Question: My daschund is a 12 yr old male mini. Recently he has begun to go into my closet and chew shoe boxes and throw the shoes around the room. He also attacked and chewed some boks on the lower shelf of a book case. I believe these attacks take place during thunder and ligthning storms when I am at work. He is alone a lot.

He also seems to have frequent failure of house training. How do I handle these 2 problems. I really care about my pet and have been a good pet owner. I cannot help the fact that I work. Oh, and whenever the bathroom door is ajar he goes in, knocks over the watebasket and chews the contents of the basket and throws the waste out in the hall.

Please help.+

Answer: Thank you for your email. If these incidents are happening during thunderstorms that the storms are most likely the cause of your dogs anxiety. Thunderstorm phobia is not just misbehavior on the part of the dog but rather a response to a deep rooted fear.

I cannot give you the answers on how to treat this anxiety because it is too complicated to write in an email and you will need actual guidance from a qualified behavior consultant. A good consultant will most likely do some desensitization and counterconditioning which basically means you teach the dog not to be afraid of the thunderstorms. Many dogs also benefit from drug therapy for serious phobias.

A couple of recommendations:

First, I would take your dog in for a full medical evaluation. Sudden, out of the blue behavior issues, particularly in a 12 year old dog can be a real red flag. I would definitely want to rule out a medical issue.

Second, I would like you to go onto the www.iaabc.org website. This is the website of the International Association of Animal Behavior Counselors and try to find a qualified consultant to work with. You might also try the www.apdt.com website which is for the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, just make sure that the consultant you choose is experienced in dealing with phobias and anxieties.

I would also urge you to check out the anxiety wrap (www.anxietywrap.com). The anxiety wrap is a wrap for dogs that are fearful of thunderstorms. They help many dogs cope with thunderstorm phobias. You might also try some other holistic rememdies such as Rescue Rememdy or a DAP (dog appeasing pheromone) diffuser. I have used the DAP diffuser and had a lot of success with it.

I would guess that the housetraining issue is related either to a health/age issue or to the thunderstorm phobia, so that will likely improve either with medical treatment or treatment of the phobia.

Finally, please know that this is not your dogs fault (or your fault), it is a fear response and won't go away without some type of treatment.