Thunderstorms Send Dozens of Dogs Bolting From Homes

Alone in Simi Valley when Wednesday’s lightning cracked, Bozworth bolted. Ramming his 125-pound frame through a wooden gate, the white malamute-husky mix broke out of the yard and headed for town.

In Camarillo, Riley, a beagle, pushed open the screen door and took to the streets.

And in Upper Ojai, Dakota jumped the fence.

The freak thunderstorms that hit Southern California on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning startled the region’s pets, sending dozens into the streets confused.

Countywide, at least 12 animals were killed attempting to cross roads and highways during the storms, and scores more turned up lost, muddied and rattled in people’s homes and at the county’s shelter, animal regulation officials said.

In storms, especially thunderstorms, cats usually hunker down, but dogs run in front of cars, leap through glass and over fences--sometimes while tied to their leashes--and flee their homes.

“They just run and run until suddenly they look around and they don’t know where they are anymore,” said Tim Dewar, public relations director for the Humane Society of Ventura County.

The panic set in for Bozworth’s owner, Terrill Kelly, as she sat in traffic on the Ventura Freeway, heading back from Leo Carrillo State Beach. When Kelly finally reached home, she wasn’t surprised to see the three splintered slats and no sign of her 8-year-old dog.

“He’s afraid of raindrops, lighting, anything in the sky,” Kelly said. “He just gets so scared, he just runs.”

Extra-sensitive hearing and unfamiliarity with storms can trigger animals’ flight reflex.

Conditioning a pet to the noise of storms will help calm it in future rough weather, said Deena Case-Pall, a Camarillo psychologist and animal behaviorist. Severe cases may require tranquilizers, she added.

Fireworks can also send pets into hysterics, said Denise Reeder, who picked up Bozworth in a supermarket parking lot three miles from his home. She estimates that she has rescued more than 100 dogs.

“I’ve probably averaged a dog or two a year for every Fourth of July for the last 20 years,” Reeder said.

Wednesday’s unexpected storm caught both the animals and animal regulation officials off guard. The night crew at the central shelter in Camarillo was upped from one to five officers for an evening that was “nuts,” director Kathy Jenks said.

“If anyone is missing an animal from the storm, get in here as soon as they can and check,” she advised.

Jenks said her department aided between 25 and 30 animals injured as a result of the storm, including a golden retriever that had gotten its head stuck in a wrought-iron fence. The Agoura Hills shelter in Los Angeles County, which serves Thousand Oaks, also took in dozens of stray dogs.

At Ventura County’s central shelter, the clipboards were crammed with notices of animals still homeless on Thursday.

Jane Gorden, who had logged at least 15 storm-related strays, ripped Bozworth’s notice down around 3 p.m. after matching his finder, Reeder, and his owner, Kelly.

After Wednesday’s storm had moved on, Riley’s owner, Tony Castelan, was on the softball field a few hundred yards from the animal shelter in Camarillo.

“I hear this bark, and I’m going, ‘That’s my dog,’ ” Castelan said.

When Castelan and his son Jordan, 6, showed up at the shelter Thursday afternoon, the baying from Pen 19 was clearly Riley’s.

“I think he missed you,” Castelan told his son, who was covering his ears.

Inside the shelter’s office, Iris Sandmann was filling out a report for Dakota, the hound mix still missing in Upper Ojai.

Sandmann spent Thursday checking with shelters, the Humane Society and veterinarians. She covered Ojai with more than 200 fliers, Sandmann said.

Dakota’s chances of being found are better because he was wearing a collar with identification, a must for any pet, according to the Humane Society.

The society cautions that animals not be forgotten in storms and other emergencies, including wildfires. Pet owners should plan ahead for the possibility of evacuation.

“Planning is essential prior to a natural disaster because Red Cross shelters are not equipped to house pets and other emergency personnel are too busy doing other things,” Dewar said.

Designate someone outside of the neighborhood to take in your pets, the Humane Society recommends. The person should have access to the home and know where pet carriers and leashes are kept.

Pet carriers should be handy, with the owner’s name, address and phone number written on the outside. Current photos and vet records should be taken with other important documents during an evacuation.

The Humane Society also suggests that owners of large animals, such as horses, consider painting their phone number on the animal’s side if they are unable to evacuate it.

Times Community News reporter Nick Green and Times staff writer Nancy Cleeland contributed to this story.