Thundershirts are Go!

This is not a paid review. I was not asked to write this. I am not receiving anything for writing it. I was not even the one that suggested we buy Thundershirts. It turns out they worked really well for our dogs, but your experience may vary.

Last week when we were in a pet store looking for a pet barrier for the wagon, C noticed Thundershirts, and that they mentioned they helped with anxiety on car rides. While neither Larry nor June are terribly awful car dogs, Larry does seem to be quite anxious in the car. I mentioned that from my reading, it seemed that Thundershirts worked for some dogs and did not for others, but it couldn’t hurt us to try. The nice lady at the pet store also mentioned that they had a 45 day manufacturer’s return policy, so that if they didn’t work for us, we could return them, no questions asked.

We bought two smalls and ended up going back to trade one of those for a medium for June- while she’s only 35lbs, she has a barrel chest and wide shoulders, and the small would not fit her.

On Saturday morning, we put the dogs in their Thundershirts, put their harnesses over them, got in the car and headed for the dog park. We first noticed that maybe they were doing something when we stopped at a coffee stand on the way to the park. Larry reacted, but not nearly as much as we would have expected.

After an hour at the dog park, we loaded back in the car and started on our 4 hour drive. For the most part, both dogs settled nicely in the back. Larry had a good two hours of sleeping in him after the dog park, and after that needed a break about once an hour. But he was nowhere near as anxious as he is on normal car rides (though highway driving is different from town driving).

We reached our destination quite pleased with the Thundershirts. We could not guarantee they did anything since we had never taken the dogs on a road trip before, but we agreed they handled it better than we had expected, and credited the Thundershirts.

The real test, though, came on our drive home on Sunday. We had a tire issue that caused us to spend close to two hours at a random truck stop. Because we had to access the spare tire, we had to clear out then entire back area that the dogs had been using. Larry was still able to settle in the front seat while we waited and sleep. He was not happy while the tow truck guy was there changing our tire, but that was going to be the case unless he was actually sedated.

In the end, we came away from our trip with only one problem with the Thundershirt- it may actually be too good at keeping Junebug calm. She is a pretty good car dog most of the time anyway, but she likes to look out the window, and will complain if she wants attention. She spent pretty much the entire time sleeping in the back, not even reacting when a good bounce caused her to land on top of Larry and he sat up and growled/barked. Even when we made stops, it was not long before she wanted to get right back up in the car and go to sleep.

Overall, we had a great road trip, and the Thundershirts made it much more enjoyable for us, and the dogs.

ehunt3 says:

May 28, 2013 at 9:14 am

So glad it worked for your pups! I bought one for Riley last year because she's terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks. She just shuts down and shakes uncontrollably. She won't eat or drink while she's having an "episode," which is totally unlike her! Unfortunately, I didn't figure out that it really didn't work for her until after the 45 day money back guarantee was already over…I kept trying it, thinking she just needed some time to let it work, but it never did. 🙁 I ended up giving it away to a rescue group, hoping it could help some of their dogs. I was very disappointed it didn't work for Riley (and that I spent $40 on the crazy thing!).

This is probably the third post I've read just this week where the Thundershirt worked for someone's dog(s), so hopefully Riley was just in the minority there!! 🙂

ErinShanendoah says:

May 28, 2013 at 11:41 am

It really is a hit or miss, as far as I\’ve read. You are not the only blogger I know of for whom the Thundershirts haven\’t worked.
You might try DAP – dog appeasing pheremone – if you haven\’t already. It worked wonders for our Aussie\’s seperation anxiety.
1. ehunt3 says:
  
  May 28, 2013 at 2:29 pm
  
  I haven't tried DAP, but have heard of it! I use Pet Naturals of Vermont Calming treats–Riley gets 2 of them at the onset of a storm (or an hour ahead of time if the Weather Channel is predicting a pretty good chance of thunderstorms ahead of time). They seem to help some, but doesn't completely take the anxiety away. The only thing is that they take about an hour to kick in and if I don't know a thunderstorm is coming, she suffers for the first hour of it. And, if I'm not quick enough, she won't eat them if she's too frightened.
  
  I will have to check out the DAP–thanks for the tip! 🙂

jackiebouchard says:

May 28, 2013 at 11:43 am

Hmmm. I've been thinking of trying one of these. We don't get thunderstorms here (kinda wish we did – I love a good thunderstorm; probably because we don't get them!), but Rita has some anxiety in different situations. I didn't realize they had a 45 day guarantee. Will definitely need to try one. Thanks for the informative post!

Lindsay says:

June 19, 2013 at 9:43 am

Interesting to hear how they worked for your dogs. Ace isn't scared of Thunderstorms, so I would also use it for car rides as you did, since that's when he tends to show anxiety – if we're going somewhere exciting. Even his winter vest, which fits very tightly, seems to make him mellow out so I can see how the TS might help.

I'm hoping to interview a few dog owners who have tried the TS for their dogs for an upcoming blog post. Would you be interested in taking part?

ErinShanendoah says:

June 19, 2013 at 9:53 am

I'd love to take part in your TS interview.
I might try them for 4th of July this year. Usually, just giving the dogs the ability to "den" helps them tremendously, but Larry only wants to den under blankets next to me, and I don't necessarily want to be under blankets, or in bed for the evening at 7pm.