anxiety in dogs

Question
I have a 2 and a half year old Maltese. He gets panack attacks whenever it rains hard or it thunders/lightening. he shakes, cryes, sweats, its even at a point where he gets a fever. Is there a way of handling this without medicine?

Answer
There are herbal products you could try, as well as the DAP plug-in diffuser (it's like a scented oil plug in, but contains calming pheramones and has no scent to us). I've had good success with the DAP, both with and without the use of herbal 'supplements.'

Bach's Rescue Remedy is one of the herbal products I would recommend that you try. You can either put it in his water, or squirt it directly into his mouth at the start of a thunderstorm.

HomeoPet's Anxiety, Doc Ackerman's Herbal Nerve & Anxiety Formula, and Love My Pet Stress Relief are a few other herbal products you could try. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/NavResults.cfm?N=2001+113757 also sells biscuits that contain calming herbs.


You could also use a recording of thunderstorms to help desensitize your dog to the noise. You can buy CDs online for this. Here is an example of one: http://www.learningdog.com/catalog/item/828361/426842.htm