I think I took away all of the joy in my dog

[TrickyBob]

We got her a thundershirt because she is a very anxious dog and that causes barking issues. This was recommended by the vet before taking actions like filling the prescription for prozac. We got her a thundershirt on Friday, as well as a few toys. 

I gave her the toys because "OMG MUST HAVE THEM NOW!" and she ran around as happy as can be. And then I killed her joy by putting a thundershirt on her. She slinked off to sit in her cage, I tried to lure her out with her toys and cheese, but finally just let her be. Eventually she came out on her own and was timid; she wasn't sure if she could walk with it on, lay down, play, etc. I had read up on it and it said it might take a dog a bit to adjust to having something on them. She did a lot of laying on the couch with me that evening. 

Saturday she was peppier and playing with her toys, spent a ton of time chewing on her bone, and wore her thundershirt the entire day. That evening we were going to hang out with our neighbors and it was calling for a storm. So I thought "great! She's been wearing her shirt for awhile now and I won't traumatize her by putting it on her and then a storm coming right away." She went into her cage just fine, not a peep (normally she whines and barks). No barking at all on Saturday. 

We got home from our game night and let her out, she instantly sat for us to put on her collar to take her out. I noticed while she was finding the best place to pee, that her tail was hanging down. Normally it's straight up and moving, constantly. 

We came back inside and she played hardcore with her toys. I took the thundershirt off of her because I thought maybe she felt too "did I do something wrong?" and that's why she wasn't wagging. 

Today, still no straight up wags. She'd wag it low, she'll wag the tip, and she holds it out at the base about an inch and then it hangs. I've felt all around the base, no pain, no bug bite marks, no self chewing marks; nothing. I can touch her tail but if I try to lift it up high, she turns around at me like "leave it." 

Google tells me there is such a thing as limp tail syndrome that can happen from being over used. I mean, her tail is always up and wagging but I almost feel like the shirt has something to do with it, since it happened less than 24 hours once the shirt was put on. 

[Deleted]

Fill the Prozac. At Wal-Mart, $4. Life saver, I tell you.

[snickers]

[bonquiqui]

[redheadk]

My dog never responded well to the Thunder Shirt. She hates clothes in general and was so incredibly pitiful with the Thunder Shirt. I finally just gave it to a friend. She'll probably perk back up once the shirt has been off for a few days.

Oddly, we were able to get our dog to chill about storms through distraction. She is obsessed with animals on tv, especially dogs, so we started turning on DVRd episodes of Dogs 101 during storms. She was so distracted by the tv that she didn't even notice the storm and would instead run around the house, squeak her ball at the dogs on tv, and play with us. She still doesn't totally ignore storms but she doesn't shake like mad or act terrified.

Dogs are weird.

[TrickyBob]

Sept 22, 2013 22:38:25 GMT -5 redheadk said:

My dog never responded well to the Thunder Shirt. She hates clothes in general and was so incredibly pitiful with the Thunder Shirt. I finally just gave it to a friend. She'll probably perk back up once the shirt has been off for a few days.

Oddly, we were able to get our dog to chill about storms through distraction. She is obsessed with animals on tv, especially dogs, so we started turning on DVRd episodes of Dogs 101 during storms. She was so distracted by the tv that she didn't even notice the storm and would instead run around the house, squeak her ball at the dogs on tv, and play with us. She still doesn't totally ignore storms but she doesn't shake like mad or act terrified.

Dogs are weird.

Did the shirt make your dog sleepy? Since Friday night, she has spent 2x as long sleeping. 

I was also thinking about it, when she has the shirt on and goes to shake, her ass shakes harder/separate from her since her entire back cannot shake (did that make sense?). I wonder if the force of shaking new like that cause her tail to be "over worked". 

I mean, it has seemed to help her in the manner of she doesn't bark as much and will focus a bit better to actually listen to you. She's a hound, so her attention is in every direction. I used to hug her during storms and it would help her but now that the neighbor wants to rev his stupid cars and their engines, she is scared of that and other loud noises or deep rumble noises. And I cannot hug her 24/7. 

I just hate to give up so soon after dropping $40. =/ 

[redheadk]

Well, she refused to move AT ALL. She'd just stare at me. I think I gave it about an hour before I took it off. She just seemed terrified and refused to move. It was very strange.

[redheadk]

Also, she has a really expressive tail (she's a shih tzu) and she'll keep her tail down for lots of reasons. I can try to pull it up but she won't let me and gets annoyed if I mess with it, so I don't think your dog's behavior necessarily means that her tail is broken or anything.

[TrickyBob]

Oh...she moves. She didn't for the first hour, but she runs around and plays. She just snuggles down to sleep more than normal. Especially with me. Normally she has her own over sized chair to sleep on and she's, instead, been glued to me.

I don't know. I might call the vet tomorrow and ask about the tail thing or give it about a week to see if it gets better (google says give it about 4 days). But I still might end up calling.

I just feel like I ruined my poor puppy. lol

[Deleted]

Are you sure she didn't injure her tail somehow? A lot of dogs who have expressive talks can get 'happy tail' if they whack it on something.

[Deleted]

My sister got one of those for her dog because she's a neurotic Corgi. It has the dogs name stitched on their as well, which cracks me up. I can't remember if my sister said it worked or not but it's funny when she has it on. I'm just thankful that my two small dogs don't have issues with storms.

[curtains]

I have a doxie mix and use the thundershirt. My dog had the same start as yours did. But I was determined to try it for a week ($40!)
After a week she was back to her old self - but unfortunately that included the anxiety. lol.
I will say we took it off of her and only use it for car rides or pet sitters now and it is totally worth it. Using it full time is worthless imo.

[hopecounts]

it could be the shirt is helping her calm down enough that she is catching up on rest that she's missed being anxious.
Give it a few days and see if she normalizes after she's had some time to adjust.

[mrsjuleshs]

We have one for my boy because he gets really anxious during storms or fireworks. We ONLY use it for those things. It did take him some time to get used to it and at first was like a wet noodle when he had it on. Now, he acts totally normal when we put it on him.