the puppy wizard

Subj: Fear of Thunder
Date: 6/29/02 6:07:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Jraltman@aol.com
To: Witsenddog

Dear Jerry,

I hope you'll be able to post this message so more people who
are at their wit's end will be able to help their dogs.

To review:

Our puppy was uncomfortable during thunder storms. At
the beginning of the problem, she paced restlessly from
room to room. She couldn't settle and sleep.

From there the problem grew. She would run to the far
southeast corner of the house (which makes sense
because most storms here come from the northwest)
and she'd cower in the corner of the couch and shake.

!st attempt to help her:

I'd pick her up, brush and massage her (call me a nut -
I've sung to her when I've done her daily brushing since
she was tiny so of course I sang too) and when she relaxed,
I'd put her in her crate. She then slept and I thought the
problem was solved.

Traumatic event:

We were out in the park playing with one of her doggy
friends when it began to rain. On the way home, there
was the loudest, longest, thunder clap I've ever heard.

From that day on, the problem got worse and worse.

I couldn't calm her with singing and massage. The fear
spread. She wouldn't go out if it was raining. No thunder,
just gently summer rain, and she wouldn't go out.

The solution:

I surfed the net and came across a free manual Wit's End
Dog Training Method and a product called Doggy Do Right
that seemed better than anything else I came across.

A phone call to Jerry Howe, author of the manual and Director
of Research, Biosound Scientific, convince me to try both the
manual and the
product.

Problem solved:

I followed Jerry's suggestions (more phone calls - he is
most generous with his time and advice). The first two
thunder storms my puppy was restless but not running
around in a blind panic. The third storm, she barked her
deep, stranger danger bark after each clap of thunder.

The fourth storm, she seemed uneasy at first. Soon she
was asleep at my feet and she napped through the rest
of the storm.

A miracle.

I am endlessly grateful to Jerry for his manual and his machine.

A word about Doggy Do Right. It is odd to buy a machine
that emits a sound I cannot hear. I took the chance because
Jerry offered a full refund including shipping. Though I heard
nothing, my
puppy clearly did.

When I first turned on the machine, she got the cutest,
most quizzical look on her face. She looked at me as if
to say: "What's that? I never heard that before." She
looks at the machine when it is on. She rests on the
floor beneath it. It is obvious from her behavior that
she is aware of its cycles.

Amazing.

Thank you Jerry.

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