One of my fosters was not a good car traveller, and I had to take her on a couple of three hour road trips, in addition to daily short rides to the dog park. She loved to get in the car, but it was just too exciting when we started moving. She spun, chased her tail, whined, licked windows, shredded blankets, and couldn’t relax. I tried a bunch of things to try to help her settle in the car and had high hopes for the thunder shirt. Sadly, it didn’t seem to help at all.
It was worth a try. The rescue had one on hand, so I wasn’t out of pocket anything on it, but even if I’d had to buy one, they have a money back guarantee, so I could have returned it.
Mrs. SMV’s late Husky/Shep mix trembled and whimpered during thunderstorms. A Thundershirt did soothe her a bit; she still didn’t like thunderbooms, but she didn’t cry or freak out if she were wearing it.
Later in life she went deaf, and didn’t need it at all, then. Couldn’t hear the booms unless they rattled the house.
My wife ordered it, I figured it was just more money down the drain, but even though it’s not a miracle device it is useful. Kind of surprising for something sold from an infomercial. Maybe it’s no different than any kind of dog coat, but it’s not expensive, it’s easy put on, and it’s lasted several years.
Before I even read the full Amazon description, I suspected it was something that provided weight and/or overall gentle pressure - something I’m quite familiar with as the parent of an autistic child. Full-body pressure can be VERY soothing. Many schools have a weighted vest for autistic kids to wear to help them calm down. We actually got one for my son to use at home.
Then I read the description, and saw Temple Grandin mentioned. She’s the one who pioneered the concept - read up on her “squeeze machine” which is actually based on something used for cattle.
So: crock - no. Will it work on any given dog? I have no clue. We could have used something like this for the schnauzer we had when I was growing up; she was terrified by storms.
My daughter’s lab mix responds well to it.