Thundershirt - how long will effects last?

[celloyogi]

Originally Posted by mbfrench

Our Mia wears one,and if she is in it all day,the personality changes for the better and its on all day.
At the present time,she only wears it if strangers are here (say like gathering day)..and it really helps.
But then again,so long as Brian is within sniffing distance,she is A-ok anyhow.
The TS has been an awesome thing for Mia,truely works,and she loves it.

Do note...the TS must be used in conjunction with positive reinforcement.Treats & reward behavior. But...with Mia,I did not have to. A total calmness overtakes her,when it is aplied correctly. Must remember,it MUST be snug. I have not remembered reading one thing about it easily removed,I have never had an issue. But it needs correct size & application to the dog. I could forsee a dog getting spooked by the velcro opening & pulling it away to take it off,but Mia is blind & deaf,so other than my holding her,and slight tugs to loosen the velcro flaps,she pays no mind to it at all. It is not a "magic shirt" and works like Poof...positive reinforcement,and using it in short period time frames is important. Don't wait for a storm,or other times. Put it on her for say 20 minutes a day,for days,then work up to longer periods.

Olive's training is all positive-based, primarily clicker-training. (I say primarily because 90% of the time I have the clicker on me, the other 10% I click with my tongue - she knows the difference but it's still effective.) My intention with the Thundershirt is to help her feel more comfortable when we're working on training outside her turf. She knows the training, is almost perfect at home, so I'm thinking the TS may help bridge the "oooohh! what's that? what issss that?!" behavior that is preventing her from being focused in class (or wherever we happen to be). Some of it's a safety issue, as she has made massive progress with her reactivity to cars/bicycles/etc, but I can still practically feel the electricity zapping in there.

She's tightly wound, no doubt about it. My brother has always said she has a severe case of happiness - she loves everything, and sometimes her happiness tips over into nonstop crazy puppy.

[jcbaggie04]

If it is just for use during storms, my Shiloh seems to react well to me petting him with an electrostatic dryer sheet. He is a dream 99% of the time, but gets scared during thunder/lightning. I've never used the thunder shirts and have no reason to not believe in them, just giving another short term or cost effective idea!