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How the Pet Calmer can help you! The wind begins to howl, the sky grows dark with clouds, and you see a flash of light come through the window, and BOOM! A thunderclap! Now most of us know these signs of a storm but for many dog owners there is another sign; that sign being that their animals are going absolutely mental. This blog will touch upon how to best save your dogs, and yourself, stress during a storm; and will touch upon simple techniques as well as some technological solutions such as The Pet Calmer.

There are two major sources of stimuli that cause dogs distress during a storm, those being the flash of lightning, and the thunderclap. Now dealing with the flash is relatively easy, and can be done simply putting the dog in a space where all the blinds are up on the windows and there no other ways for light to come in from outside. However, the thunderclap is where the majority of the techniques of this blog will be focused.

One way to try and prevent some stress beforehand is by trying to desensitize your dog to the sound of a thunderstorm. This works on the principle that the more that any creature is exposed to certain stimuli, the less they react to it over time. In the case of desensitizing your dog to thunderstorms, this can be achieved by finding some sort of thunderstorm soundtrack and playing it on a loop throughout your house. Start the track at a low volume so that your dog is not caused undue stress. Increase the volume every few days for about three weeks or so (the exact amount of time may vary depending on the dog). At this point, hopefully, your dog will have gotten used to the sounds of storms enough to where when one occurs naturally they won’t be as afraid. This concept of using sound in order to help relieve the stress of your dog during a storm is also shared by a piece of equipment called The Pet Calmer, which we will get to later.

However what if a storm occurs while you just beginning to desensitize your dog or previous efforts at desensitizing them have failed? Here are a few techniques to counter these scenarios. For mild cases simply putting a thunder jacket on your dog may be enough to calm them down. These jackets replicate the effect of swaddling your dog and can reduce their stress. Another tip is to give your dog access to distractions. This can be as simple as a gentle pet or tossing them a chew toy. Any positive stimulus you can provide to your dog that can distract them from the storm will lessen their stress. Be sure not to yell at them or ignore them during a storm as this will provide another negative stimulus on top of the storm, making the problem severely worse. Another really effective tactic is to try and compete with the sound. This can be accomplished with just a radio or television set playing the in the background. This is especially useful for people with homes without a relatively soundproof room such as a basement. In addition, there are products out there such as The Pet Calmer, which provides dog-calming music and is designed specifically to help your animal as opposed to the previously mentioned radio or TV.

The Pet Calmer is a Bluetooth speaker that has been preloaded with music designed to help calm down dogs, as well as other animals, during stressful situations. The Pet Calmer’s “pet tunes” are set specifically within the range of canine hearing and has been clinically tested to reduce canine stress and calm behavior. The Pet Calmer also comes with the additional benefit that it can be used not just for storms but for any stressful pet situation, such as a vet visit or a long car ride.

For much more severe cases of noise phobia medical options are available. However, this should be seen as a last resort; and only used desensitization and other methods have already failed. Hopefully, these tips will help reduce the amount of stress suffered by both you and your pets the next time a thunderstorm rolls near your home.