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George's Storm Diary

A few months ago several Greyhound owners started posting to the Greyhound 'L' about a new product they had heard of to help storm phobic dogs. It was some sort of coat that the dog wore during storms and helped them not to be afraid. I have to confess that initially I was deeply sceptical about such an idea - how could something as simple as a coat help a dog to overcome a life long storm phobia?

But the topic kept popping up and so I went to www.stormdefender.com to have a look for myself. I decided it might be worth giving the cape a try, so contacted Mr Critzer (the inventor) to enquire about getting one of the capes sent to Switzerland for George. He was more than happy to help me with this, in return for me keeping a 'storm diary' once we started using the cape.

Below is the diary I sent to him:

The cape arrived safe and sound in Switzerland last Friday and looks stunning. I LOVE George's name embroidered on the side :-) The timing was perfect as the day the cape arrived we had 2 storms, closely followed by several more in the next few days. So as promised here is George's storm diary.

George is an 11 year old rescued greyhound. He has been terrified of storms for as long as anyone can remember. He has lived with us for 5 years. We live in the mountains in Switzerland, and often have very big and violent storms which can roll in extremely quickly.

1st storm: I arrived home at 5pm, and although it wasn't raining there were obvious signs that a storm was coming. George was already pacing in the bathroom (his 'safe' room), drooling, panting, shaking, etc. I put the cape on George and spread out his bed on the bathroom floor (he always spends storms in there). Within 10 minutes George came out of the bathroom and lay down in his normal bed in the living room. He was still panting, but seemed calm, despite a small amount of thunder and lightening. The storm passed within 90 minutes and George remained in his bed throughout. This is simply unheard of. George has NEVER left the bathroom while a storm is raging.

2nd storm: A VERY sudden onset storm with a lot of thunder and lightening (we live on a mountainside in Switzerland and the thunder here can shake the whole house). The storm was right overhead (almost simultaneous thunder and lightening every 2 - 3 minutes). I was able to put the cape on George as soon as the storm hit, and although initially he was still pacing, within 5 minutes he settled in his bed in the living room. His panting slowed almost immediately, and within 15 minutes he was laying stretched out in his bed while the storm continued overhead. After 30 minutes I went to bed leaving George in his cape. I came down the next morning to find a calm and happy dog, whereas normally after a big night of storms George would be distressed and unsettled, sometimes for up to 24 hours.

3rd storm: No visible signs of a storm, but when I put his dinner down George seemed very anxious and refused to eat (not like him at all). He went and stood by the peg in the kitchen where I have taken to hanging his cape. Even though there were no real signs of a storm I put the cape on him anyway, and George immediately started to eat his dinner. Over an hour later a large storm hit, and George didn't even get up from his bed where he was sleeping (still wearing the cape).

Even after only 3 storms it is clear to me that the cape is 100% successful for George. It has totally exceeded my expectations and made life a lot less stressful for both George and I.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Fiona Moore and George in Switzerland

I think what makes the above success even more interesting is that prior to trying the Storm Defender Cape we had also tried :

• Drugs (a disaster, but I didn't know any better)
• TTouch massage
• Homeopathic remedies (these did have a mild positive effect)
• Bach flower remedies
• An anxiety wrap
• Aromatherapy
• Desensitisation tapes
• Melatonin
• A DAP diffuser

So I would really recommend that anyone with a storm phobic dog consider giving the cape a try. You really have nothing to loose as Mr Critzer offers a 100% money back guarantee. I know it certainly made a big difference to George.

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