Thunder Fear? Cure Noise Anxiety in Older Dogs!

With Independence Day right around the corner, I am reminded of the time our dog ran away from our backyard one 4th of July. Our thoughtless next door neighbors decided it would be fun to shoot bottle rockets into our backyard at our dog. He was only about five years old at the time--not yet a senior dog but no longer a pup either. He bolted under our deck to escape our fenced yard. We were finally called from someone who found him dazed in an apartment parking lot a few miles from our house. From that day on for the rest of his life, Tikki was terrified of gunshots during hunting season, fireworks and firecrackers and thunderstorms.

Friends were recently discussing on Facebook a new calming shirt that dogs can wear during thunderstorms or when exposed to other loud noises like fireworks. It is called the Thundershirt. It is said to work miracles and when worn during noisy events it will quickly calm a frightened dog. How much easier it would have been during the holidays as well as hunting and storm season if we had had this for our dog. Even into his older years he remained frightened by loud noises.

We still have our older cat and like Tikki he hides during a storm...I think we may try out the Thundershirt for cats!

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