Anxiety?

[banana506]

We renovated a house about a year and a half ago. Ddog was obviously there at the time and found the whole process very stressful. Especially all the tools being used etc.

She is a very sensitive dog anyway but this has made her really nervous. We have since moved into a new build house and although she's fine and settled in herself if she hears a bang or a loud noise she starts shaking uncontrollably and panting really heavily. She runs to me and hides bedding my legs or jumps on our lap. She's a Rhodesian ridgeback so not exactly small!! Anyway at first it was just when there was extreme noises but now it's literally anytime someone shuts a door or drops something on the hard floor. She even does it when there's a loud tv programme on! I think she needs something to calm her down but have had mixed advice from the vet!?
Does anyone have anything they can recommend to try and relax her a bit?x

That's a bit difficult because it does not seem a good idea to have her on medication permanently and there is always going to be a risk of a loud noise or bang any old day. I had some sort of tranquilliser tablet from the vet's for my previous dog's extreme fear during firework season and it worked fine but I would not have wanted her on it permanently (nor would the vet). At other times of year, she did have a great fear of loud explosions, thunder, unexpected bangs and I could not watch any television programme that included gunfire (she was a Greek dog from a mountain village where locals out hunting would amuse themselves by taking potshots at village cats and dogs). I just used to give her lots of cuddles and reassurance - during thunderstorms this went on for some time and she usually ended up climbing into the wardrobe and shaking like a leaf, poor thing. This did improve a bit in her senior years (possibly she'd gone a bit deaf!). I wonder if a dog trainer would know of a method to "acclimatise" your dog to loud noises?

This programme is meant to be good for teaching your dog that noises are ok www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/dog-behaviour-health/sound-therapy-for-pets

In terms of something to help calm her down, we've had some success with an Adaptil plug in, which is a calming pheromone. It's no panacea, but it has helped a bit and is worth a go IMO.