It was a dark and stormy night... no seriously, it was. This was exactely the type of night that we dreaded. Spike, our dog, had a fear of thunderstorms and this was culminating into a disaster. It started off well - we were all in the living room watching American Idol. That was when we heard it: a boom of thunder in this distance. That was all it took to send Spike into a flury. He hated this weather. There was a constant pouring of slobber from his mouth, he could not stay still, and he started barking at every little sound. We knew that we were in for a rough night.
Training an older dog is neven an easy task. Obedience training for dogs can be a tricky achievement, and training older dogs is even more challening. After the thunder-filled night of American Idol, we knew we had to do something. We asked all around looking for some sort of way to get Spike under control. We tried personal trainers, famous tv trainers, and just about every single recommdentation that you could possibly think of.
We then got lucky. We found some tips on a website for training an older dog that actually worked. The most important thing was to find a place, inside the house, that we could associate with a quiet "safe-room". We spent a lot of time with Spike in there during normal, perfect weather. We played with him in there, fed him in there, and even let him sleep in there. This way, when the storms would start, we would go in there with him.
