Monday, April 18, 2011

My names is Princess...

I'm a Pit Bull, and I have Storm Anxiety...

We've had a couple of major spring thunderstorms here in Texas the past couple of weeks. Mom and Dad are worried and also anxious because they claim I'm keeping them up. I pace and pant and roam all over no matter the time of the storm.


This was mom's attempt to make a 'homemade' anxiety wrap. She's heard of Thundershirts or Storm Capes, but isn't sure about the cost. So she thought she'd try a homemade wrap with stuff we had. This is a very snug doggy t-shirt, and an Ace Bandage. Either it didn't work at all or the ace was too thin for my bigger bully size.


No clue what to do next because $40 for a shirt that won't work doesn't sound fun! For now I pace and pant and eventually settle in the secluded bathroom when my parents put my bed in there, where there are no outside walls or windows.


Do you have Storm Anxiety? How does your human/parent help you?

9 comments:

  1. Oh dear. My Angus had terrible storm anxiety. We finally had to give him valium. I'm not sure that made him less stressed, but it made him less eager to wander around and try to go up the chimney or behind the toilet. It is a terrible thing to deal with. Angus could sense a storm coming a long time in advance. Poor Princess.

    Mango Momma

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  2. Admittedly, Marge is much more afraid of fireworks than she is of storms. But, we've made GREAT progress with storms by playing lots of fun treat games when it starts thundering. We've also tried Melatonin, which may have helped a little bit with storms, and currently use L-Theanine, which Marge takes daily with great results over all.

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  3. Sorry to hear you are scared of storms. Mine hate when the wind open and close windows and doors

    Kari
    http://dogisgodinreverse.com/

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  4. Leo has storm (and firework) anxiety. We had to resort to medication to get him through it because he would pant, pace, drool and shake. He has gotten better. But for the few relatively quick storms we have had move through this spring, we have skipped the meds and go in the bathroom and turn on the exhaust fan to drown out the outside noise.

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  5. guero has storm anxiety ever since hurricane ike and we have to literally go in his room and sleep with him to get him to calm down. otherwise he will do the same pant and scratch the door to his and coco's room.

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  6. One of my late dogs acted like that & we too put her in the bathroom with a radio on a classical music station. And a fan on low, if it wasn't A/C time. She would go to sleep. It got to where as soon as she got nervous she would head for the bathroom. I've also read about people using Rescue Remedy.

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  7. You could try to de-sensitize her. Get one of those nature sounds CDs that has some thunder storms in it. Start out playing is very very softly while you play with her and keep her distracted. Over time, increase the volume while still playing with her, which will start to associate good things with the sound. Good luck!

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  8. I'm so sorry you're skeered of storms, Princess. But I've also heard that L-theanine can help. And you oughta check out this super great article abouts medications for storm anxieties by Dr. Karen Overall: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=136493

    Oh, and we just read this great bloggie series abouts a guy who helped his doggie overcome lots of fears and the last one was abouts thunderstorms: http://www.boulderdog.net/2011/04/13/scrunchies-and-lavender-candles-for-thunder-phobia-yep/

    By the way, I haves a thundershirt cuz even though I'm not skeered of storms, I'm skeered of lots of other things. And the thundershirt peoples offer a 100% money back guarantee if it doesn't work. So your pawrents might wanna go ahead and gives it a try!

    Good luck!

    Wiggles & Wags,
    Mayzie

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  9. Stella gets concerned about the thunder sometimes. She paces occasionally too but I ignore it and continue on as if nothing's happening. It's funny because she watches me for a reaction and the less concerned I am, the less concerned she is. Now if only that would work for squirrels :)

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