The Dogmother Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 As some of you know, Ruby (one of my lurchers) is a merle collie cross and lives life on the edge, being rather highly strung. After an 'event' early on with some yobs and fireworks, she has become increasingly terrifed of loud noises, and fireworks in particular. Over the years, I have tried everything including CDs, plug ins, collars, homeopathic remedies, thunder shirts, TTouch... the list is endless. We've had to resort to Valium now and it appears to be having a result, although we've yet to launch into the full salvo of bangs. I need to adjust the dose down a bit, as their lack of body fat makes lurchers over-sensitive to medication, but she has a few side effects; increased appetite, clumsiness and an irrational fear of the kitchen bin I am hoping that plenty of positive reinforcement while she is stoned will help her when I stop the tablets, but I am missing my clever, edgy dog Does anyone else have experience of this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Oh dear, the poor lamb . An irrational fear of the kitchen bin is probably a positive side effect from your point of view though . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarrisonFamily Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 My dog Cody a crossbreed is terrified of fireworks, thunder, bird scarer's, guns of any sort - even toy ones that just go click, he always has been...fire works are the worse and we have tried the radio, rescue remedy and are about to try homeopathic medicine so far we haven't had many fireworks but this weekend will be different. My biggest fear is if one goes off when we are out as he will just run and run, I am keeping him in when dark but you just never know....I am sure one year he will have a heart attack I am hoping perhaps his hearing will get worse instead !!!! I hope Ruby is OK but sooner this week is over the better..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Sorry to hear about Cody. We've tried absolutely everything too. The Valium (Diazepam) seems to be working, I tried dropping her dose slightly, but she became reactive to noise once again, so she is back up to 3 tabs/day and being a bit dopey. Fingers crossed for the next couple of nights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancing cloud Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Our eldest dog Kia has to be on the dopey pills too She was fire-bombed by next doors fireworks when she was tiny (they probably didn't do it on purpose - probably) and she's never forgotten. Gets uptight even if it's just fireworks or anything going bang on telly. Because she's the pack leader, the others get upset as well, even though they don't really know what they're getting upset about Kia's currently very sleepy and a bit wobbly on her pills, and sometimes you can see her trying to think through the fog and finding it really hard. She definitely loses her clever edge when she's on drugs - doesn't even try to steal anyone else's dinner We started her on them last weekend and will have to go to at least Sunday. Hopefully we'll get our cunning, conniving, devious pack leader back next week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 By way of an update.... While the Valium definitely takes the edge off her fear and reactivity, it isn't without side effects, and I'm not sure that they are worth the trade-off she displays obsessional behaviour: over eating and drinking, obsessional licking, some urinary incontinence, clumsiness to the point of injury etc. I think we'll look at something different next year - hopefully this lot of fireworks is over until the next event/party/wedding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancing cloud Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Gave Kia her last pill yesterday and hoping she'll be better today. By the time next door had given up on Saturday (that would have been approx 2.30am Sunday) I was ready to eat the pills myself ! I wasn't exactly quiet putting things in the bin at 6.00am Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 Good grief!! I hope that she won't need any more tonight. Someone suggested not walking her to avoid the fireworks firstly, no walks for 2 weeks is just cruel, and secondly... she is even more terrified indoors than out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarrisonFamily Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Cody did really well, bonfire night was a bit of a disaster because I took him out as all was quiet and it was raining and soon as we got down the road we seemed surrounded by fireworks but at the weekend we took him on two long walks in the day and gave him an enormous bone during the day(the idea was to keep him awake as much as possible so that he was tired out ) , then some rescue remedy and we let him in with us to watch TV, he was upset but no where near as bad as before....we have also been really lucky in that no direct neighbours have had fire works and the nearest have been about 5 doors away.....now just to wait for New Year..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 OK, so it's howling a galeoutside, and some numpty is letting off fireworks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...