Dog Anxiety Wrap Helps Thunder, Storm & Lightning Fear

Is your dog afraid of thunderstorms, lightning or heavy rains? The Anxiety Wrap often allows an animal to sleep through a storm. This form fitting wrap for dogs helps alleviate the fear a dog may have of the loud noises that accompanying thunderstorms. We had great success using the Anxiety Wrap with our own dog Daisy. The following article outlines how and why the Anxiety Wrap could work to make those thunderstorms a little more bearable for your dog.

Anxiety Wrap: Helping to Improve the Lives of Dogs
By Susan Sharpe Creator of the Anxiety Wrap

Thunderstorms – are they causing your dog fear, stress, pacing, anxiety, panting or nervousness? Often using an Anxiety Wrap will allow him or her to sleep right through the storm. Many people have noticed much improvement within 1 to 3 times of using the Anxiety Wrap.

The Anxiety Wrap was created to fill an existing need, an alternative or holistic approach to behavior modification for dogs. It can happen by using the Anxiety Wrap to ease your dog's anxieties. When used properly it has proven positive to increase balance, self-confidence, focus, preparation for and during training, animal to animal socialization, animal to human socialization, bonding, relaxation, and gait awareness. As well as helping to end dog aggression, shyness, nervousness, releasing stress & tension, end jumping, stop destructive chewing, fear biting, car sickness, unnecessary barking, shyness, fear of loud noises, thunderstorm fear, sensitivity to touch, sensitive to sound, aloofness, emotional upset, hyperactivity, grooming issues and other anxieties.


Dogs, Like People, Are Individuals
Conventional medicine, behaviorists and trainers all have their place and the Anxiety Wrap was not designed nor intended to replace any of them, but rather to be an alternative or holistic addition to the plan. Being a trainer myself, I know from personal experience that animals, like people, are individuals. Both often require different ways of learning and/or recovery for past experiences.

Far too often animals, like people, fall through the cracks when traditional methods fail. Anyone wishing to see some of these animals need go no further than your local animal shelter or even your own neighborhood. When I personally experienced that traditional training didn’t work with one of my own dogs, it was then I began my search for alternative ways of training. A way of working with the entire animal that would include their mind, body and spirit.

This search led me from traditional training, that focuses on punishment for offering a wrong behavior and the removal of that punishment for offering the one desired, to a kinder, more respectful way of training. I was searching for a way to teach that could be fun for both animal and human. Soon I was using two reward methods of training. Operant Conditioning combined with Clicker Training but still there was more to be learned.


Our "Throw Away" Dogs
What about the dogs that didn’t or couldn’t respond to reward training alone? Those animals whose past issues and present fears were so overwhelming, it left them powerless to focus on anything else. Often these are the dogs we see abandoned, passed from one home to another. Dogs excessively crated, kenneled or chained, isolated with little hope of ever truly becoming part of a family pack.

Changing Dog Behavior By Changing The Body's Sensations
Soon I found myself studying the latest beliefs in calming signals and animal behavior. I became a Tellington Touch Practitioner, successfully completed Purdue University's "DOGS" Course Principles and Behavior, Bailey's Clicker Training, and the list goes on. After these workshops, seminars, clinics and courses I came to learn many behaviors and some health issues could be affected by the manipulation of the skin and by applying light to moderate pressure to certain areas of the body.

Behavior modification, a more rapid recovery -- they appeared to be aided by these sensations. But why? Why did it have an effect?

All my years of traditionalism prevented me from accepting what I had witnessed. Then I read a book titled Molecules Of Emotion by Candace B. Pert, PhD. When Candace wrote "the body and mind are not separate and one cannot be treated without the other," the pieces of the puzzle started coming together. Added to that learning was the example of Temple Grandin's "Hug Box," a device developed to apply deep pressure to help calm autistic children's over stimulated nerves. So we envisioned a product that would cover a large portion of an animal’s body without falling off or allowing the animal to get tangled up in it. At the same time it could not be binding or distracting, so to help calm the animal and help modify the undesirable behaviors.

I realized that animals, though admittedly much different than humans, still possess some of the same physiological and, may we dare suggest, some of the same psychological make up. Finally I began to understand how these effects were being possible.

Realizing this I began to experiment using various types of materials put together in various ways to increase the positive effects of the sensations being sent to the animal's brain by use of the body's receptors. Opening up the neurological pathways and substituting new sensations for old habitual ones.

Over much time and many prototypes the Anxiety Wrap was developed. A Wrap especially designed to help your animal as well as my own and those of my clients. Shereen Faber, PH.D., OTR, FAOTA, and author of Neurorehabilitation A Multisensory Approach, contacted us after discovering our product. She explains how The Anxiety Wrap uses a Technique called "Maintained Pressure" to help calm the sensory receptors.

We've found The Anxiety Wrap works especially well in situations where your dog is anxious or fearful, whether it's during a thunderstorm or trips to the vet or meeting new people. Due to its ability to help an animal become more focused, the Anxiety Wrap is an excellent tool for use with gentle training methods.

It can provide an under-confident animal with a greater sense of security, helping it become more comfortable and begin increasing confidence. For overly excited or hyper dogs, the Anxiety Wrap can help an animal become more calm and relaxed. Remember that every animal is unique and there are countless other ways the Anxiety Wrap can improve your dog’s quality of life.

Meet newest members of Anxiety Wrap’s Charity Foster Program

Meet the newest members of the Anxiety Wrap’s Charity Foster Program: Stevie, Tippy, Miss B and Chico. We do more than donate dollars and provide Anxiety Wraps to needy organizations. We give time, training, socialization and shelter to dogs who are down on their luck and need help with finding loving, forever homes.

Tippy lived about 1 mile from our Anxiety Wrap Company and as many storm-fearing dogs often do, he would leave home during a storm in an attempt to find relief. Luckily for Tippy, he found his way to our facility during storms instead of coming into harm’s way. We recognized his fear as storm fear, put an Anxiety Wrap on him and watched as he lay down and went to sleep. As soon as the storm ended, Tippy would get up and go to the door to signal us it was time to go home. If it began raining in the middle of the night he would scratch on the door of our center’s adjoining apartment, which one of our trainers occupied. She would let him in the office, put his Anxiety Wrap on him (he has his own) and he would go to sleep. Recently we asked Tippy’s previous owner to consider allowing us to re-home him where he would live inside with lots of love. Fortunately they relinquished him and he stayed with us until the right match was found.  Tippy now lives with a retired lady who lavishes him with love.

Stevie’s owners asked for help with his hyperactivity. One of our trainers observed that he lived in a crate nearly 24 hours a day and scratched himself until he developed sores. Our trainer offered to take Stevie since, while his owner wanted to keep him, it was clear he wasn’t receiving the environment he needed. After a few weeks, the owner called and agreed to relinquish Stevie to our care. We accepted Stevie into our program and he’s been enjoying life with other dogs and staff members. His skin has completely cleared up and he’s in good health. He’s 20-months and friendly to all creatures from dogs to kittens. We are still in the process of finding him the right home. If you’re interested please give us a call at 877.652.1266.

Chico was found with a shoestring tied around his neck, tethered to a fence in 90 degree heat with no water or food. A wonderful woman not only rescued Chico, but found his owners and got them to relinquish their rights. She took Chico and fostered him until we took over his care and placed him with a wonderful retired gentleman. Chico now lives in luxury. This 7-lb Rat Terrier hit gold as all dogs should do!

Miss B. came to us from a local Indiana humane society and now has a loving home.

Watch Tippy, Stevie and Miss B romp and play together.

The Pets Place on Dogs Behaving Badly During Storms

Susi Szeremy at The Pets Place blog talks about dogs behaving badly during storms (and 4th of July celebrations). . .

June is typically the start of storm season in many parts of the country. Statistically, the number of dogs dropped off at animal shelters rises immediately after a thunder storm, possibly because owners are ill equipped to deal with pets who are traumatized by thunder and lightening. In this article, I discuss causes and solutions for dogs who react badly to storms and loud sounds like firecrackers...

On Anxiety Wrap as a potential solution, she says:

Hug Therapy includes “Body wrapping” that seems to calm and focus some anxious and stressed dogs. Neurobiologists believe that trauma can damage nerve receptors, leading to exaggerated responses to stimuli. By applying constantly maintained pressure, a wrap provides a quieting stimulus that causes the receptors to adapt and modify their thresholds in a cumulative manner. A variety of techniques for “wrapping” a dog range from using T-shirts to elastic bandage wraps. Or, consider using the Anxiety Wrap — a sturdy, stretchy vest that hugs the torso like a body stocking and comes in a variety of sizes. This item is said to work so well that it’s been successfully used for separation anxiety, car-sickness, hyperactivity and many other behavioral quirks. Look for it on the Internet.

Read the complete blog here.