Hi everyone! I hope you're all having an awesome day! Today I have a review for you! Recently we were given the opportunity to try out The Anxiety Wrap by the Company of Animals. If you've visited us before you might remember that Zoe has a terrible noise phobia. It started the year we got her with the 4th of July and has progressively gotten worse from there. Sometimes even our neighbors banging around upstairs can cause her to get upset and she will also get upset over me doing laundry. The spin cycle with the washer shaking freaks her out. We've tried all sorts of calming aids before and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. It just depends on the severity of the noise. I really like the idea of the Anxiety Wrap and I've heard that it works wonders for some dogs.
How The Anxiety Wrap Works:
A Therapeutic Hug - The Anxiety Wrap® uses acupressure and gentle, constant, maintained
pressure to relieve stress and end or lessen fears in dogs. The Anxiety Wrap works in two ways:
1) maintained pressure, and 2) pressure applied to acupressure points in the neck, chest, shoulders, belly, mid-section and rear legs.
The Anxiety Wrap has rear leg straps that create rear-end awareness to target pressure points in the hindquarters where dogs often hold tension. The straps are adjustable and removable.
The Anxiety Wrap is made of a stretchy, thin, breathable fabric. It contains elasticized elements which apply pressure to acupressure points and allow the fit to be customized to each individual dog. Velcro closures are located on the aspect of the garment that lies over the dog's back.
Nicole Cottam and Dr. Nicholas Dodman of the prestigious Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine conducted a Clinical Research Study with dogs who suffered from thunderstorm fear. The Anxiety Wrap® was found to be 89% effective and deemed a “safe and effective treatment for canine thunderstorm phobia.”
The anxiety wrap was really easy to figure out and put on. I also like how light weight it is. The fabric is really flexible and Zoe seems comfortable wearing it. I only wish that it came in more colors other than black. Black is not a very good color for wearing out into the sun. I had a little bit of trouble with the sizing, though the girls are hard to fit. I ordered a medium but it was too big for Zoe so I would recommend ordering one size smaller than what you think you'll need. The shirt is supposed to work by applying gentle pressure to the dog's body and if it's too big it won't work the way it's supposed to. We exchanged ours for a small and it works a lot better. I also ended up removing the back leg straps because they were bothering her.
We received another item from the Company of Animals for review that is also made by the same company as the Anxiety Wrap. We got an item called "Quiet Dog". I didn't know I was getting this but I'm going to show it to you anyways.
What is Quiet Dog?
The Quiet Dog™ is a simple to use face wrap which is designed to help relieve anxious barking. The patented design uses two techniques: acupressure and maintained pressure to gently relieve anxiety and help stop the urge to bark. When used in conjunction with the Anxiety Wrap®, it can help provide a greater calming effect. Non-restrictive, gentle and effective - Quiet Dog™, is ‘the gentle shush’, the perfect solution for anxious barking.
Reviews are always honest and I would have to say that I probably wouldn't use this on my dogs in any situation other than training where I am asking them to put up with something and not worry about it. Just like we do with our muzzle training because I feel that all dogs should learn to wear a muzzle and to not fear or worry about it. You never know when you might need to muzzle your dog, if they are hurt they might bite. Or a vet might need to muzzle your dog for a procedure and it's better and less stressful if they are already conditioned to wearing one.
I did put the Quiet Dog on both of my dogs for photos and cued them to bark. They were both able to easily bark, eat treats and drink water. Just like it says on the packaging, the product is non-restrictive. I think it could be useful for certain dogs in specific situations and only used for a very limited time (a few minutes at most) but the owner would really need to work with their dog to get them used to wearing it.
I would never leave a dog unattended with this on!
Does your dog have any phobias? Have you ever tried an anxiety wrap on your dog? Did you find that it was helpful? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
I hope everyone finds my review on the anxiety wrap helpful and be sure to get yours before the 4th of July! You want to get them used to wearing it before the big bangs happen.
ZoePhee was given an Anxiety Wrap and Quiet Dog in exchange for an honest review. We were not monetarily compensated and as always reviews are 100% honest. ZoePhee only shares information that we feel is relevant to our readers. The Company of Animals and Anxiety Wrap are not responsible for the content of this blog post.
Hi Y'all!
ReplyDeleteSince the thundershirt I've now seen two variations advertised. Being a strong believer in acupressure and acupuncture, I would think this wrap would be the most effective.
Y'all come on by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
http://www.browndogcbr.net
I'm glad to hear the wrap is working for Zoe! I'll be anxious to see how she does on the 4th of July. Barley also has fireworks/thunder/gun anxiety, but I've never tried any of the wraps despite people saying how well they work. Barley HATES for me to put on her harness or her cooling coat, so I worry that an anxiety wrap would cause her even more anxiety. Since she doesn't get destructive or hurt herself and just curls up in the closest room without windows, I just make sure that we stay home during thunderstorms and prime firework times, but it's definitely a product I'm intrigued by and have almost tossed in the cart on several occasions.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who's dog acts the same way with his harness and jackets, too!
DeleteKatie had a big fear of thunder and fireworks, but it didn't start until she was 8 or 9. Now her hearing is going, and she isn't bothered anymore! One benefit of being a senior!
ReplyDeleteAwe! Poor Katie! I bet it's kind of a relief now that she can't hear it!
DeleteThanks for joining the blog hop! I have to say I have never used one of these. When Sampson is anxious (usually because it is windy) just sitting next to either me or Hubby is usually enough for him. My sister has an anxious dog though so I might recommend this for him. :-)
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome that Sampson is able to calm down with you sitting next to him! I wish Zoe was able to.
DeleteRita doesn't necessarily have anxiety but she does get upset when strangers come over. She turns into Miss Protector - even if we don't want her to be. I wonder if something like this would help in a situation like that? (Oh, just thought of one instance when she's anxious - when we drive long distances she starts getting bothered by road noise. If I drive over bumps or a really loud truck goes by, she gets all tail-tuck-y and upset. Maybe we should try one of these in that case!) Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI've heard a lot of success stories from people who have tried them! So it's worth a shot! Zoe's phobia on the 4th of July is so bad that an anxiety wrap is only part of the treatment, we have to use drugs but for her other general noise anxiety I do find it to be helpful.
DeleteGreat review! I'm really not a fan of the quiet dog thing. :/ Pike is Mr. Anxiety, so I'll look into the wrap for him!
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if that wrap would be warm on a hot day? I can appreciate trying to control anxious barking. There are times when it can be a safety issue. A dog that barks like that can be susceptible to overheating which can be dangerous. I think I would resort to a bark collar over that wrap though if I had a dog with that sort of issue. Thanks for sharing your review on the hop!
ReplyDeleteI think the anxiety wrap would be okay on a warm day, as long as the dog is not in the sun. It's made from a breathable material and it's pretty light.
DeleteI would never use a correctional collar to fix anxious barking. It would be treating the symptom and not the cause. Using a tool that causes pain on an animal that is already anxious is inhumane in my opinion. I'm even less of a fan of bark collars than I am of e-collars. As a groomer I've seen some horrendous burns caused by bark collars on necks of dogs and I would never recommend them. I know we are of different opinions on correctional collars and I try to respect yours as much as possible but I do disagree with you on this. :)
Right but discouraging the barking is far better than a dog dying of heat stroke. I would like to know about the burns. There is no heat on a bark collar. Most bark collars vibrate, so how does the dog get a burn? Our dogs have never had a burn from either ecollar or efence collar. I am stumped as to what would cause that. Rubbing maybe?
DeleteActually the collar is a training tool. As you know, I am big on training the dog. I am not speaking of using a collar on an untrained dog. IMO the wrap and the band seem to treat symptoms rather than the issue. I would rather train the issue. But as you say we will probably never agree on this. :)
The burns were caused by repeated shocks, I also noted hair discoloration where the prongs sat as well on multiple dogs. I've also heard horror stories of bark collars shortening out and shocking the crap out of dogs and seen vet documentation of this as well. The prongs would heat up if it was shortening out or the dog continued to bark even though it was being zapped. I would never use one of these or ever recommend them, I've had to listen to too many of my neighbor's dogs screaming as they were shocked and seen the burns first hand. I'm speaking of bark collars only, not training e-collars. I know that the e-collars are being better designed these days.
DeleteThe wrap is supposed to work like swaddling an infant to help soothe the dog, versus what you're talking about which is correcting a dog for unwanted behavior. In my opinion there's a huge difference! The wrap would be soothing and the correction would be more anxiety inducing. I am a huge advocate for training as well but in the case of fear and phobias I prefer to use counter conditioning and desensitization versus correction because I feel using corrections does more harm than good, especially when you're working with very sensitive dogs like Zoe.
Also, I would like to note that I never recommended the face wrap. I only showed the product and gave my opinion on it.
Very interested in the anxiety wrap! Since a puppy Cody has always been shy so he becomes quite anxious when we go for a walk in busy areas. Would love to see how this works!
ReplyDeleteYeah, you could definitely try it! Pair the wrap with some really tasty treats and you'll probably see a difference! When I first got Phoenix, when I took her to the park, I would feed her a high value treat every time a person passed us. Soon she began to realize that the park was a great place! :)
DeleteThat face wrap is interesting. Wonder if it could have a calming effect on dogs that bark for no reason. I had a acquaintance with an understimulated border collie and she resorted to a bark collar. If a person doesn't have the time or inclination to work with a dog (which I think was the real problem in that case) the face wrap wouldn't help. But used in conjunction with counter-conditioning, and not when the dog is unattended, maybe it could reduce the incessant, pointless barking.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I never noticed a difference with a Thundershirt on any of my dogs. The back straps would be interesting to try on Leo. He's so long, it really seems like he has no idea his back legs are even there.
I don't think any tool will help your friend if they don't work with the dog or commit to exercising him/her.
DeleteThe wrap definitely looks interesting. I know we have tried the Thundershirt with koda. We had some success but not a great deal to be honest. I think these things work much better with some dogs and not so much with others for whatever reason.
ReplyDeleteღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
ZoePhee looks so handsome with her Anxiety Wrap on. Good luck this weekend!
ReplyDelete