Dogs & Storms: How My 5 Airedales Handle Bad Weather (and What Actually Helps)

Last year, a tornado touched down near our home.

It was early morning. I woke up to a tornado warning on my phone. My dogs already knew something was up — and nothing felt right.

Hudson, Erwitt, Prayerie, Fleetwood, and Daisy were all on edge. 😬

I got downstairs with the news on. The Airedales were right — we were not only under a tornado warning, we were in the potential path. 🌪️ By that point, my dogs had completely lost their minds. Honestly, I had too. I was trying to calm and corral five anxious Airedales while also watching storm updates.

The path shifted, and we were all okay. But the effects on the dogs lasted hours afterward — like their nervous systems were on overload and needed time to unwind.

I've lived in New York, Rhode Island, Washington DC, Florida, and Texas. My dogs and I have been through blizzards, hurricanes, tropical storms, and the kind of severe weather Florida and Texas are known for — when the air gets thick and still, the sky changes color, the pressure drops, and then the wind whips up.

Storm anxiety in dogs is real, and every dog experiences it differently.

Why Dogs Sense Storms So Acutely

Here's something that changed how I think about storm anxiety in dogs: they don't just experience storms through sound.

Dogs experience storms through:

• Barometric pressure changes

• Static electricity in the air

• Ground vibration

• Atmospheric shifts that happen well before the storm arrives

Dogs also hear lower sound frequencies than humans, which means they may sense a storm coming long before we do. What feels like "weather" to us can feel like full sensory overload to them.

This is also why not all storms trigger the same response. A snowstorm develops slowly — gradual pressure changes, sound dampened by snow, little electrical activity. My Airedales are calm during those and can't wait to play outside afterward. A thunderstorm or tornado is a completely different experience: sudden pressure drops, intense electrical charge, loud and unpredictable noise.

How Each of My Dogs Reacts

Hudson

Cool as a cucumber. A storm has to be genuinely severe to ruffle his feathers. is cool as a cucumber. A storm needs to be severe to ruffle his feathers.

Erwitt

Loves a light rain he can sit outside and enjoy. Anything heavier? Thunder coat goes on.

Prayerie

As you can imagine, does not want to get her salon hair wet. 💅 She's my most anxious dog during heavy thunder and has a matching thunder coat.

Fleetwood

Completely unphased — too busy helping the weather experts track barometric pressure to be concerned. Even in a weather emergency, he likes to stay productive.

Daisy

Very composed. She'll sit outside in the rain and observe. If it gets too heavy, she comes inside, makes herself comfortable, and waits it out. Just like her human mom. 😉

Our Storm Management System

After years of managing storms with multiple dogs, here's what actually works in our house:

• Every dog has their own crate — a crate is a great safe space, and a familiar one helps a lot during anxiety

• All five dogs have thunder coats, including the calm ones — I find it helps as a precautionary measure even if some dogs don't strictly need it

• We have medication available for extreme events — not my first choice, but it's helped us get through a few hurricanes. (Always ask your vet, not me, about this one!)

• I stay calm — dogs read our energy, and the more composed I can be, the better they do

Bad weather happens, usually at the worst possible time. The best thing you can do is have a plan before you need it — because when a tornado warning goes off at 6am, you don't want to be figuring it out on the spot.

It's storm season now. We're prepared, calm, and ready to evacuate if need be. 😂

-Kim Opdyke

💗