So sorry that you had a negative experience last night! We had someone near us shoot them off at 11 p.m. for about a half hour, but luckily Gus and the others did not react...they just settled into bed with us and went right to sleep. Go figure???

Yesterday we had 3 thunder storms, 12 noon, 5PM and 9PM, Cody has always just bark when he heard thunder, all I would say is "it's ok" and he would stop barking, I would tell him good boy, then he would come and sit by me. Yesterday forget it, 12 noon we were outside, he heard it in the distance and cocked his head, I said the usual to him and he laid back down, the next thunder was closer and in the doggie hatch he ran. I came in to see where he went, and there he was, under the end table hiding. This is not my boy, he was never scared of thunder but didn't like it just as he doesn't the nail guns. I didn't want to make a big fuss and encourage him out from under the table, that would cause him to think there was danger so I left him there. Cody must always be near me, touching me, have me in his sight, so I went back outside hoping he would come also, then it started to rain and in I came. Same reaction at 5 and again at 9, under the end table he went. This is not the same boy that I had before that hour plus of non stop neighbors setting off those bombs. I hope he can recover this fear of now thunder, I guess time will tell.

Yeah. Tibbe did okay w/the professional works earlier in the night but it was that second onslaught by amateurs who must have bought out the fireworks stores this year that finally got him. And part of it was him reacting to me glancing his way once too often. When I do that, even when I try my best to disguise it, he knows something is up(whether I look at him or not just reads me) and put together with the boom of first one bunch and then another and another from different directions, began to alert him that there were loud sounds out there that kept happening - a sure alert signal for a terrier to react to.

I'm with you, no true doglover enjoys fireworks much once they know how scary they are to our four-legged friends.

So sorry!

Poor guy. If he doesn’t get better sometimes just a few weeks of anti anxiety meds can help and then you can take him off. I had to do that with Callie once. People just either don’t care or don’t know how fireworks effect animals who they can’t be explained to.

These people don't care about infants or scaring small children with these bombs, they certainly won't think about the animals, these are adults that act like kids, foolish men showing off, who has the biggest blast, the highest rocket, I had all that fireworks paper in my back yard, tons of it because it was a house across the road from me and one over. I'm hoping we don't get thunder for a few weeks, maybe that will help. Yesterday he was sleeping on the sofa belly up lol, in the far, far distance a few explosions went off, his ears perked up but the body never moved lol.

I would prefer not to give anti anxiety meds just as I wouldn't give him car sickness pills, I try to find solutions. Other then this new fear of boomers he is his little crazy boy self. If his fear of thunder continues and he hides under things I'll speak to the vet. This month he gets his rabies and Lyme vaccines I don't want to add anything else to his little body.

Thanks for the tip Taylor

The anxiety thing Callie had several years ago was crazy weird. It was only at night in the bedroom and she would pace and pant. I tried crates, playpen, the calming spray the calming chews and the thunder shirt. I ended up have to give her anxiety meds and then after a month we took her off and she never had the issue again it was just crazy. Hopefully everything just works it’s self out.

I'm like you, pretty reluctant to give Tibbe anything that could hurt his liver or drug him; but as he ages(he'll be 12 on Aug. 30th.), I don't want to ever watch him suffer. Watching him deal with pain or fear, is more than I can bear! My vet suggested Benadryl for any fear or restlessness and when New Year's Eve rolls around, the next time our city's boy-men might want to light up the noise-boomers, I might give Tibbe a half-dose around 11:30 p.m.

The vet said Tibbe tends to seasonal allergic drippiness so she's suggested Children's Benadryl for that and it helps his eyes tear less, dries up his nose but I give it sparingly & worry until it wears off. Just the idea of drugging a dog into even a mildly stuporous state scares me to death. But the vet said it's kinder to mildly sedate than have a dog in a state of fear.

Oh it wasn’t a sedative at all it was just an anxiety medicine. I did use it as a last resort but as a big sufferer of anxiety I know how debilitating anxiety is so I couldn’t just let her suffer. Benadryl is an extremely safe medicine. I have to give it to both boys for any vaccine and to Penny randomly if her reverse sneezing gets really bad. The only issue I have with Benadryl is it only makes Joey sleepy. Some medicines are worth fearing but most are safe and have a huge purpose just like vaccines.

Oh, no, Taylor, I wasn't even talking about your post, hadn't even read it at that point, just saw Joan's and reacted, wanting her to know she's not alone in being extremely reluctant to medicate a dog. Still, there are times a dog needs help beyond that we can offer. And as Tibbe has aged, gotten left shoulder arthritis, saw him become so feeble-acting while on Rimadyl to treat it, still favor his left shoulder, swooning, sleeping all the time, obviously in pain & becoming pretty anxious/fearful in the process of that suffering, I began to re-think my reluctance to offer him anything that might help his anxiety once he was done w/Rimadyl trial. When all is said and done, I want my dog as happy and comfortable as he can be, even if it takes vet-approved medication to achieve.

As you know, I was even to the point of considering ordering the same kind of CBD oil you used to help Callie, though I was really scared and had yet to get the vet's input on it. Thankfully, though, about that time I asked the vet to take him off Rimadyl once the trial period was up as he'd changed so while on it. She rx'ed Galliprant and Tibbe reacted dramatically. He stopped sleeping all the time, losing his footing. Up came his tail, which he'd been carrying clamped to his little body since his left shoulder sx. began late February, and all through the 3 months on Rimadyl. And his eyes stopped being squinty, got round open again, like the younger Tibbe. He's stopped acting feeble, gets around just about as he did before February and he's happy, feisty again, stopped favoring his left foreleg. I thought he was getting more than a little senile but thankfully, it must have ben the Rimadyl side effects and/or the unrelieved arthritis pain that apparently really did a number on him while not helping his arthritis pain much at all. He was getting pretty stressed. On 3 Galliprant the first 2 days, he was practically back to his old terrier self! I'd lost that dog while he was taking Rimadyl.

Anyway, if a dog is extremely anxious, panicking and unresponsive to distraction, play, behavior modification techniques or anything else, anxiety medication or even some mild sedation is preferable to that dog suffering while you work to try to find out, if you can, what's causing the anxiety and making changes. Humans pop pills, smoke weed, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes & do all kinds of other things to help or distract us from stress so why should we leave our dogs to suffer real anxiety w/little to no help? I'm all for keeping my dog as comfortable, happy as possible even if it takes some medication, scared as I am when Tibbe's on it. And if one Rx makes the dog act weird, super-sedated or sleepy, ask the vet for a possible change, it might make all the difference.

Some dogs just don’t do well on certain meds kinda like people. I’m glad you found something that is working. Callie takes metacam for her arthritis pain as well as her CBD oil. She is going to get her recheck and blood work on Friday to make sure it’s not causing any bad issues. She already has a slightly elevated liver number because of the Cushings so I have been giving a supplement for that so I’m interested to see if it has been doing anything. I’m hopeful her blood work is fine because this combo of meds seems to work great. I’m always so tense with blood work.

So true. Tibbe had taken Rimadyl before after his tooth extraction for couple days w/out problems but this time was far differnt. I asked the vet to do a whole blood/ua work up before we changed to Galliprant and his results were all good but now on it, we'll be checking again in 3 mos. That lab work gives us clues whether what we're trying to do for them is hurting as much or more than it's helping most times so even though we need it, it's hard waiting for the results! I'm so glady both Callie and now Tibbe seem to be perking along in their older years. Tibbe just had his brunch and is nappin on the end of the couch, as always. May we keep it that way for years and years to come.