We adopted all three of our dogs from American Lab Rescue, a fantastic organization which finds southern dogs in need of homes and ships them all over the country to be adopted. Jasmine was rescued from a high kill shelter in Louisiana. We fell in love with her from her adoption photo because she had this giant tongue sticking out and looked as if she was smiling. We soon discovered that the reason she looked like she was smiling in her picture was because she was most likely panicking when the photo was being taken.
Jasmine is the sweetest and most anxious dog I have ever met. She is afraid of fire alarms and being left home alone. She is afraid of car rides and loud noises and snow plows. She panics when Sean and Dylan go upstairs to dance around in our bedroom because the sounds of their footsteps sound like thunder.
She is petrified of storms. Petrified.
Whenever it rains Jasmine immediately jumps into my lap and trembles uncontrollably until the storm clears. We tried several methods to try to calm her: anxiety medication prescribed by the vet, keeping her in a covered crate when it rains, DAP diffusers which give a calming dog pheromone scent, sensitivity training. Nothing worked until I bought her a Thundershirt.
Friends ask me all of the time, "Does the Thundershirt really work?". I've heard that it works on certain dogs but not on others but for our Jazzy girl it is a life changer. She still gets nervous and shakes during storms even when wearing her Thundershirt, but her anxiety level transforms from severe terror down to a gentle worry. When she's wearing her Thundershirt she becomes calm enough after a while that she climbs off of my lap and falls asleep on the floor. There were nights that I spent the entire night hugging her close before we bought her a Thundershirt and she trembled for eight straight hours.
We're having a rainy Friday and Jasmine is adorned in her shirt. So far there has been no thunder so she isn't too afraid, but she still enjoys wearing her shirt. She seems to feel safe.
I cannot recommend the Thundershirt enough. This simple $40 velcro garment has improved the quality of life for our dog and has given us a more peaceful household. If your dog suffers from anxiety this shirt may or may not work, but Jasmine and I give high praise for this product. Buy it.
I was not paid for this blog entry and it is no way endorsed by Thundershirt or any of its affiliates. I love this product and thought you should know about it. You can purchase a shirt for your dog at Thundershirt.com or Amazon.com. Your dog will thank you.