Thundershirt

Thundershirt? "What is a thundershirt", you ask? It could possibly be the saving grace for us when a storm hits in the middle of the night.

For those that don't know, Buckley is a bit scared of storms and spends his time scurrying about when bad weather is in the area. This behavior has granted him the nickname Mr. Scurry Bottom. Our previous tactics that enabled us to get some rest during a stormy night were to put him in stealth mode (i.e. remove his collar thus eliminating any jingling). His little feet could still be heard running around on the carpet or clipping along the tile. We have gone as far as to throw him out in the storm but after we found him wet, covered in mud and bloody from frantically trying to get inside, I decided we needed to find a new solution (for the record, Shane put him outside in the storm, not me).

I was down at my parents house looking through one of my mom's magazines and saw an ad for a Thundershirt. When we got home, I pulled it up on the web to see a demo. I was immediately sold. For only $36 all of our problems would be solved! Shane and I quickly ordered one. Supposedly this "shirt" wraps tightly around their torso almost creating a swaddling effect which helps their central nervous system.

Just our luck, a storm hit the day it arrived. It didn't seem to help at first, but over time, he has adjusted to it and it does seem to improve his demeanor during a storm. We try to put it on him more frequently so he doesn't always associate a storm with this weird contraption and thus become afraid of it. He tends to let us know when he doesn't like something (like when I give Shane a hug. I have a bruise on my calf from when he bit me to show his disapproval of me touching his dad the other day).

Here's Buck sporting his new digs

This was pre-summer cut so his fur stuck out quite a bit. It seems to fit better now that he's shaved down. Doesn't the look on his face scream, "comfortable"?!