[NAGDU] [nagdu] thunderstorm anxiety

[Cindy Ray]

I never did try the "thunder shirt" or the anxiety wrap. My dog, Jet, came
to fear loud sounds because of a concert where they played "The 1812
Overture" and used a cannon. After that she became increasingly fearful.
There are some herbal supplements that relax. I'm not sure what you are
giving. Of course one has to be careful to see the dog remains alert. She
always guided well enough during a storm, but I was never sure how long she
would. In the end she was so stressed that though she wanted to continue
working, it wasn't an option. Sadly, for us it started at about age 4 or 5
and progressed steadily until I retired her at age 10. I hope someone can
give you a better prognosis than that.

Cindy
cindyray at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Danielle Sykora
via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2016 10:03 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Danielle Sykora <dsykora29 at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] [nagdu] thunderstorm anxiety

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

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