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Not long after publishing this article about how to combat a fear of thunderstorms and loud noises, Mom and I were contacted about trying a product specifically designed by Ceva Animal Health to combat this issue.  This Dog Appeasing Pheromone (D.A.P.) is synthetically produced in an effort to mimic a natural pheromone released by a mother dog to calm her pups to naturally control and manage erratic behavior associated with anxiety, fear and stress.

While I am not personally affected by anxiety that accompanies storms, I have a nephew, Harley, who is.  When a storm approaches his home, he hides, digs, climbs, runs, howls, and is generally a wreck until the storm passes completely.  To fully experience the effects of the D.A.P., we were sent:

1. An electric plug-in D.A.P.® Diffuser that comes with a 48 mL bottle of D.A.P.
2. A 75 mL D.A.P.® Spray bottle  that comes in a 75 ml spray bottle and can be applied directly on comfort surfaces for dogs (e.g. crate, bedding, etc.) in conjunction with the diffuser.
3. And a D.A.P.® Collar that stays with your dog, providing pheromone therapy during loud events that can cause fear and stress.

Having witnessed his behavior prior to and during storms, I had high hopes for the D.A.P. in keeping Harley calm as the spring storms rolled through.  Mom and I happened to be visiting his house the first time a thunderstorm tested Harley and his family’s new tools.  When it was apparent that the storm was imminent (and the point that he usually started to flip out), he remained completely calm, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.  The storm came, and at its peak, Harley left his normal spot and began to pace, but that was it.  There was no hiding, digging, climbing, running, or howling.

With the subsequent storms the next three weeks, Harley’s reaction was the same.  It was like he became a totally different dog when facing any stressful situation.  In addition to the tips included, as well as those discussed in the aforementioned article, this product really worked to keep him calm, but I would not recommend it without a veterinarian or behaviorist’s suggestion.  D.A.P. is available only through a veterinarian.

While I am happy to say that it works as described, the suggested retail prices of a complete package, like the one we received to try, would be pretty steep to maintain every month when you compare it to other ways to help control your dog’s behavior during the stress of thunderstorms and other loud noise events.

Tags: anxiety, behaviorist, Ceva Animal Health, climbs, collar, diffuser, digs, Dog Appeasing Pheromone, erratic behavior, fear, hides, howls, loud noises, runs, spray bottle, stress, thunderstorms, veterinarian

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 9:42 am and is filed under BEHAVIOR, PRODUCT REVIEW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.