Calming medicine

I've used Rescue remedy and Pet Eeze from Petsmart(there are other imitators but that's the one I've found that works best). I was giving it to Scamper daily just to keep him from getting too excited with his heartworms. It's all natural too. Can you give her stuffed frozen Kongs or bones? Something to do to take her mind off the crate. Also associate the crate with positive thing. Leave the door open so she can go in on her own. Give her treats for going in but don't close the door, feed her in the crate. All those things will help her become more at ease in the crate too.

Yeah, it's melatonin. I used Pet Eze for Lily (available at Petsmart) on the 4th of July and it worked great for her. It's primary ingredient is chamomile. There's another one that I have heard of but I can't think of it right now.

She willingly goes into the crate and we leave it open at night when we are home. She'll go in there just fine. I think it might be a little bit of separation anxiety too. She does fine until she hears the garage door close and then she starts her whining and crying. We have several kongs so I will try freezing some goodies in it and giving it to her too.

You can stuff the Kongs with all kinds of yummy stuff then freeze them over night. Takes so much longer to get the stuff out. I've used peanut butter with kibble or tiny dog treats mixe in. You can buy stuff that's made specifically for it but it's cheaper to do it yourself. You can also use squirt cheese with kibble. Scamper made a lot of noise once he knew we were home. When his crate was covered though, not a peep out of him.

I have been thinking about checking these things out for Louise. When we got Daisy she had to be in the crate when we were gone. She would pant and slobber all over the crate. She even did that in the car. When we took her to the Grand Canyon she adjusted riding in the car (she really had to)but now she no longer slobbers.

Here I am again with Louise. I was hoping having Daisy would keep Louise from being the same way. Louise has to be in the crate and Daisy is kept in the family room with her. I'm going to try one of these products while we are gone. Both girls get a frozen kong but I think I'll try to keep them calm too.
Thanks for your post.

We used melatonin for our GSD (she was about 80 lbs). She got one 5 milligram tablet, but the vet said that it was impossible to "overdose" so you didn't have to worry about giving too much. She was TERRIFIED of storms, and this really seemed to help chill her out, but not make her woozy or loopy.

you can buy it at CVS or whatever in the vitamin section.

As for kongs, we stuff them with PB and kibble and then put a PB "layer" on top that Nige has to work through... yogurt or cottage cheese too, sort of whatever we've got on hand.

I've been having fun with the frozen Kong thing! Mom switches up the stuffings every day, but I consistently get a mix of Bil-Jac, some of my dog food (I'm sure this is just for filler), cheese cubes, peanut butter and sometimes, if Mom has made any, I get real chicken! It's been keeping me distracted for about 30-45 minutes, long enough for me to forget that Mom is gone. I race her to the crate now 'cause I know that's the only place I can have it.

I FINALLY found Pet-Eze at our Petsmart today. They are truely horrible about restocking their shelves....

I will look into Melatonin too. it might be cheaper in the long run. Thanks guys!

I'll share my Prozac! Seriously St. Johns Wort will work for anxiety disorders and has a calming effect. Use 250-300 mg for large dogs 70lbs and up, 2x a day. ajust the dosage acccordingly for size. It will take a few days to start working. A good Chamomile tea would have calming effects as well. Prepare a cup of Chamomile tea the same as you would for your self, cool off the tea and add it to a little chicken or beef broth, salt free or low salt. A couple times a day.