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Worried About Mr Huxley's Reaction To The Storm.


mixeduppup
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Oh OK, the fireworks here are in town. It baffles me why we need them at all, they cause more trouble than they are worth.

If I thought it would make any difference Id lead a campaign to have them banned but there are too many who dont care what they do to animals and they bring in paying spectators for the local shows. All around us there are horses and other dogs sheep etc they must all suffer like mad when it happens.This Maremma bitch though just hasnt seemed to have recovered this year at all and is truly shell shocked - no idea what to do with her.

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Oh OK, the fireworks here are in town. It baffles me why we need them at all, they cause more trouble than they are worth.

If I thought it would make any difference Id lead a campaign to have them banned but there are too many who dont care what they do to animals and they bring in paying spectators for the local shows. All around us there are horses and other dogs sheep etc they must all suffer like mad when it happens.This Maremma bitch though just hasnt seemed to have recovered this year at all and is truly shell shocked - no idea what to do with her.

Poor girl. Have you thought about rehoming her as a pet, away from the source of her fear? Or even seeing if she can go on a sabbatical to someone else's place?

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Oh OK, the fireworks here are in town. It baffles me why we need them at all, they cause more trouble than they are worth.

If I thought it would make any difference Id lead a campaign to have them banned but there are too many who dont care what they do to animals and they bring in paying spectators for the local shows. All around us there are horses and other dogs sheep etc they must all suffer like mad when it happens.This Maremma bitch though just hasnt seemed to have recovered this year at all and is truly shell shocked - no idea what to do with her.

Poor girl. Have you thought about rehoming her as a pet, away from the source of her fear? Or even seeing if she can go on a sabbatical to someone else's place?

Cant do that I love her and wont let her face her fears on her own - that probably makes little sense but Id rather be here with her than send her to someplace she isnt familiar with. Ive got some sedatives to give her next year but problem is she is reacting to any loud noise or gun shot - even the door banging set her off again so you dont know when to give her the sedative before the event if you cant predict the event. Bloody fireworks have done her in icon_smile_mad.gif

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I brought Horse Puppy in and she made a beeline for the bed and then licked his face until he got up and moved, he seems a lot calmer now and is laying next to me with her.

We've got a case where the company of other dogs makes a difference. Only-dog tibbie, Lily. next door is terrified of storms, it's the sound of the thunder. She shakes & frets & wants to be picked up by her owner.

But put her over the fence with our 2 tibbie girls... & she changes. It's as if she's saying 'I worry about storms at my house. Not my job to worry about storms for this house.' Our 2 girls aren't worried at all.

BTW in difficult cases, I agree with DD. Nothing like 1/4 Valium.

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One of my boys reacted badly to fireworks or thunder and I started giving him Scullcap and Valerian tablets (from Dorwest herbs). These have made a huge difference but of course one has to know when the events are going to happen. We always have a few weeks of fireworks over the Christmas/New Year period as the local idiots set them off whenever so I tend to keep Gus on the tablets albeit a low dose over that period. Coming up to Halloween (which I hate with a passion) we are likely to have some fireworks around again so will give him some then too. He is now 11 and probably a little deaf but does seem to have become less sensitive to the noises. Maybe sometimes just getting through a couple of episodes can be enough to break the cycle but it seems Steve as though you have a much more extreme case to deal with.

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I remember reading in one Patricia McConnell's books about a flock guardian dog afraid of thunder and loud noises. His parents build him an igloo where he could hide and be safe. It took a bit of training but he lived for many happy years. Have a look @ Patricia's site and maybe post a question. Good luck

My property runs along the fence line of the showground and every year they let off the fireworks you would think they are aiming them at our back porch. Any way as you can imagine my Maremma go nuts and run around like mad to protect their sheep and us - by the time the fireworks are over they have the sheep in the furthest corner facing away from the fireworks - but one.

She is 9 years old and the Maremma best sheep dog ever but each year she has gotten worse. Like you one year it took us hours to find her but we are at a point now where she is literally shell shocked. This year in August even when she heard them setting up the rides etc she was starting to salivate and jumped fences to get back to the house - left her sheep and lambs to do so. By mid afternoon she was under my computer desk a mess and when the fireworks started she was a screaming pile of fur and lost cause for hours. Problem is that she hasnt recovered still. She wont stay in the paddock and as soon as she is put there she is digging under or climbing over to get back to the house even over barbed wire which cut her tummy. Any bang or gunshot starts up the panic all over again. Yesterday it was thunder and started her again. Someone loaned me a scary noises DVD but seeing her so stressed and upset when we play it has put that out of the question for me - it may work but the poor thing has to go through hell when its on and I cant do it to her. Something terrible just takes over her and she has no control and othing we do makes any difference until its all over .

Im at a point where Ive admitted Ive lost the use of her as a sheep guardian so she is now in the house yard all the time but the house dog [ pet Maremma] hates her so that's a whole new challenge too. Nothing I can do about it the fireworks will be back next year and I cant see her getting any better. Poor Jade.

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Steve, Thundershirt and Valium and nice secure blanketed or covered crate for now.

Then you will have to plan desensitisation - use the loud noises tape at the very very lowest background volume - the lowest that she will NOT react to, then make it happy for her with something she enjoys, very gradually (over days/weeks) increase the volume until she associates loud noises with happy times, so they cause her no stress.

The jealousy issue with your house dog is a different issue and I have no doubt you know how to manage that. Poor darling.

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Steve, Thundershirt and Valium and nice secure blanketed or covered crate for now.

Then you will have to plan desensitisation - use the loud noises tape at the very very lowest background volume - the lowest that she will NOT react to, then make it happy for her with something she enjoys, very gradually (over days/weeks) increase the volume until she associates loud noises with happy times, so they cause her no stress.

The jealousy issue with your house dog is a different issue and I have no doubt you know how to manage that. Poor darling.

Either way I cant trust her out in the paddock - no good having a guardian dog that takes off and leaves her charges to face a perceived threat on their own so she now has a small yarded area inside the house yard with a couple of her sheep which has a big igloo /cave type thing for her to hide in if she gets shaky before I see it coming.

Not sure its a jealously issue but thats handled because they cant get to each other now and because they now see each other all the time because one is in a yard within a yard hopefully it will lessen. Because one has been in the paddock since she was 6 weeks old and the other in the house yard they have never met so when one jumps the fence and arrives in the house yard trying to get inside the house the other is defending me and the house. So they are both guarding me against each other - they aren't yelling at each other as much now and they are each seeing me loving the other so it will get better I just cant rush it . If the paddock dog had been introduced to her in the yard before she just decided to jump the fence and tear around like an idiot trying to push past everything and everyone to get inside the house it would have been easier /quicker but the buggers have memories like elephants and it takes a bit of work when they have decided they hate each other.

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