ThunderShirt for Choya

When I hesitated at splashing out $55 on a ThunderShirt for Choya, her Godma bought it and had it delivered speedily. WIN. This must be what Godmothers and Aunts are for. I’m just relieved that Godma didn’t choose pink. An extremely pleasing shade of grey turned up. 

Choya is trained to go hide in her 'safe places' during thunderstorms. During particularly loud thunderclaps, she forgets and tends to panic first. That's why she will climb all over us to 'warn us of the imminent danger'. And that's when I will have to guide her to the safe spots. 

I dithered over getting the ThunderShirt because Choya isn’t the type who looks for hugs, not even when she's terrified. She's a total flight risk if she's outdoors, or if we open the front too wide. She has run out a few times in this mood. If we're in bed, she stomps on us more wanting hugs. She refuses to sit down or curl up in bed with us. She wants to be close to us, but doesn’t want to be touched or grabbed. A ThunderShirt might work. But who knows. At least she didn’t object to it when I put it on her for the first time for 15 minutes.

After the ThunderShirt arrived, it didn’t rain for three days. LOL I couldn’t test it out. Not that I really wished to do so. When it finally thundered, it was low and not scary. The rain was super light, starting from 10am, and it was grey for the whole day. I put the ThunderShirt on her for an hour, and then removed it. 

She managed fine. She is trained to seek out her safe spots during thunderstorms. She didn't hide or climb. She laid down in the study, and looked super disapproving. She still drank water, but wasn't interested in breakfast or any food (fair) till late afternoon.

The next time the canine barometer jumped up on the bed was two days later, at 5.30am to warn me of impending rain. I grabbed the blankets and went over to the study so that we wouldn't disturb the man's sleep. Choya is quite velcro to me. So she obediently meekly and tried to calm herself. The rain came in at 6.30am. There was low thunder rumbling in short spurts that didn't really send her into hysterics. But I wrapped the ThunderShirt around her anyway.

I conclude that the ThunderShirt doesn't work miracles on its own. (As expected.) It has to work in tandem with repeated reminders and training to 'GO HIDE' or to nudge her to her safe spots. She still stomps on my face and climbs all over, but at a less frantic pace. Is it a justifiable purchase? I'm half and half about it. I'm sure it works for some dogs who like to snuggle and be held. It doesn't fully work for Choya but she isn't rejecting it either; the bit of snug pressure around her seems to help a little. So I'm continuing with it.