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Thunder Phobia and the Adaptil DAP Collar

On April 2, 2014

dog with thunder phobia snuggles to human

It’s been a few months since we touched on the topic of Donna’s Thunder Phobia. In the last year, we’ve tried the Thundershirt which I felt has some good effect and I’ve written about it quite a bit. And later on, we bought the Adaptil DAP Collar for her so this post is really quite long over due.

do you smell the rain

Just like the rain that we experienced in the past week after a dry spell.

dog wearing DAP collar

The Adaptil DAP (dog appeasing pheromone) Collar is as you can see in the picture above, is the nondescript, flat, grey, strip of plastic wound around Donna’s neck. The collar stays on for a month for maximum effect. Retailing at SGD$59 at our local pet supplies store, this collar that lasts only a month is not that affordable an answer for thunder phobia. For that price, it asserts that it will release pheromones that will calm the reactive dog.

Adaptil DAP collar for dog with thunder phobia
dog with thunder phobia going to toilet signs of fear of thunder in dog

Nope, doesn’t look calm, does she?

So it’s back to the ThunderShirt and her collar over the DAP collar, the whole works. I call this her Thunder Battle Armour.

dog in thundershirt

Tense, but not quaking at least.

To be fair, our dog does go majorly over-threshold when it thunders heavily – the pee and poo anywhere, the drool, the running around and climbing to escape which leads to things in the flat being disturbed and displaced, when left unsupervised. So perhaps that collar may work with dogs with a less severe fear of thunderstorms. I said may because I wouldn’t know. But a look at the reviews on Amazon – Adaptil, D.A.P (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) Collar for Medium to Large Dogs – 27.6″ – shows that it does work for some people with dogs.

Outside of the storms, she is a very calm dog so we have no need of the collar to work any magic. We did not see a difference in Donna’s behaviour for the month that she was wearing the DAP collar. So that logically concluded for us that the collar did not have any discernible effect on Donna, and we weren’t inclined to continue with the collar into the second month.

dog under study table

This is Donna in the last two weeks, she seemed to find comfort under the study table. I have to say, this is also the more enclosed room so maybe she felt safer in here. Unfortunately, it didn’t even thunder very badly on that day. This dog has an overactive reaction to the slightest thunder after a couple of months without exposure to it. So the counter-conditioning with food restarts. And on days when I am too tired/impatient to do that the whole day when it storms, she stays quietly tense under the table (after she goes to toilet, which is always her first instinctive behaviour).

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Dog boarding Donna at Paw Planet

By weliveinaflat

On December 21, 2013

In Shopping

Update May 14, 2014 – Paw Planet has currently stopped offering dog boarding services, but daycare is still available.

The thing about having dependents – children, elderly parents – is that it makes travel difficult. In our case, we had Donna. She needed dog boarding.

Pressed dog. Pressed bone.

By weliveinaflat

On July 19, 2013

In Shopping

The wonders of mobile phone photography… :P Things moving too fast become a blur and your dog starts to look like… a maniacal vampire? *insert wierd scooby doo laughter*

So the other day we went to buy her a new pack of kibble. There was a shelf of bones by the payment counter labelled pressed bone. Ah pressed bone! I remembered reading that these are the better choice when picking rawhide bones for the dog, versus the knotted ones. (potential choking hazard, intestinal blockage etc, etc warnings). So I snatched a bag on impulse. We are always rushing at the pet shop because we always go when it is the closing hour. :P

So anyway, Donna demolished it faster than her knotted milkbone and I went, “hmmmm…..” and searched online.

The result, our cheap hollow pressed bone on the left and the image of dense pressed rawhide bone found online. Right……

dense pressed bone image source

Yes, Donna wants her half-chewed bone back. I gave it back to her and in minutes, it became like this …

Another few minutes and they became smaller pieces, so I got her to “leave it” (very useful command to teach right at the start!!) … and rewarded her with dinner instead.

So yup, now I know pressed bones are supposed to be solid and should be heavier because they are denser. At least I know should I decide to buy some again next time!

Bored dog gets new chill out pad

By weliveinaflat

On June 10, 2013

In Shopping

Donna used to have a 65 x 65 cm cushion for her bed.

I absolutely love the clean, complex pattern on the Akerkulla cover that we got for it.

It just photos so well, and it hides dirt fabulously too!

But, she threw up on her bed, so we threw it away. : (

We had been thinking of getting a new bed for her anyway. The bad thing about the cushion she had? It’s perfect for her to curl up on but when she sleeps on her side, it’s too small and her head ends up on the floor! = =

So over the weekend, she got a bigger pad that she can stretch out as she pleases.

But…

I don’t understand my dog, and I miss the Akerkulla cover : (… : P

Sweet dreams anyway, little girl.

Kong Genius Leo – Roll it. Pick it up. Fling it. Eat it.

By weliveinaflat

On April 18, 2013

In Shopping

A few months back, Donna wouldn’t eat kibble. If it was presented mixed with canned food, she would pick out the kibble and just eat the canned food in the bowl. We fed her kibble with her canned food still persistently. After a while, when she got that being picky wouldn’t change her food and probably she was hungry enough by then, she started to eat kibble. But lo and behold if you fill her bowl with only kibble, she won’t eat.

Sometime later, we bought the Kong Genius Leo. I filled it with a mix of treats and kibble. Donna’s first Kong was a regular one which we bought to keep her busy when we are out of the house. She was so used to licking the regular Kong, usually presented to her with frozen food within, that she used the same method to tackle the Genius Leo.

Of course that got her nowhere and she grew frustrated easily, her frustration usually accompanied by louder and more disgusted snorts and grunts. And then she just left the Genius Leo alone, probably too disgusted to continue.

I continued to give her the Genius Leo now and then. There was a chance she would pay some small attention to it when she smelled treats in it, and needless to say, she totally ignored it when it was empty. Since her level of interest in it was really not that high, I felt it didn’t justify the cost of the toy.

Then one day, perhaps she was feeling particularly fidgety or maybe she was just bored. I suddenly hear a whole series of snorts and pillow bashing sounds. I came out of the study to find the dog worrying the vase-shaped blue rubber toy around the living room. And when a plain kibble dropped out, she ate it!

I read somewhere about the nothing in life is free training for dogs. That was the point I really started to believe in it. The dog worked to get the treat out of the Genius Leo and even if it was only a lowly kibble, she ate it with nary a thought. She wouldn’t have eaten it if I just gave it to her. Believe me I tried.

It took quite a number of attempts on her part before she realised that the trick to work it was not to lick it but to roll it, pick it up, fling it and try again. Then she started to show more interest in it. We’re lucky the space around her bed is empty and fairly spacious because there are times she flung the Genius Leo quite a distance.

And after she munched any kibble that flew out of the toy, she would retrieve the Genius Leo and bring it back to her bed where she would proceed to worry it some more. The bed helped her to hold the toy and keep it in place. It was more likely to slide and roll on the smooth floor.

And then the fun starts all over again. You can even take turns kicking with her, except that the thing doesn’t roll reliably as a soccer ball :/ wahahahaha!

Today, I have started to feed half of her kibble in this way. So instead of breakfast in a bowl, she gets the Genius Leo filled with kibble. Ten to fifteen minutes of Genius Leo workout to help burn off some of that stored fat, physical energy and mental energy at the same time.

It was fun for her too. The wagging tail tells it all!

Note: When it comes to cleaning, the regular Kong is easier to clean. The Genius Leo has narrow holes which makes it harder to clean the interior. Since I only fill it with dry food and dry treats, I just slosh detergent with water inside and rinse and rinse and rinse.

You can buy the Kong Genius Leo in pet stores or on Amazon. :)

Kong Genius Leo
Click to buy on Amazon

Human and dog walking pack

By weliveinaflat

On April 2, 2013

In Shopping

We’ve been blowing the budget every month, what with late night visits to the vet, better food for Donna, toys to keep Donna busy and new cushion covers for Donna’s bed. That’s why wants are not needs and can be fulfilled later, not now.

Nothing to stop me from window shopping though.

What do I want? A dog back pack will be nice. Donna doesn’t really need a dog backpack since she is not very high energy, she doesn’t really need a job to centre her on walks. But there will be days when I am sick or Donna gets over-excited and that backpack could come in handy. In any case, the dog can always do her part for the earth and carry her own empty food cans to the recycling bin. :P

I have my eye on these two from the local blogshops.

The one on the left looks more sturdy but costs 4 times more than the other. The one with the nice tropical leaf design may be cheaper but may not fit was well as the sturdy one. But it doesn’t matter since I’m sitting on the purchase anyway. :D

Meanwhile, I’ll just have to carry our dog walking essentials in my shoulder bag. I carry the minimal unless we are going out for hours – treats, poop bag, zoomgroom brush, keys, wallet and phone. I had been doing well on all these until the other morning, we were walking innocently on the path that winds around the hilltop park near our block when plop! Some bird decided it needs to target its waste on my arm!!

That is when the insight that tissue paper would be handy in the bag, but as it is, good insights always come to late. That’s why the term hindsight.

Luckily, there was a middle aged couple just up ahead whom I can approach to beg for tissue :P

“Auntie, do you have tissue?”

Auntie took a look at Donna, “Your dog pooped?”

I laughed, “No la, not the dog. The bird, plop, shit on me. Look! On my arm!” I pointed as she passed me a tissue paper.

The nice lady turned and asked her husband if he had wet tissue instead. Having cleaned my arm up, I said there was no need for the wet tissue, thanked them again and left.

And now, there is a packet of wet tissue in my dog walking shoulder bag. ; ) Hooray for kind strangers!

What do you put on your dog’s pet tag?

By weliveinaflat

On March 31, 2013

In Shopping

A dog’s pet tag is small and has limited space, especially when you don’t utilise both sides of it.

That is the way with Donna’s tag. One side has a paw print design, the other side is where we engraved our contact details.

Donna’s first pet tag was like this but purple:

Donna is by default an Ikea fan

By weliveinaflat

On March 15, 2013

In Shopping

Received a new Ikea publication today in the mail called “live“. If I sew, I would so make a kitty like in the picture below for Donna. :P

Source: Ikea

But alas, the only sewing I do is patching up the holes Donna opened in her Comfort Cab bear and her Sakae sushi frog. Yes, corporations. That’s hopefully where all the corporate premiums will end up, torn and tattered by a happy dog. Muahahahahaha! Please continue to put them in goody bags. :P

But back to Ikea. I do like their toys. Donna’s preloved pink Ikea hippo (pictured below) has pretty durable stitching that withstood her tugging and is safe for babies with no parts that our silly dog could potentially swallow or choke on. Mr P’s colleague’s chihuahua plays only with Ikea toys. That chihuahua, I heard, turns its nose up on Daiso toys. My, my. Our Donna will run after her Daiso rope-toy any day.

But no other company has more impact on Donna than Ikea. Observe.

“Go to your bed Donna, go to your bed”

“Am I going to get a treat for going to my bed?”

“This is taking so long I am getting sleepy… zZzZzZzZz…”

Besides her toys in the $1.80 Ikea bin, we haven’t really gotten much new things for her. After the forbidden sofa, she prefers my old single quilt for her bed, but that is really hard to maintain the way this dog sheds!! That is, until we found an awesome solution, stuff it into the 65×65 Akerkulla cushion cover. And its such a pretty and contemporary design too compared to the other more expensive 65×65 cushions!

Donna has a second cushion bed stuffed with our existing Ikea 65×65 pillow, but this is puffier than the quilt and she seems less comfortable on it, spends less time there.