My 5 month old puppy had her first accident in almost 2 months during a severe thunderstorm. Could the storm have literally scared the sh*t out of her?

I’d have to say yes. I’m only familiar with cats but… cats are really sensitive to things like weather, and when a storm goes on, a cat is not oblivious to it, trust me. I assume that a dog will know what’s going on, too. They can sense things, and can get freaked out and surprised by sudden noises, I know that much. So I think it’s entirely possible that she got scared.
A dog can feel/sense/smell a stranger from yards away, they raise their heads up if you slam a door, so they do react to thunder.

Oh yes! It’s one of the things humans have in common with dogs. A really loud clap of thunder could make you “have an accident” too. Only you would be embarrassed by it.
The dog wouldn’t.

Yes. And no matter how great you think your puppy is, it’s really hard for a dog under a year to hold it’s waste. Until they are close to a year, you can pretty much compare them to toddlers. They can do great for long periods of time but accidents will can still happen. If they still happen after a year, then it’s time to rethink your training.

Yes @lillycoyote. Some dogs are terrified of storms. We used to have a dog next door to us that would jump the fence to come in our yard every time there was a storm coming and its owners weren’t home. We wouldn’t have any idea the storm was on the way until the dog arrived. (We let her stay of course). Since she is a baby, I think it would be worth doing some research into how to behave with her so you can perhaps condition her to not be so scared? I have heard of dogs who would go through glass windows because of their fear of storms. So, I should add for her to have an accident because she is scared does not seem unlikely at all to me.

Hope she is okay. Lots of hugs and distractions seems like a way to go I suspect.

@Randy That’s what I’ve read but sometimes I worry that she might be too good at holding her waste. She goes in the backyard rather than out on her walks and sometimes I let her out in the morning and stumble back into the kitchen to make my coffee, so I can be human, then, after I’ve had a half a cup or so, I go out and check on her and only then does she pee, when I am watching. She doesn’t need me to watch and be there when she poops, if I leave her out long enough.

@Bellatrix, I think she’s ok with storms for the most part, this was just a really bad one. The worst we’ve had since I got her. We had another bad one and my neighbors asked and said “Lizzie must have been really scared last night” but she wasn’t. But she apparently was for this one. She also doesn’t like fire works. I know that because I around the 4th of July holiday people were setting them off all over the place and I’d take her for a walk and when she heard them she just started pulling and heading for home.

Seems fair enough not to like loud bangs like thunder and fireworks. Glad she is okay generally. My dogs don’t care about storms at all. I am really lucky.

@Bellatrix Yes, it seems fair enough. Maybe she’ll grow out of it. I was scared of thunderstorms when I was her age too. :-)

Absolutely it could, dog’s are startled by loud noises after all.
My dawg was spooked by a sudden storm while we were out on her walk recently. She ran into me, tripping me over. I had grass stains on my arse & everyfum :¬(

Poor puppy, yes, it could (and apparently did) scare the crap out of her. Remember that as loud as it sounds to you, it’s much much worse for her. Also, the air smells really funny to her and everything is exaggerated, including your own reactions. She may be more skittish in the future for lesser storms, I have helped that with little treats during storms to take some of the fear away, they associate the start of a storm with Snausages instead of fear. Of course, I am now require3d to produce Snausages if a car backfires…

Perhaps the bad weather kept you from letter her outside?

Yes, absolutely. Plus, dogs don’t like to go outside when it is raining so she may have had to go and not let you know.

Sure. In that situation you can’t be too harsh, but you can’t ignore it either. They catch on real quick to what it takes to “get over.”
I’d show her the mess, and gently scold her and invite her to go outside. If she doesn’t, and goes and lays down somewhere in the house, I’d go to her and talk to her again….they understand the tone!