A Problem With Thunderstorms And Sundance

Since he was born, Sundance has been different.  His mom, K.C., chose him as her favorite right from the start.

At barely three weeks of age and toothless, he was escaping from the whelping box to steal his mom's cookie snacks and then would toddle to the other end of the house to be with me. Determination is Sundance's middle name.

I could go on about what a wonderful dog he is, but the one problem with Sundance is his barking and screaming on certain occasions.   It first started when he wanted to be in the house with me all the time instead of outdoors in the fresh air playing with the other dogs in their fenced yards, or sleeping in the heated/air conditioned kennel building attached to the house.  Staying indoors during the day and sleeping in the house at night are options given to the older dogs.  But Sundance loves to be with me, he loves food and I eat all day so it's a match made in heaven.  Yes, I'm a bad mommy - I share some of my food with the dogs, but I ask for something in return.

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 So some time ago I communicated with Sundance about his needs and mine and we came to a mutual agreement. Every night, one our 12 dogs gets a turn being inside for individual attention and the deal is if Sundance stays quiet in his kennel when it's NOT his time or his turn, then he can be inside during the day.  This worked out reasonably well until recently.

We've been having severe thunderstorms for about 2 weeks now.  Sundance is terrified of thunderstorms and starts barking and screaming at the top of his lungs about 45 minutes before they actually arrive.  Inside with us, he quiets and calms, so we let him in.  But over the past week, he's been acting this way in between thunderstorms and we think he's been crying wolf, and taking advantage.  We and the other dogs are all being affected.  Ignoring a screaming dog isn't an option.  After unsuccessfully trying natural remedies, I've been having fantasies about unnatural ones. So I needed to communicate with him telepathically which I finally did this morning after being somewhat more rested and calm enough to do so.  I'll post the communication I had with Sundance tomorrow and hopefully will see some results tonight as the weather this week is supposed to cooperate and be perfect.