Where the Weather Suits His Clothes

I only have a few minutes to dictate before there will be two voices  talking over the top of each other (she is out walking the dog—subject of this post, but I see them coming back around the pasture loop, so I have to hurry).

We got the Thundershirt in the mail yesterday, and not a day too soon, because we were expecting “thunderstorms mainly after midnight” and did not want to suffer through another non-native canine panic like the last one two days ago. or

The first issue, of course, is how to Velcro the thing on the dog. If you watch the video on the thunder shirt website ( see the link above), it looks really easy——until you notice that the demonstration uses a small-dog manikin——that does not move.

We, on the other hand have a large dog that spins in circles just beyond your reach, or lies down and will not stand up to be fitted for the first time with his new tuxedo.

But finally, we practiced a time or two, and figured out what goes where, and got the thing on the dog and left it on for 15 minutes, just to let him get used to it.  then, before bed several hours before the expected storms, we put the dog in his straitjacket.  the storms never came.

So while this first run was not really a thorough test since there was no thunder, the dog was much less restless last night than he has been since the thunderstorms returned, and we are hopeful.

And then, if it doesn’t work for the dog, were thinking maybe Ann would put it on before she goes to work, and see if it has any impact on her stress level. It will certainly give her coworkers something to talk about!