Stormy Weather

It's March and I am beginning to desensitize Deuce to the noise of thunder. Deuce, like so many dogs, is afraid of storms. Be it the noise, the lightning itself or potentially all the atmospheric conditions that accompany a storm.

Deuce’s thunder phobia (or storm phobia, perhaps more accurately) is not really bad, but it is bad enough that it warrants doing some counter-conditioning and desensitization. The poor guy will come to whoever is around in search of some needed comfort. If the storm is really bad he becomes almost catatonic. He won't move, take treats and on a few occasions he wouldn't even play tug.

Helping dogs with thunderstorm phobia is actually complicated because there are many factors surrounding this fear that we cannot control. Now, if we do some work before the season begins we might really have a chance at making a dent in their well-being.

The trick here is to create calming & reassuring circumstances for the dog that can be replicated when a storm might strike. If we wait to console the dog once he is afraid, our efforts will probably accomplish very little.

I am beginning my protocol early, before the season is in full swing, by having Deuce wear a ThunderShirt for soothing and fun activities. I put on his ThunderShirt just before serving him a meal, just before we are going outside to play Frisbee or soccer and I remove it afterwards. Deuce accepts the ThunderShirt with no problem, which is great because he is one of those boys that do not like having too much on him. I guess he is not an accessories kind of guy!

The goal here is to have him associate the wearing of the ThunderShirt via multiple pairing with something fun and pleasant so that when the storm season begins, I can help him feel a bit more relaxed by putting the shirt on when I know a storm is forthcoming.

I like to think of and explain it to my clients to make the ThunderShirt become some sort of “magical  attire”- almost like a “protection-shield” - embedded with “magical-powers” due to the many pairings made with positive experiences.

In addition to working with this, I will begin working on desensitizing him to the sound of thunder by playing a thunder CD again under pleasant and fun circumstances for him.

Now, the timing and methodology here is crucial! In order for us to have a real chance of pairing together two (or more) distinctive stimuli we MUST set it up appropriately: The scary-stimulus, in this case the sound of thunder, should always produce the fun /soothing stimulus. So I begin to play the thunder CD at a low yet discernible level and after the sound has begun I proceed to engage Deuce in fun & games.

If the CD begins at the same time or just after the game (fun stimulus) our chances of any pairing worth influencing his emotional state will be nil.

It is also important to keep in mind that starting desensitization and counter-conditioning program once the storm season has begun will most likely also disappoint. The dog is already anxious and thus less capable to learn. On the same token if the ThunderShirt is only used when a storm is forthcoming it will only take a couple of times of fitting the dog with the item before he starts anticipating the storm - real bad news for the dog. :(

So, do not delay the process of teaching your dog - if he suffers from thunder-phobia teach him or her that storms are not that bad by carefully find things your dog loves to do with the best replications of stormy conditions.

Life Has Simple Remedies… If You Are Willing To Try

Rioja has been recovering from demodex, also known as demodectic mange – a common infestestation of the dog’s skin of tiny mites. When we adopted Rioja from the Española Humane Shelter she had been cleared from Demodex but once at home, it resurfaced. She also developed a secondary infection on the neck! Poor Rioja – shewas itching and, of course, the more she scratched the worse the infection.

Her veterinarian, Dr. Moreau, gave her a dose of antibiotics and a cortisol based spray. Normally, I learned, dogs with mange should not be given cortisol because this suppresses even more their immune system but in this case, the topical spray did the trick.

Another interesting thing I learned about dogs with skin conditions and persistent itchy skin is that even pressure on the body- say the dog wearing a comfortably tight t-shirt or the now well-known Thundershirt™ will give them relief from the itching and that is a really good thing indeed. Dr. Moreau mentioned that she did not know how it worked but that it does and that this is something vets have known for a long time. Not only was I willing to give this easy remedy a shot, but I had some suspicion I knew why it worked.

There have been studies done about the benefits of a certain kind of pressure on the body- since not all pressure is the same. I am familiar with the literature because of the work I do with the Tellington TTouch™ method.

Kathy Cascade, a physical therapist and one of the TTouch instructors that I studied under, explains the phenomena of touch and the learning process as follows: “One way we can understand this process is to examine how the nervous system takes in and makes sense of information. This is the function of sensory integration, and it is what allows us to learn, and make adaptive responses to each new experience or situation”.

Cascade goes on explaining that the tactile system is very specific. We can perceive temperature, pain, and vibration, as well as the difference between light touch and pressure touch. The pressure touch receptors are located just under the skin surface, and they allow us to detect where we were touched, for how long, and how much pressure was applied. This is the kind of pressure touch (used in the Tellington TTouch, method), which tends to be calming. BTW, If you are interested in her article, email me and I will send you a copy.

Temple Grandin PhD, well known in the animal welfare world for her compassionate work with livestock, has also written and experience firsthand the calming benefits of pressure. Grandin is a high-functioning autistic so she has made use in her own life of what she calls “the squeeze-machine”. In her article, Calming Effects of Deep Touch Pressure in Patients with Autistic Disorder, College Students, and Animals, Grandin explains that, “Deep pressure stimulation of diverse forms have been reported to have calming effects in a variety of animals. For example, stroking and scratching the flank of a pig has long been known to induce inactivity (Marcuse and Moore 1944), and pigs spontaneously seek body contact against a solid surface (Hartsock 1979).

Pressure applied to both sides of a pig in a padded V-shaped trough will induce sleep and relaxation (Grandin et al. 1989). In rabbits, gentle but firm pinching of the skin with padded clips will lead initially to arousal, followed by relaxed muscle tone, drowsiness, and deactivation of electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns (Kumazawa 1963). Likewise, a "squeeze machine" for chicks, constructed from hollowed-out foam rubber blocks, reduces separation distress (Jack Panksepp, Bowling Green University, personal communication). In cats, rubbing and gentle pinching of a paw will decrease tonic activity in the dorsal column nuclei and somatosensory cortex (Melzack et al. 1969). To read the length of the article click here: http://www.grandin.com/inc/squeeze.html

When I put the Thunder-shirt on Rioja I noticed that she indeed stopped itching or at least I could see that she was not scratching as previously. The use of the Thundershirt during the day, which she wears with no adverse reaction at all - besides adding to her level of cuteness, it made all the difference! I don’t know about you but I love it when anecdotal experiences like Rioja wearing her Thundershirt and the itching stopping have some solid data to support it.