frightened greyhound

Question
Hi- In June 2006 we adopted a retired racing greyhound; he will be 6 years old in May.  He is generally happy and confident, but last year he developed a fear response to the sound of snow sliding off the roof of our house.  Unfortunately, we didn't recognize it when it started, and it developed into full blown separation anxiety, with house soiling, constant barking and chewing when we weren't home, and pacing and panting when we were.  With the help of the rescue program and our vet, he was started on anti-anxiety meds and we did lots of positive reinforcement with him, and he did very well; was weaned off the medication in September, and has been fine since...until the first heavy snowfall.  When it slid off the roof (while we were at work), he pooped on the floor and was pacing when we got home.  Luckily, this has been a much better winter than last, with less snowfall, but there is still plenty of winter left, so my question is:  Is there something we can try with him to keep him calm if we anticipate the noise of the snow coming off the roof?  Because this has happened just once so far this winter, and we recognize his anxiety, we don't want to keep him medicated 24/7.  Thanks for your help!

Answer
In terms of any medication to ward off a reoccurrence of your dog's fear response, you need to ask this question of your veterinarian.  You might try leaving a radio with soft music playing, or purchasing a white noise machine.  I don't know how loud the sound you describe is or how close this fall off occurs to the room the dog is in.  you could attempt to change the association with the snowfall sound, but this is tricky and may result in another full blown panic attack.  it would require you to record the sound, play it very very softly with a happy demeanor (calling it something cute to remind yourself: "goodie! snow!") and offering a treat.  You'd have to be able to observe whether the dog was having a fear response (even low level) before offering the treat, or you'd be rewarding the fear.  Little by little, the dog can learn to associate that noise with your cue ("goodie, snow") and a reward, but whether or not this transfers to the real life, much louder (presumably) in-your-face sound (especially if you're not home), I couldn't tell you.