[NAGDU] [nagdu] thunderstorm anxiety

[Danielle Sykora]

Hi all,

For a while now, I've noticed Thai becoming anxious during fireworks
and thunderstorms. He was fine for the first year I had him, but he
started becoming really anxious starting when he experienced Fourth of
July fireworks last year. Last summer, he would whine, pant, shake,
yawn, pace, and have an indoor accident if I didn't calm him down
right away during thunder or fireworks, but would relax after maybe 20
minutes or so. This summer he reacted the same way, but took much
longer to calm down. Fortunately, he didn't react at all while
working.
This Fourth of July, he was fine with the sporadic fireworks over the
weekend, but became really anxious with a fireworks display on the
night of the Fourth. I never actually took him to a display, but you
can hear them pretty easily from inside the house. Since then, he has
become even more distressed, and the occasional whine turned into near
constant barking and almost howling. I worked him during a storm a few
days ago. He guided just fine, but seemed kind of edgy--walking very
quickly and looking around more than usual. Fortunately, he has no
problems at all with much louder noises, it's just thunder/fireworks
specifically.


I've tried a few herbal calming supplements. One didn't work at all
and one seems to help a little. I've also tried some
desensitization/counter conditioning with the clicker as well as
giving him something to chew during thunderstorms. He's not so anxious
that he can't eat most of the time, but it just seems to get him
through it a bit easier without actually helping him make progress.

Something I think I need to trhy is being more diligent about giving
him the anti-anxiety supplement. Sometimes I'll see that there's maybe
a 40% chance of scattered thunderstorms for a few hours and think I
probably don't need to give it to him... but I really shouldn't take
the chance. I'm also considering an anxiety wrap, but I'm not sure how
effective they really are.

At this point, it's not jeopardizing his work, but I most definitely
do not want it to progress any further. I'm hoping someone who has
dealt with this before might have some suggestions.

Danielle and Thai