Hi guys…
About 3 months ago I rescued my second shelter JRT. When i get a dog from the shelter I anticipate SOME behavioral issues and am typically pretty patient and competent when dealing with these issues.
This new dog is 95% awesome. She’s 5 years old, 9.5 lbs, and tons of fun. Plays when you want, relaxes when you want her to, and is very sweet and good with both my 10 year old JRT who can be a crotchety old man and my MIL’s 8 month old rambunctious German Shepard. She’s good off leash on the 1000 acres we live on, and isn’t a yapper.
The PROBLEM is that she is the most reactive dog I have ever had when it comes to storms. this goes beyond shaking, and fear. when there is even a tiny bit of lightening, she goes off of the deep end. She jumps on you in bed, and runs from room to room, from WINDOW to WINDOW, barking frantically at the lightening. It is worse when there is thunder. Sometimes, she does it if it is just raining hard. Putting her inside an interior bathroom with no windows, her bed, and a toy does NOT help. She barks and jumps up against the door for HOURS. It’s like once she starts the madness it just doesn’t stop.
Ace does not help. Thundershirt does not help. Putting her where she cannot see/hear these things does not help. Comforting her does not help. Yelling at her does not help. Ignoring her does not help.
This wouldn’t be an issue if it was an occasional thing, or if i could really even anticipate it. Where I live, we have random storms ALL SUMMER LONG. They come in the middle of the night, without much warning, and at completely random intervals (i mean, it’s the weather…) I don’t want to drug her every night just in case and I really want to start getting good night’s sleep again! she’s been set off 3 nights in a row now and I’m getting tired…and hubby, who was pretty fine with only one geriatric dog, is getting cranky. He threatened to go put her in the car last night or sleep there himself…:no:
Anyway, sorry for the novel. I’m desperate and tired and hopefully someone has some great ideas for me!
Thanks in advance.
several ideas.
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don’t ace her again. ever. that will LOWER her inhibitions and make it worse.
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try melatonin, but you need to dose her an hour or so before if possible. I’ll have to look up the dosage. I know several people that found it effective, my dog did not respond to it so I quit.
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get to a vet behaviorist and tell them what you have and see if they can’t prescribe a cocktail for you. I say vet/behaviorist because this is a behavior based issue and one drug most likely won’t be effective and it needs to be prescription based.
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=701989&sk=&date=& &pageID=2
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=701989&sk=&date=&pageID=3
eta: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=701989&sk=&date=&pageID=4
Melatonin worked for my 2 dogs that were scared of storms. Dosage was 1 mg per 20 lbs of weight up to 3 mg, (not to exceed 6 mg for very large dogs).
Be aware that Melatonin comes in both 1 mg and 3 mg pills.
thanks guys…can I just give her the melatonin you can buy from GNC? or do I have to get it from the vet? I might give it a try tonight:)
you can buy the OTC melatonin
Have you tried a thundershirt? I know a few people who have had success with those.
My greyhound has thunderstorm issues. She’s not NEARLY as bad as yours though. Melatonin helps ours a bit (I give it to her daily and add an extra 3mg pill if I am expecting storms), but I wouldn’t expect it to be a miracle cure for your pup if she’s as bad as you say. It might help though. It’s worth a shot since you can get it anywhere. I’m not sure of the dosage for your little pup, but we give our 72-pound girl 3mg a day + 3mg on top of that for storms, and she never has any sleepy side effects (and the vet okayed it). I know some greys that are on 3 3mg pills per day, but they are obviously much larger dogs = ) It’s a pretty safe drug as far as I can tell.
A Thundershirt seems to help her marginally, but you said you’ve already tried that.
Another thing that might help a smidge, one of those DAP diffusers: http://www.petcomfortzone.com/dog_home.php Some people try to make a safe spot for them (some dogs seem to like the tub or a walk in closet - NOT locked in though, that can compound the issue, they are there by choice and free to leave), and then put the diffuser near there.
Again, it seems likely your dog is not going to be helped by these little tricks, so I would second the suggestion to go to a vet behaviorist to see what advice they have. Some people have had a lot of luck with meds + training to the point they can eventually get off of the meds.
Thanks everyone. I’m gonna hit GNC tomorrow for the Melatonin. Bort, do you see a difference in your dog daily by giving it to her every day? I love this little dog’s spark (wouldn’t have gotten another JRT if i didn’t want personality!) and i don’t want to lose any of that- that being said, our thunderstorms are random so it might be safest to give her a dosage every day. PS- LOVE me some greyhounds:) If i wasn’t so mobile and could have a bigger doggie, they’re probably one of my first choices.
The diffuser things are interesting…i’m gonna look a little more into that.
I have a call in to my vet, who is going to run a blood panel (read:$$) and prescribe accordingly. I am very interested in more “alternative” therapies though, as I don’t like drugging ANY of my animals unless absolutely necessary, so if anyone else has any more ideas, keep them coming!!
Once again, thanks everyone!
My dog that is afraid of storms seems to be most comfortable in his crate during a storm (it’s always his safe spot any time he’s worried. And he’s a worrier. Does you JRT have a safe spot or crate where she feels comfortable.
Also, I know it sounds silly but I rub dryer sheets at first sign of a storm and it seems to help (supposedly something about the static electricity associated with storms)
[QUOTE=pinkpony321;5678503]
Thanks everyone. I’m gonna hit GNC tomorrow for the Melatonin. Bort, do you see a difference in your dog daily by giving it to her every day? I love this little dog’s spark (wouldn’t have gotten another JRT if i didn’t want personality!) and i don’t want to lose any of that- that being said, our thunderstorms are random so it might be safest to give her a dosage every day. PS- LOVE me some greyhounds:) If i wasn’t so mobile and could have a bigger doggie, they’re probably one of my first choices.
The diffuser things are interesting…i’m gonna look a little more into that.
I have a call in to my vet, who is going to run a blood panel (read:$$) and prescribe accordingly. I am very interested in more “alternative” therapies though, as I don’t like drugging ANY of my animals unless absolutely necessary, so if anyone else has any more ideas, keep them coming!!
Once again, thanks everyone![/QUOTE]
Interestingly enough, I started our girl on it for her bald butt = ) Not having a lot of hair seems to be super common in retired racers, and I read a lot of fellow greyhound owners had had good luck using 3mg of melatonin per day to increase hair growth. It certainly worked for our girl. I never noticed any behavioral side effects with her, but I know some people who’ve said it made their pups a bit drowsy (that seems to be less common than no noticeable effect though). It might be that we give our girl hers at night (and she’s your typical greyhound couch potato anyway), but we never noticed a difference.
I find that a couple of Benadryl or an extra melatonin help her a tad for storms (in that case, sleepy is good, haha).
And thanks for the greyhound love = ) She’s been the best dog we could have imagined (her only vice is hating t-storms) and has been perfect for our lifestyle. We have a small apartment and not a lot of extra time for exercising a hyper dog. She is content to sleep on the couch all day (I usually come home and eat lunch with her because I miss her pretty face) and then hop in the car after work to go hang out at a friend’s house or our local pubs, haha. She’s surprisingly small for such a big girl! She curls up like my cats - one of her favorite spots is our cushy armchair, she snuggles up in it just like a kitten, too cute!
Good luck with your pup! Hopefully you can find something that helps. Besides the lack of sleep, it is stressful to see them going through that kind of anxiety and not being able to help.
Another vote for melatonin here. My guy isn’t quite as bad as yours-he doesn’t do the barking, but does jump on and off the bed when storms hit. We watch the forecast, first sign of a storm he gets 3 mg (he is technically only 50 pounds, but the vet suggested 3 mg). It is important to get it in 'em before they get too reactive, much easier to maintain the calm than restore it in my experience.
Bort-how long did you give the melatonin before you started seeing hair results? Ironically, we started our dog on it for hair loss. He’s a total pound puppy, but he looks like he’s got some grey hound or whippet or something in him. Is your dog’s hair loss seasonal at all?
[QUOTE=allintexas;5680707]
My dog that is afraid of storms seems to be most comfortable in his crate during a storm (it’s always his safe spot any time he’s worried. And he’s a worrier. Does you JRT have a safe spot or crate where she feels comfortable.
Also, I know it sounds silly but I rub dryer sheets at first sign of a storm and it seems to help (supposedly something about the static electricity associated with storms)[/QUOTE]
Yeah, apparently some dogs are sensitive to the buildup of static electricity before/during a storm. That’s why you hear stories of dogs ripping apart cabinets to get behind kitchen/bathroom sinks, the copper pipes ground the area.
This cape addresses that.
We’ve only had our girl since January, so I can’t be sure if it’s seasonal or not. I’d imagine it’s not, but she did go through a short shedding season a couple of months ago.
It was maybe a month or so before I saw noticeable results I think. However, we also started adding fish oil to her food about a week after the melatonin, so it’s hard to know which was most effective. I think the fish oil definitely helped the quality of her coat (minimized the dry skin and turned her fur into velvety soft bunny fur). We ran out of melatonin and I thought I might just take her off of it, and within about a week or two, she was getting some thinning spots on her bum (her major bald area, haha). Plus, she was a bit more anxious about certain things, so our vet said it was fine to just put her back on it. So I think the melatonin might have contributed more to her hair growth than the fish oil.
Another thing we used for about 6 weeks that was helpful was cocount oil (organic, virgin unrefined kind). She LOVED it for about 6 weeks and then decided she would not eat it anymore, haha.
So now we stick with fish oil and melatonin, and her bum is mostly furry, her neck keeps hair on it, and her completely naked belly even grew some peach fuzz = )
Has anyone tried the “storm defender” product?
Link to a review of “Storm Defender”
http://doesitwork.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2008/09/11/4362026-superhero-cape-fights-dogs-storm-fears
Let us know of the Melotonin works. I have one who panics in storms…she isn’t as bad as yours, just won’t let you sleep. Paws you and pants all over you.
Yours sounds like my friend’s dog. She ended up tearing her ACL in one of her storm rage fits.
