Time for the Thundershirt

Change is tough for for a lot of dogs and for Langley, it's tougher than most. While most of us celebrate these changes to routine - family visiting, time off work, lots of excitement - for the furry members of our family it really can get to be a bit much.

The addition of holiday decorations was a bit unsettling for him, and the new dogs (Apple and Salish) in the house was exciting and fun but sometimes a bit too exciting. I think the final straw for him was our son arriving home - something that made him crazy happy - but "crazy" nonetheless.

I could see he was getting stuck in the anxiety so today, when the girls started in on yet another round of wrestling, I put his Thundershirt on. For most dogs the Thundershirt just takes things down a notch, but I've recently discovered that for Langley it is extremely relaxing.  He comes over and will lie down next to me and chill - a concept that I formerly believed was not a possibility for him.

The Thundershirt works by applying even pressure on the body, much like swaddling a young baby works.

So after he got his shirt on, he played a bit with Apple and then climbed up next to me on the couch to just hang out while the girls wrestled on my other side.

Then, I decided to go downstairs and work on my laptop. I figured I'd try to take him with me and see if the calm continued. It did and he enjoyed another full 45 minutes of chill. 

It's a great tool for anxious dogs and if you're interested, you can read more about it and why it works on their Website.