Sleep Interrupted

From the way that our evening went last night you would have thought we had a new born in our house. As I sit here now and enjoy a glass of wine I am able to laugh about the series of events, but last night Aaron and I (and the animals too) were beside ourselves.

We learned last week that our little princess Bella is terrified of thunderstorms. Since Willis has never been bothered by thunder or fireworks we were confused when she awoke us around 5 am in what appeared to be a near heartattack/ panic attack. It was very hot in our house that morning (as it always is in the summer without A/C) but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. It wasn't until the next evening that I was home from work and Bella started panting, shaking, tail tucked and she crawled on my lap that I realized, it was thunder and lightening she must be afraid of. I gave her 5mg of Melatonin, a natural sleep aid and she calmed down within 30 minutes.

Ok, fast forward a week. Saturday night there were threats of thunder in the forecast so to prevent another "episode" I gave her another 5mg of Melanin before bed. I have no idea if it actually thundered or not but if so the pill did the trick. Last night they were forecasting thunderstorms, but scattered so I had no idea if it actually would (thunder). I didn't give her any pills- I really don't want to just keep giving her pills if I am not sure if she will need it. Well, this is how the rest of the evening unfolded.

11 pm -all 5 of us in the bed (yes, I said 5 we are dog sitting.)
12:30 am-the panting begins and shakes the bed violently.
12:45 am- there is a light show in our room and Bella is sleeping on my head.
12:50 am -I give Bella 5mg of Melatonin
1 am- She is drooling and panting everywhere. She is up and down from the bed and crawling all over Aaron and I. Willis and Scobee (dog we are sitting) are wondering what the heck is going on.
1:30am- Aaron grabs a pillow and Willis and heads to the couch.
2:00 am- Still a complete lightening show in our room. Bella has now drooled all over my arm and I am soaked in dog slobber.
2:15 am- Bella's panting and slobbering begins to calm down.
2:25 am- The last time I looked at the clock before falling asleep.

When I woke this morning she was sleeping soundly as if nothing ever happened. I felt so bad for her. Her heart rate was probably that of Husein Bolt after a 100 meter dash; however, Husein Bolt could probably recover within 90 seconds from his heart rate escalating- she was in distress for 2 solid hours.

In the midst of being awoken by a convulsing dog, Aaron and I were yelling at each other as we tried to problem solve what to do for her. I don't want to always give her sleep aids/sedatives when I think there may be a thunderstorm, but what other choices are there so she doesn't have an episode like that again?

Poor Bella Girl!