life, the universe, and donna

My review isn’t nearly as funny as this one, so you should just go read that. But I’ll add my voice to the “Huh, this actually seems to work.”

The above link is actually where I first heard about Thundershirts — I’m in the same community as the above poster when she asked for referrals for it, and the response was pretty positive. It’s based on the same premise as weight blankets and hug machines for autistic kids, squeeze chutes for cattle, the Tellington TTouch, and a variety of research by Temple Grandin. And, because even though it seems odd, it makes sense to me. I like the lead apron at the dentists office. The weighted feeling feels nice. I like having 2-3 blankets piled on me when I sleep, not just because I get cold (although that’s a part of it) but because the weight feels nice.

So. I don’t know why it works, but I at least sort of get it. Anyway, the first link up there, with the review of Sodai’s reaction to the Thundershirt, I decided it was worth the cost — especially since, thanks to Phantom Publishing (thanks you, Nicole!), I was able to find someone who would ship it to Canada without charging almost me as much as the shirt itself.

Still, it feels a bit ridiculous. What, a grey Star Trek uniform shirt is going to calm my dog down? Right. Sodai’s owner is right on with the uniform comparison — I half expect her to perform the Picard Maneuver as soon as I put it on. Er, the one listed under “Background” on that page, not the bit about warping.

But hey, in my quest to soothe the anxious beast, I’ll try just about anything.

We didn’t have quite the same reaction as Sodai. Justice did not immediately roll over and transform into a stoner. I purposely made sure she stayed calm & low key — no playing in the Thundershirt, I want this thing associated with being calm and laid back as much as humanly possible. Because she alert barks about weird noises, I also didn’t want her wearing it any time I couldn’t immediately pop up and soothe her back down (she’ll calm down right away if I can stand up and talk to her for a few seconds, but if I’m say… playing warcraft in the middle of a boss fight, or at a soapmaking spot where if I stop, I’ll ruin the entire batch, it’s not ideal.)

So we’ve only tried it out a few times. And initially, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I only had her wearing it in situations where she’s already fairly calm, so it was hard to see any result. And that’s fine, I don’t want to REALLY test it until she’s comfortable with it and associating it with not flipping out. So far so good. She seems pretty okay with it. I was almost considering taking her to the vet in it, but I really want to work up to high-omg-crazy anxiety situations with it.

I put it on her today while we were sitting around at home making sure that she didn’t have any adverse reaction to her new meds. Before I put it on, she was alert barking every few minutes at Every Little Noise, and generally driving me up the wall. In fact, it was half the reason I put it on her, just on the off chance she would jesus christ dog, shut up, even a little.

Aside from a couple of minor growfs… she didn’t bark once the entire time it was on (about an hour and a half). Holy crap.

I thought maybe it was a fluke and maybe it was just super quiet (in the middle of the day in my building? right — we have cement walls and *I* can’t hear much, but she sure can) and as I was getting ready to go into work, I took it off. Immediately back to alert barking at Every. Stupid. Noise. I don’t mind alert barking when there’s something to alert to — like, someone coming in the door, or very loud noises. But little tiny day to day noises like OTHER PEOPLE DARING TO EXIST WITHIN AMAZING DOG HEARING EARSHOT? Shut up, dog.

Well, huh. So far, this looks positive. I’m planning to escalate the use of Thundershirt with “things that make her anxious” and see if it helps. Admittedly, with us starting the anti-anxiety meds at the same time, it’ll be hard to see what’s helping, but this isn’t really a scientific study… this is “how do I help my dog not to see the world as evil” and “what works for us.” So far, I’m impressed.

Also, thank god, Justice is super thin… and has no love handles with it on. (Sorry, Sodai! Your muffin-top is very pretty…)