Adaptil for dogs

[Charlie31]

I have a very nervous / anxious rescue dog. His particular triggers are activity on the street outside, which sends him off in a fit of barking (thankfully we live on a quiet road), and visitors to the house. I'm trying to do some work to help him but it's hard to be on the ball for every single occasion that may set him off, and it's not always possible to focus on both the dog and somebody who has knocked on the door for example.

I've been looking at the Adaptil diffusers and collars. I'm generally sceptical of these sorts of things but they seem pretty cheap so possibly worth a try and obviously if they did help to relax him a bit that would be great.

Has anybody used either of them for their nervous dog with good effect?

 

[Britestar]

They do have an effect. For a dog that is very reactive, the collar is probably better, as its with him all the time. You won't see an immediate difference, but a gradual build up. You probably need to use 3 or 4 to get the best of it.

Each collar will last a month.

The other thing to try is Nutracalm (from Vets). You can use this as a one off if you know that something is going to upset him. I use them for my dog who hates thunder.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I find your own reaction is very important too. If you are strong and confident and take control of situations, this will help your dog.
Is there any way you could restrict his access to the front of the house, therefore he is out of the zone where he may feel fearful and therefore a bit more protected/safer. At the moment he probably feels that he is the one who has to protect himself and you from all-comers, when you can show him that it's OK, that's your job.

 

[Charlie31]

They do have an effect. For a dog that is very reactive, the collar is probably better, as its with him all the time. You won't see an immediate difference, but a gradual build up. You probably need to use 3 or 4 to get the best of it.

Each collar will last a month.

The other thing to try is Nutracalm (from Vets). You can use this as a one off if you know that something is going to upset him. I use them for my dog who hates thunder.

Thanks. I'll give the collar a try then, and will probably get the diffuser as well. Good to know that it takes a while for the effect to build as I would probably have ditched it after a month otherwise.

Interestingly enough he couldn't care less about thunder or fireworks and has happily slept through a load of really close loud bangs over the last few nights. Mostly it tends to be stuff I couldn't anticipate, like neighbours randomly calling on or a delivery that would set him off. So I'm not too sure how helpful the Nutracalm would be but I'll definitely look into it properly and keep it in mind.

I find your own reaction is very important too. If you are strong and confident and take control of situations, this will help your dog.
Is there any way you could restrict his access to the front of the house, therefore he is out of the zone where he may feel fearful and therefore a bit more protected/safer. At the moment he probably feels that he is the one who has to protect himself and you from all-comers, when you can show him that it's OK, that's your job.

I think this is very true and sometimes we don't deal with it well enough. The difficulty is that the living room is at the front of the house so if I'm in there and he's with me it's hard to stop him seeing and hearing everything that's going on. However, I do have a room at the back of the house I can use when working at home so I could shut us both in there and hopefully that would help. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I've had no problem training the bitches before her to be home alone, and not her 2 daughters either, but Jonna howls discretely whenever I leave her. Without Adaptil, she howls a bit louder, and much more of the time I'm gone. With Adaptil, either diffuser or spray, it is just the occasional small little aooo.

And some years ago, someone let off a firework close to me and my bitches. One of them got scared, so now I buy an Adaptil collar, so that she can wear it from around 2 weeks before New Years Eve. It helps keep her calmish, but I also try to train her with a fireworks CD before New Years Eve, I have loud music or the TV on, she gets a calming pill in the morning, and altogether, it helps keep her calm enough to be able to gnaw on her gnaw bones, which helps distract her from the New Years Eve fireworks.

I've recommended Adaptil several times here on HHO, but I only view it as an aid, it is not a magic fix, and also, it seems to work better on some dogs than others. But you can only find out if it helps your dog, by trying it.

 

[teddypops]

The collar had no effect on my dog.

 

[cellie]

I’ve just plugged mine in . I have reactive aggressive dog too but with training it’s improved . I’m also using yucalm from lintbells only few days of use so far . I can walk past dogs on lead now but dread dogs that run into his face with owners chanting it’s ok mines friendly .