you can do about it.
Why your husky is afraid of thunder and lightning
Each of the different reasons that your husky gets afraid will likely come with some clues. Below, I will show you a number of reasons why it might get afraid and what would make them more likely.
You become anxious yourself
Huskies were bred to work alongside their owners as working dogs and they would spend many hours per day with their owners. As a result of this, they can be highly aware of how their owners are feeling. The reason your husky gets afraid when there is thunder and lightning could be that you get anxious yourself.
Sensitive hearing
Huskies have much more sensitive hearing than we do, the reason that it gets afraid could be that it hears the noises much more loudly or possibly that it can hear noises that we can’t.
In this case, you could try to reduce the loudness for it by letting it go in a room where the thunder is harder to hear. You could also close the blinds on windows so that the lightning is less noticeable.
A change in air pressure
The reason that your husky gets afraid might be that the change in the air pressure causes is to become anxious. This is because it will warn it that there is a storm on the way and it might hear the low-frequency noises of the thunder as it approaches (source).
If your husky starts to act differently before the thunder and lightning has even arrived, a change in the air pressure could be the reason why.
It triggers a fight or flight response
The reason that it gets afraid could be that it triggers a fight or flight response in your husky. This could happen due to the loud noises from the thunder and the flashes of lightning.
How to get your husky to be less afraid of thunder and lightning
Below are some things that you can do about your husky being afraid of thunder and lightning.
Crate training
Crate training is where you train your husky to learn to go stay in a crate in certain situations. When done right crate training can give your husky a place to go to in order to feel more secure. This would allow your husky to have a place to go to when the thunder and lightning is causing it to feel insecure.
You can watch the video below to see more on how you can crate train your husky.
Give it distractions
Another option you have would be to give it things to be distracted with when the thunder is around. By doing so you will be able to reduce how much it is focusing on the thunder which should reduce how anxious it gets. Things that you could give it would include toys, chews or bones.
Desensitize it to the sound of thunder
Another option would be to get it to associate thunder with rewards. To do this you could play noises of thunder quietly when you are playing with it so that it learns to associate thunder with playing.