Hello! I've posted in here about my shepherd Alexus and some training issues we've had, she is doing great! My trouble today is my lab mix Jake. He has been a nervous kinda guy ever since I got him at 6 months, he is now 2 years old. Any loud noise and he would tuck tail & crouch down. I ignored him, did not console him so he would hopefully learn that the loud noises wouldn't eat him. He was doing great! Then we had some bad storms here and he tried to come thru the living room window when some thunder scared him. We started him on alprazolam for storm anxiety. Well then the stupid F5 tornado went thru Joplin. And we had thunderstorms for days after that. He was in his room when it happened, with our other dog Alexus. They sleep in that room, it is their space and he feels safe there. He will go lay down in there when we are watching tv sometimes. We didn't have any house damage aside from a couple of down trees. We did lose power but kept the dogs with their same routine as much as possible. My friend & her parents spent one night in our house with their 2 dogs the night after the storm. All the dogs got along great. But since the storm he won't stop pacing. He paces the length of the living room until I can't stand it anymore & either let the dogs outside or put him in his room. We tried treating him with alprazolam but it didn't help with the pacing. It did used to help with the storm anxiety but now I don't know if it will still help with that. He also will dart out or in any door. When we go outside, he darts. When we bring him in, he darts. Same story when going in or out of his room for bed. Does he have PTSD? I know I am more anxious right now & am not sleeping well & when I do sleep I have nightmares so I'm wondering if dogs can have something similar. What can I do to help him? I had a boxer before with seperation anxiety and she would literally break teeth and tear up walls and anything else she could when she was left alone. I don't want Jake to get like that. Any advice would be great!
