Thundershirts for dogs?

[jelee1311]

I have an older Lab/Dalmation who is going blind,deaf, and I suspect has a little bit of dementia. He has a lot of anxiety and the vet wants to give him prozac again. It didn't work very well before. I saw an ad for thundershirts for dogs with anxiety and was curious if anyone has tried them or has any advice. I love my sweet old man dog and want him happy and comfortable.

[TsPoet]

I know lots of people who've tried them, a few personally and many many on-line on my dog-related forums. I'd say ~80%+ feel that they work great.
The thundershirt was a complete disaster for me, it turned my scared dog into a violently scared dog. It was an amazing, and very negative effect.
But, she is the only dog I've ever heard of who has had a negative reaction to the thundershirt, the few others it didn't work for, it simply didn't work.

[OakLeaf]

We've had pretty good (not miraculous) results with DAP pheromone spray and calming music from Stephen Halpern.

I'm pretty sure the pheromone spray works on humans too, and the music definitely does ... so maybe it was just that we were so chilled out that we didn't mind the dogs freaking out. :p

[Becky]

We've had good results with our Thundershirt. Combining it with behavior modification helps even more. The dog actually gets excited when I get the shirt out :D

[westtexas]

If your doggy is suffering from dementia, you might also ask you vet about Selegiline. I've used it with some success in canine patients who become disoriented, fearful or have other changes in behavior associated with aging.

I've also heard good things about ThunderShirts, and I used the DAP hormone on my own dog with some success. The next thing I was going to suggest was the "Through a Dog's Ear" music CD, but if he's going deaf...

[ehirsch83]

We are looking into this as a way to calm barking, but I am not sure how it will help- anyone use it for that? (we live in an apartment building and our landlord has gotten complaints of one of our guys sort of howling during the day when we aren't home- he does it though when he sees things outside. How our brilliant landlord did our front windows- you can't get curtains to hang all the way to the ground! he installed the curtain rods all the way at the top of floor to ceiling windows and there is a good 3 feet at the bottom that don't get covered).

[PamNY]

We've had good results with our Thundershirt. Combining it with behavior modification helps even more. The dog actually gets excited when I get the shirt out :D

What do you do for behavior mod? Is it basic happy time during storms with food and play?

My friend's dog is very fearful during storms and I'm trying to encourage her to try something -- shirts, or DAP at least.

[Sky King]

don't know about thundershirts but my local Coop sold a all natural anxiety medication I used to give my Border Collie, you may want to try that. I used to have to break in half due to his weight but my guess is a lab/dalmation would tolerate a whole one. Poor guy. I put my puppy down in June at 11 1/2 and it was pretty tough.

[Becky]

What do you do for behavior mod? Is it basic happy time during storms with food and play?

My friend's dog is very fearful during storms and I'm trying to encourage her to try something -- shirts, or DAP at least.

So far, behavior mod has entailed happy distracting things when the first signs of a storm start. Cody's fear, although not severe to the point of destruction or injury, is pretty deeply-seated. As a result, he gets worked up at the very early signs of a storm- wind, darkening sky, far-off thunder, etc. So we've got a lot of "triggers" to undo. When I'm home, we play. Playing outside seems to be particularly effective for him, maybe because it's additional exposure to his triggers. We've done the food thing too with high-value treats when play isn't an option.

There comes a point when I can't distract him. That's when the shirt goes on, the collar comes off, and I focus on making him feel safe.

Irene demonstrated to DH and me that we've made some progress. There was a lot of dark, wind, and rain, but very little thunder and lightning, and he remained pretty calm throughout. He didn't even need the shirt, just an occasional chomp on his stuffed cow ;)

Baby steps...

[spazzdog]

We are looking into this as a way to calm barking, but I am not sure how it will help- anyone use it for that? (we live in an apartment building and our landlord has gotten complaints of one of our guys sort of howling during the day when we aren't home- he does it though when he sees things outside. How our brilliant landlord did our front windows- you can't get curtains to hang all the way to the ground! he installed the curtain rods all the way at the top of floor to ceiling windows and there is a good 3 feet at the bottom that don't get covered).

IKEA curtains will solve the "covering the windows" issue. They are extra long and relatively inexpensive.

As for the barking or fear of thunder, I've used Dr. Bach's Rescue Remedy to calm my dog(s) due to thunder or fireworks (and the ocassional gunfire, depending on where I lived). I find it at Whole Foods, though I'm sure you could find it at any other health food kind of grocery.

For barking I fill a sterile bone or kong with peanut butter and drip some Rescue Remedy in on the PB. They enjoy the yummy and the RR chills them out. You can also drip it into the water bowl or just put some drops on their tongue - be careful with this one because the eyedropper is on of the old fashioned glass kind.

[ehirsch83]

IKEA curtains will solve the "covering the windows" issue. They are extra long and relatively inexpensive.

As for the barking or fear of thunder, I've used Dr. Bach's Rescue Remedy to calm my dog(s) due to thunder or fireworks (and the ocassional gunfire, depending on where I lived). I find it at Whole Foods, though I'm sure you could find it at any other health food kind of grocery.

For barking I fill a sterile bone or kong with peanut butter and drip some Rescue Remedy in on the PB. They enjoy the yummy and the RR chills them out. You can also drip it into the water bowl or just put some drops on their tongue - be careful with this one because the eyedropper is on of the old fashioned glass kind.


We tried the Ikea ones- not long enough. Our complex is from the 60s and what is now our front room was originally a Florida Room(so screened in).

Our landlord is going to "frost" the bottom portion of the windows b/c he doesn't want to pay to put back in the french doors that are supposed to close off access to the room.

Bones and kongs are great ideas- but this occurs when we aren't home, so we have no way to pacify them. If they start to bark while we are home, one word to them and they stop! (they are good guys- just puppies 7 & 8 months)

[jelee1311]

Thanks everyone for the input and advice,I bought a thundershirt for Taj today. I put it on him and I think(fingers crossed) its working:).He seems more relaxed and as my skeptical husband noticed he is not exhibiting his nightly pacing. I am going to ask my vet about DAP and I'm thinking about taking Taj to see my accupuncturist for his grumpy joints, so I may see what she can suggest