The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

Okay, about 1 a.m. Tuesday morning the first rumbles of thunder rolled in from the west.   Soon I awoke to find a black mass of panting, pacing fur on my bed.  One of our dogs has a phobia of storms and it seems that storms have been frequently hitting in the dead of night this year   Tuesday morning's storms didn't clear out until around 5 a.m., which meant I spent the night awake with a panting, panicking, ponderous canine.  And, no, I can't crate her during a storm because she slashes mercilessly at the crate doors resulting in a clanging of metal all night long that is worse than the pacing and panting.  Shutting her in a room doesn't work either.  Rachel's brother told her about how he heard that rubbing your dog with a dryer sheet before a storm could be soothing if the increased electrical charges from the atmospheric disturbance are the root of the dog's anxiety.  So I'm sitting up groggily at 3 a.m. petting my dog with a lavendar-scented Bounce sheet from our laundry room. It was surreal in the fog of half-sleep and I think it puzzled the dog more than soothed.   Which brings up The Storm Defender.   This is a cape (see above photo) that you put on your dog before a storm and it supposedly neutralizes the electrical charges sent out before a storm, thus creating a calming effect on the dog.  This seems like the silliest thing I've ever heard, but so does staying up all night rubbing my dog with a dryer sheet.   Has anyone tried The Storm Defender?  If so, what were your results? Or do I have to be the test case and try it?