Dog fears thunder!

Thundershirt and Rescue Remedy worked for ours.

ourtravels wrote:
Unfortunately, a few years ago, Paige's anxiety escalated to full-blown panic attacks. We arrived home one day to a completely destroyed dog-room door. Our little 30 lb. girl had destroyed her crate, and then chewed and ripped a 3 foot square hole in the door.:E Our other BC was still calmly napping :)

She is now on fluoxetine (prozac) daily with alprazolam (xanax) added during extreme anxiety, and is doing very well.

Margaret

My hope for you is that Paige does not continue to get worse overtime. We've been done that road and it is not one I wish on anyone. Stay on top of the meds and be ready to adjust if things get worse.

Mark

Welcome to the forum, fellow sheepdog handler.

Learned something new. Never heard of a "thunder shirt" before.

Big Katuna wrote:
Thunder shirts need to be used correctly. If you put it on after the first bolt, it probably won't work at least on many dogs. They simply associate the shirt with thunder.

You should put t on them randomly when it's not stormy and they will associate it with being happy.

Also don't comfort them or treat them like their wounded when the thunder comes. Again, association and thinking something is really wrong. Act normally.

Rescue remedy helped our standard. Our rescue Morkie that was raised in an outside kennel is having a hard time.

I disagree with the statement in bold.

Patricia McConnell --You Can't Reinforce Fear; Dogs and Thunderstorms

Suzanne Clothier--Myth of Reinforcing Fear

Thunder shirts need to be used correctly. If you put it on after the first bolt, it probably won't work at least on many dogs. They simply associate the shirt with thunder.

You should put t on them randomly when it's not stormy and they will associate it with being happy.

Also don't comfort them or treat them like their wounded when the thunder comes. Again, association and thinking something is really wrong. Act normally.

Rescue remedy helped our standard. Our rescue Morkie that was raised in an outside kennel is having a hard time.

We should all fear thunder as lightning is near. Having survived a close encounter I can relate to the dogs fears.

We have the Thundershirt for one our Boston's and it works miracles however I know it won't work on every dog. It was a life saver for us. You will just have to try it for your dog and see if it will work for you.

Doug

BB_TX wrote:
Same with our Golden. We use Vetriscience Composure recommended by our vet in combination with a Thundershirt. Doesn't completely eliminate the stress, but significantly reduces it.

The Thundershirts don't fit my Ben (too short-coupled) - but the Composure tabs helped him get through the 4th of July, which is several nights of nearby fireworks since we live on a large lake. And as someone else mentioned, Ben seems to be more comfortable hiding under a blanket, which is how we handle middle-of-the-night thunderstorms.

I should add that Ben's fear level is probably a 5 out of 10. I've seen dogs that get crazed with fear - Ben just sits and trembles. Not bug-eyed heavy panting/drooling; and surely not the destroy-the-house terror that some dogs have (thank goodness)

ourtravels wrote:
...
She is now on fluoxetine (prozac) daily with alprazolam (xanax) added during extreme anxiety, and is doing very well.

Margaret

As you can tell by the responses there are many methods that are tried. What will work in your dog requires a trial and error method until you find the right one.

Margaret is using the best (IMO) combination prescription method for dealing with serious phobias. Many people are reluctant to use medications, but this protocol is not just tranquilization and is extremely effective. These medications work centrally in the brain to lessen anxiety. They are effective and often can be tapered and eliminated after a period of use.

Doug, DVM

Our female border collie was extremely noise phobic. I found that along with a Thundershirt, giving her 3mg of melatonin worked well for her. It can be given up to 3x a day. Google 'melatonin and thunder phobia' there is lots of information available.

I found that Rescue Remedy was just too short-lived, the effects lasting only 15 minutes or so.

Paige was a trialling sheepdog (now retired) and interestingly enough she could work sheep during a storm, and it did not seem to affect her. As soon as we finished, she would start to panic.

Unfortunately, a few years ago, Paige's anxiety escalated to full-blown panic attacks. We arrived home one day to a completely destroyed dog-room door. Our little 30 lb. girl had destroyed her crate, and then chewed and ripped a 3 foot square hole in the door.:E Our other BC was still calmly napping :)

She is now on fluoxetine (prozac) daily with alprazolam (xanax) added during extreme anxiety, and is doing very well.

Margaret