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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

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Original poster

Thundershirt- is it really that simple?

56 replies

FaintlyBaffled · 08/01/2017 17:40

We've just cracked and bought one for DDog3.
She's excitable, licky, springy and hugely reactive outside the house. We've just put it on her and she's rooted to the spot bizarrely calm. We can stroke her without being drowned in dribble, she's not jumping up, in fact she's almost catatonic. I can hardly wait to try her outdoors
However hard I've looked, I can't seem to find any guidance on how we actually use it though. Should we keep it on all the time or use it only in situations where we know there's going to be an issue? ATM
I may never take it off as she's cheerfully pottering about the house and not causing mayhem in any shape or form. I'm worried that the effects will be diluted if we use it constantly, but perhaps prolonged periods of behaving "properly" may cause her to see that as normal (as we are hugely praising her at the moment for her calmness)
I really don't want to ruin this "miracle cure" by using it inappropriately.

OP posts:

floopyloopy · 08/01/2017 22:08

Just looking at the website - it says 8-10 hours. I'm thinking of getting one for my beagle. He goes very still when he has a jacket on, and I think a thunder shirt might help him settle at night.

Costacoffeeplease · 08/01/2017 22:17

I have a very reactive rescue dog, he has two thundershirts that we alternate so he has one on virtually all the time. He's so much calmer with one on - plus he's similar to a whippet so it keeps him a bit warmer too

Skinimum · 08/01/2017 22:53

How does it work?

Costacoffeeplease · 08/01/2017 23:14

It wraps them tight like a permanent hug😊

floopyloopy · 09/01/2017 10:51

I've just bought one after another tricky night. Wish me luck!

Op how is yours today?

Original poster

FaintlyBaffled · 09/01/2017 15:34

It's totally logical as a concept but the fact that it actually seems to work is a bit of a gob smacker

We left it on DDog3 all night and this morning she was happy to see us, pottering round and wagging her tail with the occasional spring into mid air, a far cry from fending off the leaping, licking whirlwind that she was! We've not had a chance to try it outdoors as it's raining and we categorically Don't Do Rain, plus the elderly ladies of the village with their little dogs are also tucked up warmly indoors. I hardly dare to hope that it will work as well outdoors as it does indoors. It will be so much easier to modify and adapt her behaviours if she is just calm enough to listen and sit still for two minutes

If all goes to plan then I think I will do as you did costa and buy two. DDog3 is part whippet so it does also have the added bonus of keeping the chill off her- result!

Good luck with yours floopy, let us know how you get on

OP posts:

floopyloopy · 09/01/2017 17:12

Got home and put it on. Remarkable!

Costacoffeeplease · 09/01/2017 17:20

Good remarkable?

floopyloopy · 09/01/2017 18:26

Yes! Left it on for an hour and he looked very dopey. Will see what tonight brings.

I'm wary of miracle cures as I wonder why hasn't everyone heard of it if it's so good, but maybe we're 'early adopters'

Costacoffeeplease · 09/01/2017 18:43

Brilliant!

We've had ours for a couple of years - when I first tried it he stood in it as if it was made of barbed wire I got it back out early last year and tried again and haven't looked back

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 09/01/2017 18:45

Do they come in December sizes?

Original poster

FaintlyBaffled · 09/01/2017 21:59

DH has just mused that perhaps she can't breathe which is curbing her wilder excesses
I do keep finding her just standing, staring vaguely into the middle distance which is both amusing and novel at the same time. Even dinner time is a lot less frantic though she still belches like a trooper

OP posts:

Costacoffeeplease · 09/01/2017 22:27

alleypalley · 10/01/2017 00:15

I've not heard of these before. I'm ordering one.

Original poster

FaintlyBaffled · 10/01/2017 01:16

I should be on commission

OP posts:

Usermuser · 10/01/2017 07:20

I've just ordered one too. When I Googled it, it seems to be mainly for anxious dogs. My dog has always seemed very confident but maybe I'm misreading him and actually the complete craziness and loss of self control and concentration and inability to settle when we visit someone else's house or when he encounters another dog (because he gets told off when he bolts to them and won't come back...) is partly stress-related and not just 'happiness'. Here's hoping...

floopyloopy · 10/01/2017 07:33

I think we're definitely on to something with ours. Much calmer and relaxed.

GinAndOnIt · 10/01/2017 07:50

Do you think one of these might help calm down a dog when visitors are around? GinDog is very very calm generally, but he goes wild when someone knows the door. If we put him out so he doesn't hear the door, he then runs laps round the room when you let him back in and he realises new people are there. He calms down after a while, but if the visitor is a child or someone wary of dogs, it's often too late to get them to warm to GinDog after his excited performance! I wonder if it would work if he wore one during that period but had it taken off the rest of the time.

GinAndOnIt · 10/01/2017 07:50

When someone knocks the door

MissTeriName · 10/01/2017 07:58

Hmm. I've got a super-anxious dog and bought one last year as a last resort. It took ages to get it on her (she's that flighty) and once it was finally on, her reaction was the same as you've reported. Just stood still and refused to move, gazing into the corner of the room. Which was great as she'd previously been climbing the walls due to a storm.
But now, as soon as she even sees it, she bolts, so I'm guessing she didn't like it at all. Stupid dog. Can't she tell it's good for us her?

Original poster

FaintlyBaffled · 10/01/2017 08:07

A tiny part of me thinks that it's a bit sad as it's just not her IYKWIM?
However she's nearly three now and I've never seen her so quiet since we rescued her at 16 weeks, which must feel good for her on some level.
I'm going to try her out in the village later after I've had a nap, the proof of the pudding will be in her reaction to the small yappy dogs that are currently top of her "Dogs I Categorically Do Not Trust" list

OP posts:

ChipInTheSugar · 10/01/2017 08:15

They perhaps have a similar effect to weighted blankets that anxious children can get? wonders about making a weighted shirt for DS

Original poster

FaintlyBaffled · 10/01/2017 08:21

I think so chip though it's described more like swaddling a baby.
DH has rather unkindly named it "DDog3's straitjacket" but on thinking about it I wonder if the principle was similar as well- surely for pure restraint you would simply use wrist restraints or cuffs?

OP posts:

MissTeriName · 10/01/2017 08:27

I agree with the 'it's not her' sentiment too. Fwiw my dog also behaves in a similar way when she has a collar on - I guess she just hates 'clothes'!

acornsandnuts · 10/01/2017 13:26

Just a quick question about sizing. My lab is at the very bottom of the club but guessing it works from being snug , do you think I should go for the next size down?

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