Reinforcing fear?

In the above Youtube video you can see a dog afraid of a storm.  

Over the past few years I have been reading contradicting information on what to do when a dog is fearful such as in the case of thunder storms or fireworks.  Many dogs find these times unbearable and simply want to run and hide.  If you have ever seen a dog frighten during a thunderstorm it can rip your heart out.  They are panting, their ears are alert and pulled back, some show the whites of their eyes and the most notable characteristic, the constant shaking from the fear.  

Some literature states that we shouldn't acknowledge the fear that coddling the dog during that time will reinforce the fear.  They seem to think that providing affection during this time gives the dog the impression that it is right to feel fearful.  The literature states that we should go about our business and take the 'suck it up buttercup' attitude with the dog.  Now being female, this strongly goes against my nurturing instinct and I question how can this be good?

I've also read that we should turn the fearful time into a game, make it a fun time so that in their brain that they switch to this time being fearful to a time of having fun.  Making this negative fearful time something positive.  Now that can work in some areas but others, I don't think it is nearly as effective.  If you have a genuinely frighten dog during a thunder storm it will not want to play tug or fetch!  And trying to turn a thunderstorm into something that is excitingly fun for a dog, just doesn't seem to work very well.  I think it is because you cannot provide sufficient safe distance like what is used when doing counter-conditioning training for lets say fear aggression with other dogs.  During counter-conditioning you keep at the edge of the safe distance for your dog, slowly shrinking that distance but with thunderstorms there is no outer edge of the 'safe zone'.

I recently read a blog Eileen and Dogs and she outlined fear reinforcement issue clearly for me.  It went something like this:

• Behaviours are reinforced
• Emotions cannot be reinforced
• fear is an emotion, not a behaviour
• therefore fear cannot be reinforced

Dogs learn by trying different behaviours to obtain that which they want.  When they find a behaviour that works, they will continue to use it to obtain it.  The emotion isn't a trial and error to obtain something it is more of an instinctual response to something upsetting.

Eileen also had a link to Suzanne Clothier’s video  Calming the Fearful Dog that hit home with me.  This made more sense to me than anything else I have read!  As Suzanne states, in nature when a young animal is afraid, it rushes to its mother.  The mother then comforts the offspring; she doesn't take the "suck it up buttercup" attitude.  Suzanne continues to explain calming signals and the use of them during fearful time.  It is partly a touch but it is also our own energy, our body language and our verbal interactions that can make a difference.  Please watch the video for her insight into calming a fearful dog.