GSD's 4EVER

I reckon it can't hurt to give it a go. The dogs go into an instant quiet temperament, so that sounds what you're looking for I'd think.

Ok then, here's some dog & cat footage. Spirit (White GSD) has a VERY STRONG prey drive. Pre the Thunder Shirt, this is what Spirit was like from the minute she got up & until she went to bed. Just exhausting to watch ... Here's what Spirit was like if she & Scout were in the same vicinity. Imagine this going on all day inside the house. It's a pretty long video, but the last minute of it is pretty much what happened all day long inside the house. The constant chasing drove me mad, so I had to keep them seperated ...... I'd heard you could use a t-shirt with pretty much the same effect, so while I was waiting for Mish's Thunder Shirt to arrive, I thought I'd give the concept a go on Spirt ...... The "effect" of the shirt seems to last for a little while after you take it off. Here's what happened after I took Spirit's Thunder Shirt off after that big storm the other day. I really thought Spirit would "rush" the little guy as soon as I opened that back door ....

It's a very light weight fabric of polyester & spandex. With the storms, it's also been very muggy here as well. My dogs have been just fine, even though they may be wearing their shirts for hours at a time.

We really do need a "like" button, don't we.

Cute piccies. "Too cool for school".

Thanks. I love them very much.

You need to measure her around the broadest part of her chest. You'll probably need a L or XL.

This shirt should work well for your dog then. Thanks SAS. You know me in RL, so you know how much I love my fur kids & know I'll always do what it takes to give them the best life possible.

Huge storms here yesterday as well. The thunder & lightening was an absolute belter. Mish's 2nd wear of the shirt. I reckon the length of time between barks was longer from the last time. In the old days, the poor old thing would be shaking like a leaf. The old girl only really got revved up because Spirit was barking ....

I got mine from here ... http://www.petsprovidore.com.au/home.php

Yes, Spirit. It used to be that if a dog eye balled her without her shirt on ... it was on. Having said that, it's important to note that she's getting much more relaxed around dogs these days due to her shirt & is starting to ignore them more & more. There were dogs at the market yesterday. Spirit saw them trotting by & did nothing. Such a good girl. :rolleyes: Yes. It's a breathable jersey & very light weight.

That's fine, no probs , but as long as people understand that showing and describing the behaviour you have to contend with from a GSD on an open forum is NOT the behaviour that a genetically sound GSD exhibits or what a prospective GSD buyer should expect when essentially choosing a breed of iconic unflappable confidence and strength. As a GSD owner, lover and enthusiast myself, I hope you can understand my feelings that what you have posted doesn't portray the breed in the light inwhich they are supposed to be Yep. I understand where you're coming from. Please understand that this thread is just about the Thunder Shirt & what it can do for a dog ... of any breed. Please view the posts & attached videos in that light, rather than Spirit's behaviour showing the GSD in a less than flattering position behaviourally. Please also note that Tara ... my B&T GSD is also in some footage. Tara is a very well behaved dog & is great PR for the breed every time I take her out in public. Should you wish to discuss the temperament of the GSD, this is not the appropriate thread to post comments & opinions. I trust this will be the end of this type of discussion & we can now return to the intent of the thread & that is to discuss the merits of the Thunder Shirt.

I prefer not to discuss Spirit's breeder in an open forum thanks. Spirit is my responsibility now that I own her, so I have to fix the problem, which we're doing very nicely with her Thunder Shirt.

Being the sticky beak I am, I rooted around on FB, found their page, "liked" & posted a comment.

Thanks. I can't seem to get that FB link up. Is this stuff I've posted myself or somewhere else ? I'm especially pleased with Spirit's progress. I want to take her Obedience trialling next year, but the only thing holding her back has been "Stand For Exam". The first time an instructor came in to touch her 2 years ago, she just about went to take his hand off & went into a "back off" barking frenzy. She had never done this before they introduced SFE as we progressed through the classes. And then she got worse every week when it was our turn for the exercise. Needless to say, Spirit & I became very unpopular at club. I've worked on her & worked on her & only in the last couple of months she's decided to just stand there, looking miserable, ears back & just "endure" the exercise. Other than that, she's a great little worker who likes being in the ring with me & has the potential to do really well in the discipline. The shirt is achieving what I haven't been able to because the fear reaction comes from an emotional response created in Spirit's mind. By wearing the shirt, Spirit has a calmer experience in those stressful situations, thus reshaping her emotional reaction to fear situations & giving her a new "normal", which hopefully, will replace the fear response & become the normal (ie calm) reponse to people approaching her & touching her. And the best thing is, Spirit is doing this all by herself, without any human interaction at all. For those of you who are interested, here's the US web site. The little video at the top left hand corner is a pretty good demo of what happens. If the video doesn't appear, click on the "Intro" button. http://www.thundershirt.com/

The manufacturer of the Thunder Shirt saw that recent footage of Mish on You Tube & contacted me for permission to post it on their web site. I took Spirit & Tara to the market yesterday. It was drizzling & very wet, so Spirit wasn't all that happy to be out in the weather, hence the lack of smiles. I think the theory that the more they wear the shirt, the better they get is correct judging from the footage I got. Without her shirt, there's no way people can approach, pat & touch her this way .....

So the big storm of today has continued on & right now, it's wild, wooley & very noisy out there. And what's my stress head Mish doing ....

Helen .... Yep. I can see how it could work for "pullers" based on how relaxed my dogs are when they're wearing their shirts. For it to be really effective though, you have to have the right size for your dog. Just bear that in mind when you're borrowing a shirt. Sheridan .... Here's where I got mine from. The company is located in WA .... http://www.petsprovidore.com.au/home.php They've got some industrial strength velcroe sewn on to hold the shirt in place, so I doubt whether Grumpy would be able to get it off. Mish is a bit like this as well, but she goes all "Zen" as soon as her shirt is snuggly fitted on her body.

She was wearing a wet weather coat on top of that I hope you realise. But yes, it's made a HUGE difference to how she reacts with people. I take both my dogs to a big market here every week as part of their socialisation. When we'd get there "pre shirt" & were just simply driving into the car park, Spirit would go ballistic just in the car & we'd have to leave her there while we shopped & just took Tara (B&T GSD) for a meet 'n greet. Now, Spirit's out of the car, walks to the out door food area & is a perfect angel for the entire time we're there, which is usually a good 2 hours. What's stunned me is that little kiddies come up, want to pat her & as little kiddies are want to do, they put their hands straight over her eyes as they're stroking her ... and she doesn't react when she's got her Thunder Shirt on. Dogs just do not like this & in Spirit's case ... well you can see how she reacts. From my personal experience with 2 different dogs with different stress triggers ... I'm a big fan.

Yep. I've just started using the Thunder Shirts for 2 of my dogs over the last month & I reckon they're brilliant. I've posted a few videos on my You Tube account, but here's one I just posted today. Melb had a HUGE Thunder Storm today. Normally in this situation, Mishka would run frantically & continuously through the house, shaking like a leaf, trembling with her tail between her legs, barking like crazy & eventually start frothing at the mouth. Nothing could console her, so as a last resort, I'd pump heaps of Valerian concentrate liquid drops into her to get some sort of calm out of her. This dog is a real stress head. She's nearly 13 & she's been like this her entire life. She's the same with fire crackers & people using power tools. This was Mishy today in the height of the storm, which was right outside my back door, so quite loud & "in her face". I can't believe it's my dog ..... I also use one for Spirit, who has a distrust of humans .... And now with her Thunder Shirt on under that wet weather coat .... Spirit also has a very strong "prey drive" when it comes to Scout, my cat. Here I've used an ordinary T Shirt to test things out while I waited for the Thunder Shirts to be delivered. There's no way this would happen when she's "naked". Her prey drive is much too strong. Now, when Spirit is driving me mad with Scout teasing her through the door or window, on goes the Thunder Shirt & instant quiet. Effing unbelievable ....

Good post. This is how owning a dog & taking it to the park used to be.

You're fine with taking treats. Just keep going with your training & ignore comments like these from other dogs owners. It's not your problem/fault if the other person's dog is unresponsive to their owner's commands.

From memory, we've giving him a couple of weeks to come back to the site. Just waiting for who ever is running this event to post our next move & gather the troops.

Don't panic just yet Darl. He might have found better "pickins" more to his liking. Just trust in The Universe. It will all end how it's supposed to, whether we like the outcome or not.

He'll be there somewhere & waiting for you to go each time I'm sure. Such cold nights for you to be venturing out. You're both such sweeites & dedicated souls for doing this.