I have been motivated to started researching all-natural remedies for dogs. Our dog Chia; sometimes known as Chia Pet and sometimes Chia Pest, has always been a little afraid of thunder. She seemed to be getting worse and I didn’t want to put her on tranquilizers. I knew there must be some all-natural remedies that would at least help reduce her fear response. She is a small standard poodle that we acquired after a string of family losses. We were newly empty nesters and we immediately feel too much in love with this fuzzy and too cute little puppy. She is 7 years old now and we love her even more. She has very few vices and is typically very well behaved doggy, but she is getting more and more neurotic as she gets older. A common occurrence I am told.
Mostly it is loud noises, like fireworks and gunshots; surprisingly both are heard often out here in the country. More recently she has become fearful of balloons. The problem may be that she is just too smart on top of being a little OCD. At our granddaughter’s birthday celebration at our house we had some balloons, which of course popped as the party wore on. Anyway, we realized right away that Chia was stressing over it. Later we put together that she was trying to run away from her home because we were blowing up a pool toy for our granddaughter.
She also thinks she likes to ride in the car but has taken to trembling the whole time we are driving; really our driving is not that bad. So we don’t take her in the car anymore and we are careful not to blow anything up around her. But the other loud noises that send her into a trembling pile of nervousness; we have no control over.
I researched all-natural remedies and this is what I have found helpful so far. I bought some Bach’s Rescue Remedy (an all-natural way to reduce stress) for her and give it to her when she is seems fearful. But that only helps a little. My other all-natural healing remedy? Playing fetch. Thankfully she is obsessed with fetching; so we just play fetch with her toys until she forgets about the thunder or whatever it is that is causing her distress. The only problem then is getting her to stop insisting on playing fetch!