ThunderShirt

[Bruce Page]

My 8 year old female lab gets freaked out with thunderstorms and fireworks and it seems to be getting worse with each passing year. Does anyone have experience with the ThunderShirt?
I would like to find something to calm her down that doesn’t involve drugs.

[Barry McFadden]

Don't know if this would help but ...my Golden Doodle is the same way until we found out by accident that if he sees the fireworks or lightening before the thunder clap he doesn't seem to mind them at all...it's only when he hears the noise and can't see them that he freaks out.....

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

First of all, check out this great article that was published recently.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/good-and-bad-ways-to-help-a-dog-afraid-of-fireworks/

I have friends that have success with the thundershirt. Prior to the Thundershirt being marketed, I had success in bundling a fearful dog with a sweatshirt or afghan and letting her stay next to me during fireworks. I kept it nice and snug, somewhat in the same theory as the squeeze box Temple Grandin built for herself to calm her nerves. Doing the whole "ignore her and tough it out" didn't work with her because she was extremely touchy-feely dog. To suddenly ignore her, in her eyes, the humans were terrified of the storms/fireworks and retreated away, so the storm is REALLY scary now. Once we "coddled" her, those scary issues became no big deal.

As for t-storms, the dog above had been trapped outside during a freak and violent t-storm while I was at the furthest point of the property. She was terrified of even rain on the TV after that. I was able to slowly desensitize her with the use of a t-storm CD. I withheld her favorite coveted toy. I played the CD on level 1 and as expected, she was terrified. I turned off the CD and then brought out the favorite toy. Life is good. Put toy away for days. CD on level 1. Terror. CD off. Toy out. Wahoo! Toy away. Days go by. CD on level 1. Cautious, but wondering about toy. Toy out immediately. Wahoo! Brief play while CD on. CD turned off. Coveted Toy away. I slowly increased the volume and had to take a few steps back before she could progress. Over a period of months, she learned to expect when thunder banged, the Coveted Toy was coming out and fun would ensue. I knew I had success when I was on a computer and testing something when I clicked on something and the sound was a thunderbolt. She came racing into the room looking for the coveted toy. When real storms hit, she was totally fine again..... and expecting to play with her coveted toy!

When our alpha "bomb-proof" dog aged and developed low thyroid, he started to become fearful of fireworks. (new fears are signs of thyroid issues...) Because he was the alpha, the youngster looked at him and decided if he was afraid, it must be really scary. She "learned" to become fearful of fireworks. I tried bundling her, and I tried the Thundershirt. It didn't work on her. Closing curtains and watching an action movie with the volume loud somewhat helped her.

When it comes to drugs. Like the article above mentions, "Ace" is really not a great solution. I used it on the t-storm dog and it was extremely unpredictable when it would actually kick in. Sometimes it was in 30 minutes and other times 12 hours later. Xanax gave her a raging case of the munchies, yet on the plus side, she didn't care what scary things were going on around her as long as she could smell even a crumb of food. I have heard a LOT of good things about Sileo. It has worked wonders on friends dogs.

[Bruce Page]

Great info Mike, thanks! Ella is a very affectionate, wants to be close to you dog, a real sweetheart. Our male lab isn't bothered at all by the loud noises. I'm going to give the shirt a try. Our summer monsoon season should be starting soon. (I hope)

[Dave Richards]

Good luck with the thundershirt. It didn't work on our dog but I've heard it works for others.

[Bruce Page]

Thanks Dave. I have it on order, I'll report back on it.

[Bonnie Campbell]

My daughters dog has a thunder shirt. It does seem to work on her dog (blue tick hound). But, you can save the money and try the cheapo scarf wrap. Do a search online, that's how I found it. It will show you how to wrap a scarf on the dog. The dog did very well with it and it didn't cost an arm and leg for the raved about commercial version.

[Tom Stenzel]

Our rescue dog (my big brave attack dog) came to us afraid of thunderstorms. And fireworks, backfires, nail guns. Oh, and shadows too.

My wife picked up a Thundershirt at a garage sale for $5 but it didn't work for him. He goes in the basement but I have to go with him. He sits on the futon looking at the basement window and watches for the lightning. When he sees the flash he knows it's coming. I put on the TV to drown out some of the noise. The 4th of July is rough time of year for him. We never tried drugs on him.

He just wandered into my room looking for me. Time for his walk.

-Tom

[Shawn Pixley]

My current dog is a rescue dog. He is deaf and has a bit of separation anxiety. Thunderstorms and fireworks are not big problems. But the separation axiety is problematic. The thundershirt unfortunately, didn't help appreciably. All is good if LOML or I am around.

[Rich Riddle]

We have three small dogs and one gets terrified of storms. When she wears her Thundershirt she turns into Mighty Mouse. It totally changes her personality.

[Bruce Page]

That's good to hear Rich. The TS was delivered a few days ago. I'm looking forward to our next thunderstorm so I can give it a try.
I did a test fit on Ella, she wasn't impressed..