Note: Thundershirt kindly arranged with their local partner, Hound Habitat, to send to me a sample of the Thundershirt for trial after I wrote to them about Donna’s thunderstorm phobia.
Donna’s thunderstorm phobia seemed to have decreased in the last update.
But it wasn’t going to last.
Weather Outlook: 3 – 15 September 2013
- For the next fortnight, Southwest Monsoon conditions are expected to prevail over the region …
- During this period, Singapore can expect short-duration thundery showers mainly in the late morning and early afternoon on 5 to 6 days. In addition, widespread showers with gusty winds are likely in the predawn hours and morning on 1 to 2 days…
- Rainfall for the first fortnight of September 2013 is likely to be average to slightly above average.
– See more at: http://app2.nea.gov.sg/weather-climate/forecasts/fortnightly-outlook#sthash.pGTl5rF7.dpuf
I never looked at weather this much before I got a dog! D:
Anyway, light showers in the previous post gradually became “thundery showers” as the monsoon clouds gather forbiddingly. They don’t seem to go away, and neither did the storms. They seemed to trail off into a constant drizzle, before they gathered strength and blustered all over again.
Old pictures. Seriously, who would want to take pictures of their dog every time they go beyond threshold? These old pictures are good enough for reference.
I’m going to use “you” here because I don’t feel like using “I”. :P
The dog starts to get restless, paying more attention to the weather sounds than you would like her to. Perhaps because she has got the Thundershirt on, she didn’t pace around as much as she used to. But her nervousness continue to escalate with the thunder. The panting and salivating are sure signs of her descent into fear. But not so much that she loses her mind. This time, she knew to make her way to the pee pad when she needed to go. You cheer her for doing the right thing on the newspaper. But elimination did not help her shake off the trembling. She sped beyond threshold even more as the thunder grew louder. She tries to climb on you and burrow her head against your chest. You keep still and hold her trembling body. Any attempt at comfort is unfruitful. You wonder when you can dislodge her and move again as you are starting to feel cramp in that position.
You remember reading this comment on eileenanddogs.com :
I have noticed when it is thundering and the dogs are frightened that they go into this “shut down” state. Rudy, for instance, will go under my desk, and if it’s time for dinner, he will not pay attention or react when I prompt “go in your crate – dinner time”. If I put his food in front of him, he doesn’t care about it, and no amount of coaxing or cajoling gets a response. However, if I go get a slip lead and put it on him, he immediately follows me and kind of “snaps out of it”. Our Emmie is the same way. She will stand, frozen and trembling – and not respond to commands. She is very food motivated, but that doesn’t even work. It’s like they can’t process the commands because something inside is shorted out. But for some reason they are animated again by having the lead on them. They need the simple guidance of knowing EXACTLY what they should do, and the lead is something they are so familiar with there is no ambiguity. – Amy D.
Putting the collar on her seem to re-focus her just a bit, but she stayed where she was, not heeding your instruction to “go to your bed”. You clip the leash on as well. You got her attention! This time she follows you to her bed. She sits but does not follow your instruction to lie down. You tell her to stay. She stays. Staying frozen on the spot was what she was doing anyway before you led her to her bed. She does not respond to treats and there is nothing else to do at this point. You leave her be.
As the thunder gradually fades to the distance, she lies down and eventually relaxes enough to fall asleep.
I had to take this picture from far as I didn’t want to wake her up. I have started to be strict about her staying outside the study to make sure she gets used to conditions outside in the corridor and living room. The study is small and generally cosier but too cluttered. She would also not have the luxury of hiding here if nobody is at home.
I felt we had some success getting Donna to like wearing her Thundershirt, took her out to walks so that she associates it with fun.
She has recently developed a predilection for just standing and observing the scenery. – –
This Thundershirt is too small. I will like to give it to any dog who needs it, with support from the local distributor Hound Habitat. Preference goes to rescue/shelter/foster dogs. Please email us at weliveinaflat@facebook.com if you would like to get.
On some rainy days, she seemed to welcome the Thundershirt appearing before her to be put on her. However, compare that with the collar and leash she had for even longer, it would be logical that the collar and leash would have even stronger positive associations and would be an even more mood-lifting tool to use to alleviating her fear. I now use both items to help with her fear of thunder.
Since the Thundershirt offers a 45-day money back guarantee, the next post within that time limit will be a frank assessment of the Thundershirt and whether a shirt of the right size worked for us or no.
hutchagoodlife
This is really interesting. When Nutty was on one of his ‘freak-outs’ he dashed around madly, no food or water or anything worked. If he got into that state I had to wrap him in a towel (literally holding him down to stop him hurting himself) and put the tv or something on as a distraction for him. It would take over an hour for him to calm down enough to see me properly again.
Sometimes I wrapped him in the towel and put him in my apron while I baked in the kitchen. The familiar sounds and completely normal behaviour soothed him. I know some people say ignore them totally, while others say pay them lots of attention to get them out of it. I like to think I reached some sort of middle ground between the two.
It’s tough working at it, but I am sure, with time, you can teach Donna that the storm won’t hurt her.
~ Amy
weliveinaflat
I guess piggies and dogs have different ways of reacting! Did he ever try to jump out from your pocket? I’m glad you found a middle ground for him.
I do hope Donna can learn to stop reacting to it, it stresses her out and she literally starts to grey and lose loads of hair. Under that black coat, its all white hair that I have been brushing out every day! D:
hutchagoodlife
He was wrapped very tightly in the towel to stop him hurting himself so he couldn’t jump anywhere. It was the only way to keep him safe. I was always surprised when he didn’t react to thunder storms in movies or on the tv because they sound the same. It must be something in the air pressure that gets to them.
~ Amy
weliveinaflat
Think its up to the individual animal. At least I know for a while there, Donna confused air plane sounds with thunder and was a little anxious when planes fly past that week we had bad storm. Nice to hear he was safe and snug, at least he was out of harm’s way in the pocket. :)
thatjenk
Good to read you’re getting some results! If you find you’re not a huge fan of the thundershirt, I’ve had friends who dealt with this issue by just putting an old, snug tshirt on their pup – same effect, less cost. But I think you’re right about the collar and leash having more impact and the most positive associations.
I wonder if you clipped her up and then walked her around the house for 5 minutes or so to refocus and relax, and then have her lie down? Of course, if you’ve tried this already, I’ll keep quiet :)
weliveinaflat
All our t-shirts are too big for her and when she wears them, she has trouble walking :P Compared to that, I do prefer the thundershirt, and it helps that the company has been kind enough to be sending to be one of the correct size for her! :D I actually would prefer to use the thundershirt than her dragging her collar and leash around (potential choking risk, although that’s low since she’s always supervised. I’m paranoid that way :P) But right now, I’ll stick to whatever works.
No, I actually did not walk her around but that would be a good thing to remember and try out. :)
Kuruk
I hope it helps! Don’t be scared Donna, the thunder can’t hurt yooowoooowooooooo!
weliveinaflat
I wish she has as much sense as you Ku :)
Kyla
In the months of June through September, we can get lightening, thunder, winds, and rain at twilight. We get them individually or in any combination. I’m so used to thunder that I ignore it. What is routine usually isn’t scary.
weliveinaflat
That makes sense. We haven’t had it with consistency. One week it rains to no end, another week hot and sunny, but I’m glad that it gives us a breather from her panic attacks.
2browndawgs
Oh poor Donna. Those darn thunderstorms. Is it just thunder or does she also react to lightening? My dogs get more worried about lightening than thunder.
You might find this story interesting (hope you have not hear it before…lol). Before the Chessies we had a Golden and he did not like storms at all. We used to do a lot of camping and one time we were camping and some storms whipped up. He was very nervous. Pacing and panting. As it got dark, there was a tornado warning and the tornado sirens started blaring. We had a tv in our camper and they were tracking it as it moved slowly toward us. It was not a really strong tornado, but it was doing damage and it was headed our way based on the radar on the tv. We were not sure what to do because there was no tornado shelter and we knew we could not stay in that trailer during a tornado. We came up with a plan to get in a deep ditch that was nearby if the tornado continued toward us. We were putting on our coats and shoes and getting the lead for the dog, (those sirens blaring away), when all of a sudden our dog just laid down and relaxed. All the panting and pacing was over. I turned to my hubby and said “I don’t think we need to worry any more”. At the same time the sirens stopped and the tv announced an all clear.
Sometimes I think they get scared just based on instinct.
weliveinaflat
Thanks for taking the time to write that great little story. That golden is certainly very sensitive to the air pressure and a born weather dog! :P
Donna doesn’t react to lightning. She doesn’t seem to notice them because generally I try to get her to lie down where she doesn’t see out of the flat. But she does react strongly to howling wind, because across time, she has learnt that this usually predicts the onset of rain. We now have all sorts of towels and items blocking holes under doors. Very unsightly and gets in the way, but anything to muffle the wind until we bought more functional aids that we can adhere to the bottoms of the doors. At her worse, she has mixed up the rumble of the air plane flying past with thunder and tucked her tail under at the sound.
The construction work downstairs is getting louder, so we are spending more time hanging around downstairs during our loo breaks so that she can learn that rumbly noises are harmless.
But it is true, sometimes perhaps the air pressure dropped, she can turn fearful quite suddenly. If I ignore her and the rain cloud floats past without pouring heavily, she actually recovers by herself. She can survive light rains, but when the really intense storms come, she will be quaking.
4theloveofdog
I have a thunder-phobic dog as well and have a Thundershirt for her. While I don’t think its a 100% cure, it does seem to calm her and provide her some comfort when a storm rolls in. Look forward to reading your updates!
weliveinaflat
Thank you for dropping by. And glad the thundershirt is helping to some extent :) Thunderphobia is an awful condition to live with. Imagine being in terror every time in rains! Have a great week ahead, Tanya!
ILoveDogs
It’s interesting how putting on a leash helps. I never would have thought of that. Have you ever tried a natural herbal remedy. I used a product similar to Canine Calm from Earth Heart. I used Travel Calm from the same company which is virtually the same as Canine Calm except it has an added ingredient to help with car sickness.
weliveinaflat
I recently tried lavender essential oil on her ears (kind suggestion of Kaitlin Jenkins of she speaks bark)… Donna was utterly disgusted with me and snorted her displeasure very loudly (which her recalcitrant human finds very funny :P)… Thankfully the rain has let up a bit, waiting for the next set of deluge to see if it works. I’ve not heard of Canine Calm before, will look it up. Thanks, Dawn!
1st World Dog
Oh Donna those thunder storms aren’t fun.
One of my mates down the street (Hawk’s big brother) doesn’t like them either. If mum knows a storm is coming and his mum isn’t home she goes and brings him and his brothers down here. Easier to get them in before the rain starts as 3 rough collies with wet coats is messy.
weliveinaflat
Awesome that your mum is able to do that, Bodhi. We don’t have that sort of community spirit when you leave in a block of flats with 140 other families who never really see each other much! You are lucky, it sounds like mum is mostly home to take care of things too! :)
rubytheblacklabrador
From afar things sound better – maybe two steps forward one step back. Maybe the lead is also security ie. you’re going to be staying with me but it will only work if you’re at home. I feel for you!
weliveinaflat
Thank you, the longer this drags particularly during the night, the easier it is to get frustrated… not that you don’t have your share of frustration with a artisanal bread and cake loving pooch on your end :P
rubytheblacklabrador
Yes but daytime is ok. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture!
weliveinaflat
Too true. I thank you for your empathy. We are getting better sleep this days since the rain seemed to be giving us a break for now. :D
Sonel
I am so glad to see she is getting better Mrs. P and such lovely photo’s of lovely Donna. Thinking of both of you. :D *big hugs* xxx