Dog
Anxiety Attacks
If
you have read any stories on our website about our dogs you
may already be familiar with our Border Collie mix breed,
Tuxcito. Tuxcito is probably one of the smartest dogs we have
owned but he did have one huge problem, dog anxiety attacks.
Tux would start pacing, hyperventilating, and whining whenever
there was a rain storm approaching.
There
are other types of dog anxiety attacks due to separation from
owners or familiar surroundings but those attacks are
different. Both the causes and type of behaviors are more
dramatic. If you want to learn more about dog separation
anxiety, you can click on this link: Dog
Separation Anxiety Cures.
I
had seen dog anxiety attacks before with other people's dogs
but never to the level of Tux. As soon as he detected a rain
storm coming (and he would before any sign of a storm was
visible to us), he started what we came to call the rain
dance. No matter how we tried to calm him down, nothing helped.
This
went on for years and everything we tried didn't help at all.
Nothing like getting woke up in the middle of the night when
it starts to rain. It doesn't even have to be lightening or
thundering. We finally figured out that it wasn't the noise
but the rain. Animals often can detect a storm coming by the
pressure drop or change in humidity.
Now
Tuxcito knew a lot of tricks and was very easy to teach any
new ones. That's one of the puzzling aspects of his anxiety
attacks. I had pretty much given up on trying to figure out
how to calm him down since nothing I tried worked. Tux loved
to go to the local dog stores when we went to get toys or food
for him.
And
he was pretty popular since he was such an outgoing dog and
would perform for anyone who would watch. On one trip I was
talking to another dog owner about training and I happened to
mention his weak spot on rain storms. The dog owner had a
different breed but had the same dog anxiety attacks issue.
Another dog owner mentioned that he had a friend that cured
his dog of that problem.
So
we immediately inquired as to how they managed to overcome
this behavior. He said that it was the static electricity in
the air that the dogs were reacting to and that's why they
would start going crazy even before the rain started.
Evidently the air often becomes charged with static
electricity.
Many
dogs are sensitive to this static and it causes them to go
into an anxiety attack. So a possible cure is what's called a
dog anxiety wrap. The way it works is it eliminates the static
from affecting the dog. These Anxiety Wraps are a management device that use a technique called maintained pressure which helps to reduce stress and fear so your dog will become calm during any rain storm.
This maintained pressure acts on the sensory receptors that communicate with your dog's brain and his/her central nervous system. When wearing an Anxiety Wrap, the dog is protected from this static and it helps produce a calming of the dog's mind and body.
I'm
not sure exactly how this works from the dog's perspective but
many people have had good success with this kind of product.
We
shopped around and found a source for these dog anxiety wraps
that had high recommendations from buyers. They run about $38
dollars depending on the size of dog. The only drawback is you
need to keep it handy and be aware of possible rain storms
coming. As soon as your dog starts exhibiting fear, stress, pacing, anxiety, panting or nervousness
you put it on the dog.
Here's
the brand and type of dog anxiety wrap we use (click on link
to learn more):
The
difference in Tuxcito during a rain storm is huge. No more
going crazy running around and acting crazy, panting, and
whining. As soon as he starts any sign of distress we put his
dog anxiety wrap on and he calms down. I highly recommend you
give one a try and see how your dog reacts. It's been a real
solution for us and many other dog owners we know with a dog
that goes crazy during any rain storm.
