My Dogs Are Terrified of Fireworks

In June 2013 I decided we didn’t have enough chaos in our lives and we needed to get a dog. Not just one dog, we needed TWO dogs so they wouldn’t be lonely when we weren’t home. Enter Dipstick & Map, six year old siblings. Yeah, that’s what the shelter told us their names were when we adopted them. (We call her Dipsy.)

Aren’t they cute?

It was great, they were already trained…mostly. They settled into our routine pretty easily. Then July came, specifically the 4th of July. Most of you dog owners know what’s coming, but I’d never had a dog that had issues with fireworks, so I had no idea. We spent our evening with my in-laws, like we had done for several years, and left the dogs at home…alone.

This is what we came home to. You’d be amazed how much stuffing is in the arm of an overstuffed couch. Fortunately, it was the basement couch, not the furniture in my living room. As time went on we discovered that Map is afraid of fireworks, but couldn’t care less about thunder, while Dipsy is terrified of fireworks and thunder. If she’s left home alone when she freaks out, she takes her anxiety out on the furniture.

I would love to have a lapdog, but that’s not her…until there’s thunder.  However, thunder doesn’t make her a cuddly, sleep-on-your-lap-while-you-watch-TV lapdog; it makes her a freaked out, panting, shake-so-hard-her-teeth-chatter, stand-on-your-lap-and-try-to-figure-out-where-to-go-from-here dog. I’m pretty sure in this picture she was considering the kitchen counter as safer, higher ground. The dogs aren’t allowed to sleep on our bed, but let me tell you, there’s nothing quite like being awakened from a sound sleep by a dog leaping onto your stomach because she heard thunder and doesn’t care about the rules anymore.

I feel really bad for her during these episodes, but nothing we tried helped her settle down…including a prescription from the vet. And then I saw a post on Facebook where one of my friends talked about using T-Away with their dogs to help them cope with thunder. Now, we had been using Young Living EOs for over 3 years (in fact, one of the first oils we ordered was an attempt to find one that would help settle Dipsy down during storms), and I had never heard of this particular blend! I’m not sure how that happened, but you can bet it went on my next Essential Rewards order, and it helps!!

Now, it doesn’t fix everything and make all of her issues go away, but it very definitely settles her down…a lot. This picture was a big deal. It was the first time during a thunderstorm that she was laying down by herself instead of panting and trying to climb on everything and everyone. She actually stops shaking and pacing all over and is able to lay down…while she pants and listens anxiously to the destruction she is certain is headed our way. That’s not everything, but that’s a LOT. I can promise you that as long as we have these dogs, I will not be without this oil blend.