There is a huge advantage to having a bird dog, loud noises are exciting. We had some serious storms last night and this morning. Tornado warnings all over the place including our town, a mere 6 miles away. Thankfully all we got was crazy clouds, wind, and lots and lots of rain. Some dogs would be freaking out, drooling, hiding under the bed, whining etc… ours…?
The only reason he is not completely on his back is because he saw me get up and had to see what I was doing. And Luna…
curled up under a blanket oblivious to the world. And before I got the camera she was sprawled out under the blanket.
When these two hear a loud noise, gunshot, fireworks they get excited and run to the door. And if you happen to be going outside after said noise you may as well crate them so they aren’t barking (sometimes screaming) at the door. I highly doubt had we not introduced them to birds/hunting that they would be this happy around loud noises. I am not an expert when it comes to the reasons behind storm phobias in dogs but I do know an advantage when I see one.. and to me in many ways the advantage is almost enough reason to stick with hunting dogs.
Are your dogs afraid of storms? Do you have any special routines to help them cope?
Vizsla Inspiration 
The only time Thunder seems to notice is when there is excessive lightening. He will usually just wake up up to make sure we see it. But otherwise, Thunder and Storm are oblivious.
Luna looks so snuggly! Wyatt looks comfy!
Yeah ours don’t even seem to notice lightening though most windows are covered. And for how much Luna barks at random noises she has never barked about thunder. I’m glad your pups don’t mind the weather, maybe the names helped?
Luna loves to be covered in blankets, though is usually lazy about doing it herself so if she’s covered up it’s probably due to me helping her out. Wyatt is comfy all the time lol, actually caught him on his back in the crate today, it must be getting warm as that’s a first.
Anna
Funny you wrote about this. Charlie has never had storm phobia. We lived with a roommate who’s dog was phobic for over a year and nothing, Charlie was always fine. For some odd reason in the past year he’s become worried about very loud thunderclaps. Though I’ll admit that the ones he barks at are the ones that make me jump. Emma probably wouldn’t notice if lightning hit an inch from her nose, but she’s SUPER sensitive to guns and freaks out when she just sees/smells one, so she may actually be gun shy (she’s never been around a gun going off in my presence). I think storm phobia in dogs is as much about the change in air pressure as the sound of thunder claps.
Interesting… maybe charlie’s reactions now are simply age related. I know our family dogs used to sleep out in storms and not care (huskies for you) but then went through a phase where they would fight with eachother to get out of the rain… I said it was old age… sure enough they must have reached the stage of age where they just don’t care anymore as things are calm with them again. Isn’t it strange how some dogs react to some loud noises but not others. I heard of a dog that was severly gun shy and it turns out he had a 22 bullet in his head (makes sense then huh). Why is it though that some react to the change in air pressure and others don’t? I would consider Luna a sensitive dog, not in a bad way but in that she is very aware of her environment (still stubborn about quite a bit) but has never been bothered by weather. Wish we could just ask them.
Thanks for sharing your experiences
A