The Education of Ben

[mysunwolf]

One of my LGDs is afraid of loud noises and goes into hiding but no outward signs of panic so I let her be. My Border Collies on the other hand are going to bark that thunder right out of the sky. They run back and forth like crazy dogs and bark bark bark bark bark !!!!! I won't say that they are afraid of it but they sure get worked up. I HATE it when a storm comes through in the middle of the night.

Oh boy, my border collie does this too! We joke that she is telling the big, loud dog in the sky that she is big and scary too. She gets really worked up about it, even with our calming training. If she ever gets unreasonable about it, I'll be sure to try this "thunder shirt," I've never seen one in action before.

 

[Beekissed]

never heard of a thundershirt....how does it work? Pictures of Ben sporting his new duds?

I'll post a pic of it soon! It's supposed to snug them up like a swaddled baby and give them a feeling of comfort while they go through the anxiety inducing moment like loud noises, riding in cars, etc. The reviews on them were impressive enough for me to consider it as an option for him, as he seems to be getting worse with his anxiety levels when there is thunder or gun shots(there will always be these triggers here, so he is going to have to learn to calm down on those or he won't be good for anything but holding down a couch for someone~not me, of course).

 

[goatgurl]

dstr#4 has a great dane that is afraid of thunder and I had suggested she try a thunder shirt for him. i'll have to tell her how well it worked for ben. still waiting for pictures... hint hint

 

[Beekissed]

dstr#4 has a great dane that is afraid of thunder and I had suggested she try a thunder shirt for him. i'll have to tell her how well it worked for ben. still waiting for pictures... hint hint

I've got a couple of pics of that first storm day but they aren't very good....was kind of waiting to get some better ones, but here they are.

This thing barely fits him across the chest and it's not quite long enough through the torso, so the XL is not really XL in my book. For a Great Dane, that doesn't have all that fur, it just might fit but they have that deep, deep chest, so she might want to look for an XXL to get a good fit.

 

[Baymule]

A thunder shirt. Who woulda thunk it? It's giving Ben a hug.

 

[goatgurl]

I sure hope he gets over his anxiety 'cause he's such a good boy and is becoming a great dog.

 

[Beekissed]

I've been putting it on him when it's supposed to thunderstorm but have not been able to observe this reaction to it these past few days. I'm getting ready to leave for town for a bit and it may thunderstorm while I'm gone, so I've put it on him and tied him up for good measure.

My boys will be coming out this week and I hope they bring their guns so I can put it on him for gunfire. I want to see how he reacts to it when he's wearing his shirt and if it seems to help him. We live out in the boonies, so gunfire is sort of the lay of the land hereabouts...a dog that spooks across his electric containment at a single shot from a .22 a half mile distant is a problem. Come hunting season he'll have to be tied both day and night if he can't resolve his fears.

Poor Ben is a city dog living a country dog's life, I'm afraid.

 

[Baymule]

I hope he can resolve his fears. Mine don't like thunder or gunfire either, but being fenced in, they can't run away.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Curious- did Ben act this way before he was neutered? When did this behavior start?

 

[Southern by choice]

Studies show that males after neuter seem to develop fear of thunderstorms. What was interesting is that it didn't seem to matter at what age the dog was neutered and they did not see the same results with spayed females.

One of our Pyr pups was fine- the new owners neutered him at around 2ish.... now he is terrified of the storms.... he gets out of his field and runs to the house, after the storm he goes back to his field.
They knew the stats and the risk but opted to neuter anyway.

I have noticed over the years many pyrs (intact) develop issues with storms. However there is no known cause of why a seemingly stable dog suddenly develops this. The magic age seems to be between 3-4.