One of the meds Coulee is on for her incontinence (PPA) has a potential side effect of increased anxiety. Coulee isn't the most laid back dog in the world but she isn't bad and she is on a very low dose of medicine.
Lately, we've been wondering if the meds have been effecting her. First it was barking at the thunderstorms. We told ourselves that it was because they were louder and closer than they had been before. Then it was lunging at cars driving in the opposite direction. We told ourselves that she used to do that as a puppy and even though she hadn't done that in 4.5 years, it wasn't necessarily the meds. Then she started barking at the vacuum. She never really liked the vacuum, but she used to just run away from it, not freak out at it. Then finally the other night we had a very distant thunderstorm and Coulee still barked and asked to leave the bedroom. Hmmm. We finally decided that together all the evidence points towards increased anxiety. I know. We are slow learners.
So I'm lowering her PPA dosage but I also went out and bought some D.A.P. (Dog Appeasing Pheromone).
Last night we had some pretty fierce winds, and Coulee acted the same as she now does during a thunderstorm - barking and scratching at the bedroom door to be let out. So I tried out the DAP for the first time.
Within 15 minutes she was laying quietly on the floor next to the bed. Was it the DAP? Or had the wind died down a bit? Or did she just give up trying to get out of the room? We aren't sure. (Did I mention we were slow learners?) All I know is 15 minutes after spraying it in the room, we were all sleeping peacefully.
6 comments:
cool!!, sounds to me like it was the D.A.P., those winds didn't even come close to dying down last night :))
So does the dog pheromone affect humans or did you just get to sleep because Coulee was quiet? Don't inhale while driving. It may be dangerous to your health.
It shouldn't affect us. We probably were just able to sleep because she stopped pacing, panting, scratching and barking.
What is this stuff and where do you get it? is it expensive? Can you smell it (meaning, does it stink)???
DAP is awesome. I'm sure it really did work to calm her down. I used to work in a shelter, talk about high stress! and I'd use it for those dogs who just needed to relax a bit to settle down. They make a cat version, called feliway that works in a similar manner- and also is amazing. Did you use the diffuser in the wall or the spritz? both are great.
I used the spritz. And we used it again during fireworks (something else that never used to bother her) and again she settled down quick. I'm becoming a believer!
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