Background: I am a devoted dog mom of an Italian Greyhound/terrier rescue. She never had any noise phobias at all, until five years ago, she developed a learned negative reaction to sounds of any heat source, from my in-laws beagle. The poor beagle would go into sheer, full blown panic-attack mode with the sounds of the metal heating up in my in-laws wood burning stove. My baby had no prior reaction at all and was totally neutral to these sounds, but right before my eyes, I observed that she took on and learned and absorbed his terror, and within only a few days she developed the same exact terror. (Just like human kids, our fur babies learn from their peers, so be careful who they hang out with! ;) I regret that this new phobia has absolutely decimated me and my husband's home life for the past solid FIVE YEARS. My once ever cheerful, happy go lucky little pup developed full PTSD-like symptoms to sounds of ANY type of heat associated noises, like food ovens, forced central heating, fireplace, portable heaters, oil heaters, and for some reason, the sounds that absolutely triggered her fear like no other, is the tiny "click" that happens within a thermostat adjustment. I have no idea why that tiny sound does it, but boy does it. Her whole body goes into full, violent shaking, she sweats and pants, and her eyes go completely wild, and she paces and cannot be soothed at all. If she is alone, she looks for escape routes, as she experiences that she is in full danger. I have spent many hundreds of dollars buying and trying so many different quiet portable heaters so we don't have to freeze in the winters (I DESPISE being cold!), And racked up my heating bills instead of using our cheaper gas central heating, I tried using every expensive quiet electric heaters, but she was still a nervous wreck, so I even tried to just freeze with no heat in the winter to keep her calm, and wear ski clothes in the house. This is not a way to live!!!! We had a few traumatizing accidents where she actually climbed, ripped and broke out a very high window while I was at work, and escaped and ran across Highway 1 in traffic hour (Bay Area, NorCal). Thankfully, I have a puppy monitor I watch like a hawk and saw the whole thing happen and immediately left work to rescue her, although I feared the absolute worst, that she got flattened into a puppy pancake on the road. I probably lost ten years off my life witnessing that. Thankfully a human angel, a barista in a cafe was so kind to find her and keep her safe until I came. So as you can see, she was at level code red with her noise phobia, where she loses total self control and absolutely puts her life in danger and becomes hysterically suicidal to the dreaded sounds of the thermostat click and heat sources. I tried all the Bach's Flower essences, holistic calming remedies, herbs, CBD, homeopathy and although they work to a certain degree, they would not, and could not cure and rehabilitate her source fear. I eventually had to resort to my last and dreaded option, which was to eventually put her on Xanax, which broke my heart, because I am someone who believes to only use Allopathic/Western medicine for emergencies only. And we were in a state of emergency now, as she was putting herself in harm's way with her puppy PTSD. So now the question is....WHY didn't I try the thunder shirt earlier????? I was absolutely aware of it and considered it five years ago, but I read all the reviews for the dogs it didn't work for, and I assumed that the thunder shirt could probably only work for dogs with very minor anxiety, and NOT for dogs with full blown, sheer panic and PTSD reactions, so I didn't even try, and let five tortuous years slip by, trying every other method including damn drugs for my baby. Well, fast forward to now, as we have moved into a new home, and winter has come early this year, and I am just motivated to the max to rehabilitate my baby once and for all, and to help cure this damned root of evil fear, once and for all. I finally decided to give the ONE thing I haven't tried, a try, the thunder shirt. When I first got it, I decided to just put it on her for the first week, both for going out for walks, and inside the house, while NOT introducing the scary sounds/triggers yet. I wanted her to develop a positive association with the thunder shirt, and to feel and enjoy it's comforting hug. I also would talk in very cheerful and enthusiastic tones to her when getting it out and putting it on, so she would wag her tail. I also, would do something very out of the ordinary and give her her favorite treats, and fresh cooked chicken when putting it on. (She usually only gets her treats as dessert after her meal. I never give treats at random) I did this for a solid week before introducing any triggers. I would keep the thunder shirt on for 30 minutes each time, then take it off. She definitely developed a liking to this thunder shirt business! After seven days, I put the thunder shirt on right before her first meal. With the shirt in, I fed her meal, and she always gets very excited for dessert time afterwards. I prepared her treat by cutting them into tons of teeny pieces, and then throwing them all over the floor. Right at this moment I turned on the central heating! She continued to just eagerly look for and gobble up her dessert. She didn't even care the heater came on! I watched in amazement, yet was careful to observe and be prepared if she got triggered. After she was done with her treats she did notice the heater was on, and I could see her brain trying to decide what to do. She just decided to sit down with me!!!! I touched her back, and there was ZERO shivers, no panting, no pacing. When she is usually triggered, no amount of soothing from me helps, and she can never just sit!! I kept the heater on for about half hour, then turned it off, and took the shirt off about 15 minutes after I turned off the heater. The most amazing thing is I have done this exact method three times now, and fast forward two months, the thunder shirt seems to have REHABILITADED and cured her phobia. I NO LONGER have to put the thunder shirt on, it almost seems that it just completely rewired her negative association, and she relearned how to self soothe and most importantly, she doesn't associate sounds of heat sources with life threatening terror! BIG IMPORTANT TIP TO SET YOUR DOGGY UP FOR SUCCESS!!! I also have three comfy, and cozy doggy beds placed strategically in different places that she can use as self-soothing spaces, as she is re-learning how to calmy self soothe. I made sure these dog beds are placed as far from the trigger sounds as possible. These safe spaces used to not work prior to the thunder shirt, but now thanks to the thunder shirt, she actively uses them as she understands and has relearned how to cultivate that inner Zen when fears arise. I now bake freely, use the heater, use the coffee machine, all the life affirming heating appliances with total ease, and best of all, we're not all freezing, walking on egg shells, and being miserable! I got my brave, happy go lucky puppy back, and am SO grateful for this thunder shirt. It has literally changed our lives. I so highly recommend this product, and highly recommend you introduce it with a positive prodocol in mind, as I did. I do not think it can just be strapped on, then throwing the trigger to the dog and immediately be expected to produce the miracle of a calm, collected pup. No. Have a game plan, the psychology of fear is deep and complex in dogs and humans, so use intelligent wisdom, patience and compassion to assist your fur baby. It WILL pay off !! Thank you thunder shirt for giving us our peaceful and happy lives back, after five years in hell.
