mmisk

Well I managed to get in to see the vet late yesterday afternoon and have just filled a generic valium 5mg prescription. Looks like the storms are on the way so will see if it helps. The vet said that the previous try with this (I called my VT vet to confirm and he did give 10mg in 2006) may not have worked because the dose was too high and that sometimes less can be more effective. I'll look into the thundershirt too. Someone asked how he is with the crate in normal times and he is fine I will put him in sometimes if I have company and he will from time to time go into it on his own as its in a cool room. So not a problem with the crate per se just the being caged during the storm.

I guess I'll bit the bullet and check in with the vet. His regular vet is in Vermont (far cheaper!) but the vet I have used once in a while down here does have the advantage of having multiple border collies. Hopefully she is still practicing. In the interim I'll see if I can find any L-Theanine locally as tomorrow and sunday may be bad.

I've not gone the thundershirt route. I did ask at the local petsmart and the manager suggested 'save your money' so I kind of discounted the effectiveness. As to meds, I'm also hesitant as I do not know the lead time necessary. The way things are here in the nj/ny/ct area thunderstorms are often expected but do not always materialize in all areas. I'd hate to have to drug the dog every day during the summer to be covered on the 15 or so bad days (or nights). What meds do you use and how often, etc? I have had mild success in calming him between thunder by playing catch with him but again, two hours of catch is a bit much for both me and him (given heart cond.) and no fun at 4am! The loud stereo can also reduce slightly the durantion of the panic by masking the more distant claps but I worry that he is beginning to associate the stereo with thunder. Like all border collies he thinks too much!

Hello - I've reviewed a number of the older posts on thunder and well, wish i could have some of the problems reported.. at least by comparison! My 10yr old has had the thunder fear since he was about 2 or so. Until the past 2 years it was bearable as he would generally go to hide in one of the bathtubs and I could live with that even if he sometimes would dig in the tub or on the tiles when it got really bad. Fireworks were bad too though he would generally reappear far sooner. But he has gotten far worse the past two years to the point that it really is a big problem this summer. He no longer hides in the tub and instead wishes to get higher. This translates into dog on tables, counter, sink, etc. I have not seen any mention of this type of behavior in the other threads I read. Besides the obvious knocking things off and over, the risk of damage from digging is very high. In addition, he has developed what I assume is a type of fear agression. He will snap when I grab him to put him back on the floor. He has no separation anxiety and no issues like this with toys or food. He can't be crated for two reasons - one, he turns into tasmanian devil and pulls the bars apart with his teeth. Two, he was diagnosed last summer with a grade 5 heart valve leak. Even if I had faith that the crate would contain him, I think the stress level is far above tolerable. Frankly I wonder if the heart issue and the increased thunder fear are not somehow related. I have a long uncarpeted stair case in the house which is impossible to safely restrict so I hesitate to give him a sedative. At this point I have double gated the kitchen and the master bath to prevent access. I've got some left over pergo I put on the dining table when storms are expected and generally have moved breakables elsewhere. Of course, this makes the home look and feel like a war zone and I can no longer make any plans to go out myself prior to being certain of the weather. So wondering if any of you 1) have had similar jumping/digging experiences and 2) any suggestions to get him back to a more 'normal' state (like go in the bathtub). I've recently tried the phernome collar, no effect at all. Thanks for reading all of this.