CalmingCaps, MuttMuffs and ThunderShirts! We look at doggy clothes designed to calm your dog and reduce noise induced anxiety and discuss more tips on how to distract your dog from their panic
Building on the advice we gave in our last blog…
I recently gave you some tips to help your noise sensitive or reactive dog when they panic because there are scary things around such as fireworks or thunderstorms. Or even heavy rain if you’re Gus….
Today I’m going to cover some more ideas to help dogs in the acute phase of reacting to noise. Let’s start with clothing.
There are some odd-looking hats for dogs called calming caps. These fit over and around your dogs head including the ears. They reduce the amount of visual stimulation, which may also be calming. Most commonly they are used to calm dogs who get hyper aroused by car rides, but they can be useful for noise sensitive dogs too.
Then there are Mutt Muffs – ear muffs for dogs, which cover the ears to reduce incoming noises. They are commonly used in dogs travelling by plane.
Clothing to encircle and calm your dog
Some people have seen an improvement with a garment that encircles your dog’s body, called a Thundershirt. This has to be close fitting, even tight, or it doesn’t work. It has been shown to significantly reduce heart rate. This might be useful for dogs who you can help relax by giving them a hug. If hugging makes your dog worse, obviously, don’t try this one. You can also make your own wrap using a wide bandage – check out the TTouch wrap for more details.
The Anxiety Wrap covers more of the chest and shoulders than a thundershirt in larger dogs. There’s also the Storm Defender. This doesn’t apply pressure like the others, but is a cape with a metallic lining that, it is claimed, protects the wearer from static electricity during storms.
These products are available from bigger pet shops and Amazon.
BUT (and it’s a big but as you can see) please do not use these during a thunderstorm or fireworks if your dog has never worn them before as they are more likely to add to your dog’s stress rather than help them.
Like any piece of equipment, help your dog to be happy wearing any of these you want to try before using them in an acute noisy situation.
What else can you do to help?
Other things you can do include:
- Distracting your dog – trying to stop them becoming scared and over aroused: keeping them under threshold in dog trainer terms. A training session, scent games, giving them problems to solve such as hiding food or a favourite toy, or giving them a marrow bone or other long lasting chew
- Take your dog for a long walk before any possibly scary event, to tire them out but also because exercise increase serotonin in your dog’s brain, which decreases anxiety and helps them cope better with stress
- Use certain essential oils or scents – some smells have an anti-anxiety effect and might help your dog relax, such as chamomile or lavender
- Adaptil collars or diffuser sprays can help some dogs – one study showed anxiety reduced by around half
The bottom line is that if your dog becomes scared by fireworks or thunderstorms or any other loud noise, try a combination of some of these – but don’t overwhelm your dog with too many at once!
Next time I’ll talk about how you can teach your dog to become more comfortable and cope better with scary noises.
Keep training and stay safe,
Carol
