anxious staffy on tv tonight ( Australia )

On tv tonight ( Thursday )in Australia on Better Homes and Gardens ( channel 7 ) the tv vet Dr Harry does a house call to someone with a really anxious staffy. I noticed in the add he tries a thundershirt on it ( I have one for my old staffy ) As someone whose dog has suffered major anxiety issues all his life, I thought it will be good for anyone else in that situation to watch and get some advice...I am looking forward to it for sure!

Can't watch it here but I hope its good

That sounds like it could be a really helpful show for people. I can't watch it either but it will be good to hear what its like

Was it worth watching?

He was a gorgeous staffy , Ned, that fell apart when the owners went to work..Dr Harry put a camera up to see what he did when they were away..he just paced up and down all day puffing and panting. Dr Harry said he felt so sorry for the dog as he was absolutely stressed out to the max and his brain was all over the place.. He suggested they don't make a fuss when they get home, turn down the love meter ( hard for any of us to do! ) and then whipped out a thundershirt..Wow watch the sale of them rocket here in Australia ! He said the dog was so stressed at the moment he would put him on a course of prozac ( I guess similar to what Jethro is on ) It showed Ned lying very calmly after in his thundershirt !
It was good ,but I remember writing to this show years ago when Jethro first started displaying his anxiety and they wrote back you better take him to your own vet.. would love Dr Harry to have made a house call to me and Jethro !

would love to know what people think of Thundershirts...our best friends tried one on their lab mix, who's a rescue and quite anxious, without a lot of success.

Though h opefully I will not be needing one as Cal snoozed thru the July 4th fireworks last night...

Thanks for the update Vanessa, and well done Call for ignoring the fireworks, hope you all had a great 4th July

micheled wrote:would love to know what people think of Thundershirts...our best friends tried one on their lab mix, who's a rescue and quite anxious, without a lot of success.

Though h opefully I will not be needing one as Cal snoozed thru the July 4th fireworks last night...

Hi..I have used one for my old staffy Jethro for a few years, and it has definitely helped him....I know on the thundershirt web site it does say some dogs you have to use it a few times..other dogs calm straight away....I would certainly keep using it if I was your friend..
We had a storm recently and though Jethro was abit nervous and was up and down off the sofa ( it was a really loud thunderstorm ) he did not puff and pant like he normally would.

What do thunder shirts actually do? Never had an anxious dog so don't even really know the behavior

http://www.thundershirt.com/HowItWorks/

hope that link works above..this explains it a million times better than I can !

my grandmother, who lives in SA, AUS. rang me... at bloody 4am to tell me about the episode on better homes. i was like... thats.. lovely, good night. i rang her back in the morning... well... latter in the morning. Her dog Zook had horrible anxiety, he was on doggy prozac too. she was all like "Oh no suprise, its a staff... clingy bloody dogs. love them but they love you more"

Taryn wrote:my grandmother, who lives in SA, AUS. rang me... at bloody 4am to tell me about the episode on better homes. i was like... thats.. lovely, good night. i rang her back in the morning... well... latter in the morning. Her dog Zook had horrible anxiety, he was on doggy prozac too. she was all like "Oh no suprise, its a staff... clingy bloody dogs. love them but they love you more"

oops ! let me know how the staffy goes with a thundershirt..my Jethro is on doggie prozac too !

the vet that goes on the radio over here is always commenting on staffys, saying they are known to suffer from separation anxiety !

sadly Zook passed away a few years ago. but we all miss him, he was a wonderful dog

aww I didn't realize... the vet on tv the other night said he felt really sorry for dogs that suffered with anxiety ...

i think it is sad, its clearly very stressful. i think many staffs suffer from it. all the ones i know do a little. some times i wonder if romeo's wall chewsing is from anxiety of being alone or him just being bored when i'm not here

I watched it as well.
One of the things I noticed was Dr H putting his hands around the chest wall from behind and holding gently but firmly and the dog settled very quickly. He then went on to explain that was how Thundershirts work.

We bought one for Izzy last year and it sort of works, but I worry she is getting too hot in it as she's still panting a fair bit when we have a storm. I don't think I'm game to leave it on her when we are out as I think it would end up in pieces. >

Yes it is a shame we get thunderstorms in summer over here as we can't really use them when it is so hot.!!
.but I noticed when there is a storm here Jethro doesn't puff and pant anywhere as much as when he has shirt on.....thank goodness !