helen Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Just curious as to who has used a thundershirt for their dogs, for what reason and did you find it successful. http://www.thundershirt.com/ Just curious as a friend took on a Brittany who was very timid and fearful of situations and people (not a typical Brittany ) Until a few weeks ago apart from his owners he would only let myself and one other person go near him and pat him. She took him to training and he was scared and was barking at everything. The head instructor suggested trying one and the difference is amazing. She said she is amazed by the difference in him with the shirt on. She had him at training last night and he happily met a few dogs and even let an unknown guy pat him, and males are his biggest fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Yep, used on a Dane foster with general anxiety - liked it alot, I have lent it to a friend who has a dog with anxiety as well and it seems to assist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppop Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Yes, my friend got one for her Keeshond that went all drooly and would dig through the carpet in thunderstorms - she says the coat is fantastic. The dog has gone from all het up and anxious to now lying at her feet during the storms. The dog still follows her around if she goes to another room during the storm, but there is none of the overt anxiousness at all anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westielover Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Helen I hope you don't mind me adding this to your thread .... I am very curious about the thundershirt myself for Spencer but I was also looking at the anxiety wrap http://www.anxietywrap.com.au/. The difference between the 2 is that the anxiety wrap has straps that wrap around a dog’s hind legs. Apparantly when a dog is in full panic mode, it can lose “sensation” in its hind legs which causes further panic and anxiety. The straps add pressure to that hind leg area. Has anyone tried the anxiety wrap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 i think corvus uses one for her little fella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 Yeah, we are trying a Thundershirt out with Erik. He doesn't get anxious so much as over-aroused. He tends to need a bit of help to calm himself down again. I would say that when he is just a little aroused it does wonders and settles him right back down again just about instantly, but when he is very aroused it is of limited use. It does seem to help him come down quicker once the arousing stimuli have gone away. I would tentatively say it's no better than a good massage, which brings me to comment that Erik is conditioned to calm with rubs and massages, so it's possible the Thundershirt works well with him because of prior conditioning. Anyway, we are still testing it and forming an opinion. I think they are worth a go. I haven't tried a wrap, but I do know that giving Erik's hindquarters a very firm massage when he's aroused is a little like magic. It tends to have a fairly immediate and profound calming effect. His knees turn to jelly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen Posted November 26, 2010 Author Share Posted November 26, 2010 Fascinating stuff. I must admit that I was very skeptical about the coat but to see the difference was amazing. It seems to be useful in a number of different situations too. Corvus - what does Erik do when he gets over-aroused? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSD's 4EVER Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 (edited) Yep. I've just started using the Thunder Shirts for 2 of my dogs over the last month & I reckon they're brilliant. I've posted a few videos on my You Tube account, but here's one I just posted today. Melb had a HUGE Thunder Storm today. Normally in this situation, Mishka would run frantically & continuously through the house, shaking like a leaf, trembling with her tail between her legs, barking like crazy & eventually start frothing at the mouth. Nothing could console her, so as a last resort, I'd pump heaps of Valerian concentrate liquid drops into her to get some sort of calm out of her. This dog is a real stress head. She's nearly 13 & she's been like this her entire life. She's the same with fire crackers & people using power tools. This was Mishy today in the height of the storm, which was right outside my back door, so quite loud & "in her face". I can't believe it's my dog ..... I also use one for Spirit, who has a distrust of humans .... And now with her Thunder Shirt on under that wet weather coat .... Spirit also has a very strong "prey drive" when it comes to Scout, my cat. Here I've used an ordinary T Shirt to test things out while I waited for the Thunder Shirts to be delivered. There's no way this would happen when she's "naked". Her prey drive is much too strong. Now, when Spirit is driving me mad with Scout teasing her through the door or window, on goes the Thunder Shirt & instant quiet. Effing unbelievable .... Edited November 26, 2010 by GSD's 4EVER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen Posted November 26, 2010 Author Share Posted November 26, 2010 wow, how much better was spirit, she was happy to let the guy pat her with the coat on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 Corvus - what does Erik do when he gets over-aroused? He just can't settle. He'll be roaming around alert barking at tiny little noises. I guess it's not even really over-arousal, more like he just isn't very good at calming down again after something excites him momentarily. The more aroused he gets the more he barks, and the more he barks, the more aroused he gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSD's 4EVER Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 wow, how much better was spirit, she was happy to let the guy pat her with the coat on She was wearing a wet weather coat on top of that I hope you realise. But yes, it's made a HUGE difference to how she reacts with people. I take both my dogs to a big market here every week as part of their socialisation. When we'd get there "pre shirt" & were just simply driving into the car park, Spirit would go ballistic just in the car & we'd have to leave her there while we shopped & just took Tara (B&T GSD) for a meet 'n greet. Now, Spirit's out of the car, walks to the out door food area & is a perfect angel for the entire time we're there, which is usually a good 2 hours. What's stunned me is that little kiddies come up, want to pat her & as little kiddies are want to do, they put their hands straight over her eyes as they're stroking her ... and she doesn't react when she's got her Thunder Shirt on. Dogs just do not like this & in Spirit's case ... well you can see how she reacts. From my personal experience with 2 different dogs with different stress triggers ... I'm a big fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helen Posted November 26, 2010 Author Share Posted November 26, 2010 that must be such a good feeling to achieve so much with her I noticed they reckon it stops lead pulling. Brittanys are notorious lead pullers. Might have to borrow my friend's and give it a test run LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 Where can these be got locally? (I think Grumpy would simply try to get his off, though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSD's 4EVER Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 Helen .... Yep. I can see how it could work for "pullers" based on how relaxed my dogs are when they're wearing their shirts. For it to be really effective though, you have to have the right size for your dog. Just bear that in mind when you're borrowing a shirt. Sheridan .... Here's where I got mine from. The company is located in WA .... http://www.petsprovidore.com.au/home.php They've got some industrial strength velcroe sewn on to hold the shirt in place, so I doubt whether Grumpy would be able to get it off. Mish is a bit like this as well, but she goes all "Zen" as soon as her shirt is snuggly fitted on her body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSD's 4EVER Posted November 26, 2010 Share Posted November 26, 2010 So the big storm of today has continued on & right now, it's wild, wooley & very noisy out there. And what's my stress head Mish doing .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KitKat Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 Must admit...i'm considering this for my younger GSD - his general state of being is somewhat aroused/anxious so it would be interesting to see how this would go on him... Anyone able to compare between the anxiety wrap and the thundershirt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poochmad Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 Hmm, interesting. We tried a 'scarf' that had lavendar and other herbs in it, but it didn't do anything. Might try this for Jindi as she has a fear of people (we just manage it and she's slowly getting better). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSD's 4EVER Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 (edited) The manufacturer of the Thunder Shirt saw that recent footage of Mish on You Tube & contacted me for permission to post it on their web site. I took Spirit & Tara to the market yesterday. It was drizzling & very wet, so Spirit wasn't all that happy to be out in the weather, hence the lack of smiles. I think the theory that the more they wear the shirt, the better they get is correct judging from the footage I got. Without her shirt, there's no way people can approach, pat & touch her this way ..... Edited November 27, 2010 by GSD's 4EVER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 (edited) Hmmm.. I have been reading this with interest, also the stories on their facebook page I loved your youtube vids, GSD'Sever edit - link fixed ( I hope) Edited November 27, 2010 by persephone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSD's 4EVER Posted November 27, 2010 Share Posted November 27, 2010 Thanks. I can't seem to get that FB link up. Is this stuff I've posted myself or somewhere else ? I'm especially pleased with Spirit's progress. I want to take her Obedience trialling next year, but the only thing holding her back has been "Stand For Exam". The first time an instructor came in to touch her 2 years ago, she just about went to take his hand off & went into a "back off" barking frenzy. She had never done this before they introduced SFE as we progressed through the classes. And then she got worse every week when it was our turn for the exercise. Needless to say, Spirit & I became very unpopular at club. I've worked on her & worked on her & only in the last couple of months she's decided to just stand there, looking miserable, ears back & just "endure" the exercise. Other than that, she's a great little worker who likes being in the ring with me & has the potential to do really well in the discipline. The shirt is achieving what I haven't been able to because the fear reaction comes from an emotional response created in Spirit's mind. By wearing the shirt, Spirit has a calmer experience in those stressful situations, thus reshaping her emotional reaction to fear situations & giving her a new "normal", which hopefully, will replace the fear response & become the normal (ie calm) reponse to people approaching her & touching her. And the best thing is, Spirit is doing this all by herself, without any human interaction at all. For those of you who are interested, here's the US web site. The little video at the top left hand corner is a pretty good demo of what happens. If the video doesn't appear, click on the "Intro" button. http://www.thundershirt.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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