Rumble thunder, and Yippee Skippee!

Well, I'm totally pumped!

Jazmyn, as you might remember, is terrified of thunder. In fact, thunder is probably the reason she began  the escape-apades, becoming my little Houdini reincarnation. She has been seriously afraid of thunder, and over time became conditioned so thoroughly that when it rains, even without thunder, she shivers. The other thing is that she won't leave my side, and a few times, crawled all over me and even slept on my head at night. It has been a real nightmare, let me tell you. 

It has been thundering off and on all day. I was worried that when I got home she might be a nervous wreck. However, when I got here, she was calm! It wasn't thundering when I got home, but I still thought she would be nervous. Not so! Huh! What's that all about?

Here's the deal .... when I was staying at my friend's house during the evacuation, my Max and one of her dogs were testy with each other. Max can be that way, and he thinks he owns me and must protect me. So I got some drops at the health food store to try out. They were to relieve "stress in dogs." The folks in this store have been very helpful with my own supplements, so I thought I'd just ask. They recommended Bach Rescue Remedy, formula for relieving stress in dogs. The drops seemed to help Max a lot. We still kept the two dogs separated, but when they encountered each other, it wasn't a huge deal.

Later, I thought about trying them with Jaz for the thunder fright. She has had them several times, and she seemed much calmer. But I still wasn't sure. I've tried various drops or chewable tablets with my dogs before with little success. They usually make the dogs very groggy, like tranquilizers do us, but don't help with the fear, so I had pups who could hardly stir, so they laid around without energy to move, still looking at the ceiling with awful fear in their eyes.

These drops didn't do that to Jazi!

When I've given these drops to any of the dogs, they have simply been calm. Jazi didn't shake during storms, although she likes to be beside me on the couch or in bed. It has been nice for us both that she hasn't been a quivering mass. Then I tried them on Lola. She is a night owl, and I sometimes wake at night to find her MIA. I almost always find her sitting on the back step, looking at stars or listening to the wind or whatever she does. But it worried me, because of the coyotes, and even more scary are the bears and mountain lion that have been around since the fire. I was especially worried about the mountain lion, because it could jump the fence, grab her and be gone before she would even yelp. So I gave her the drops for several nights at bedtime, and she has slept through the night in the house. At least, I haven't wakened with her gone.

But today was the clincher. There were storms all day, not severe, but thunder was involved. I was worried that when I got home I'd find her shaking and panting, or even worse, having found a new way out and sitting in a ditch, muddy and soaked. Believe it or not, she was just fine! And she has been find all evening! PLUS .... she had no drops today! She did sit by me this evening while it was raining and there were some low rumbles of thunder, but there was no shaking. NONE!

Great reconditioners!!

We can sleep well tonight! I love miracles!!