Thunderstorm phobia: a leading cause of dog anxiety
With the same smarts as the average toddler, our furry friends our easily frightened by loud, sudden noises and flashing lights. With hearing 4 times better than ours and a sense of smell out of this world, its no wonder thunderstorm phobia is so common.
Canine thunderstorm phobia is a condition characterised by extreme panic. Although there are many efficacious medicinal therapies, not all owners want to rely on medications alone. In a recent issue of The Journal of Veterinary Behaviour a research paper was published by a team at Tufts University which demonstrated a clear significant effect of The Anxiety Wrap (Animals Plus LLC, Huntington, IN). After 5 uses of the Anxiety Wrap 89% of owners reported that it was at least partially effective in treating their dogs. 80% of owners reported that they would continue to use the Anxiety Wrap. Since this report was published there have been anecdotal reports that the Anxiety Wrap has applications for other forms of situational anxiety.
When using any product we must always be careful to differentiate between calmness and learned helplessness. The phenomenon of learned helplessness occurs when an animal is forced to be exposed to an uncontrollable situation, where no changes in its behaviour affect a change in the environment. This means that if the dog really didn’t like the sensation of the wrap yet nothing it did could change the fact that it was wearing it, it potentially could shut down and become apathetic (emotionless).
Careful introduction of the Anxiety Wrap in a positive way will ensure all associations trigger positive emotional outcomes.
Thunderstorm phobia frequently occurs in dogs that also find it hard to be alone. Don’t delay in getting the right help for your dog anxiety as with time stress pathways strengthen and are harder to resolve. At Kalmpets we have pride ourself on our holistic co-management approach. Let our dog experts ease your dog anxiety today.