@rgk9ruler thank you! I can definitely see some similarities between this breed and my Cotilla 😊 and I could see him hunting squirrels, he loves running after insects and birds.
Use of Rescue Remedy
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My pack (we had eight Basenjis at one time but age catches up in the end) were all spaced out on Rescue Remedy on Bonfire Night (5th November). The village organisers were always kind enough to remind me of the festivities. Only a couple over the past 36 years have actually been upset by the bangs but I didn't take chances. It worked !
We had one boy with a total phobia for long-distance lorries. He was fine in the car, but let me pull into a service station and all hell broke loose. I found a drop of RR before we embarked on the journey prevented mayhem.
Try getting a large bone, and only producing it when you are going out. So she equates being left alone with something very pleasant. I recommended this to a family when they had similar problems with a new puppy. The lady learned to grab her lipstick in one hand and the bone in the other - so as she got ready to go out, the puppy knew the bone was coming. It worked very well indeed. No more damage.
Placebos - Hmmmm Not sure now you explain a placebo to a dog. Many years ago we had a stray - Lurcher - we found on a campsite in Ireland as a puppy. The site was closing and the puppy had been abandonned. So we took it home. Like Topsy, he grew and he grew, and he helped me bring my son up.
But he was car sick, very very car sick. He hated to be left at home so I piled up newspapers in the well of the passenger seat (his prefered seat in the car) and folded each paper and disposed of it as the journey progressed.
Then someone suggested tying a length of chain to the back of the car, the sort of thing one used to do for children. So it touched the road every so often. A Placebo !
But it worked ! Garman was never sick again.
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Rescue Remedy didn't work for me. I tried it, but my girl didn't even like the smell. I also tried a DAP diffuser, a thunder shirt and all sorts of calming treats, but the only thing that worked for us was crate training. It was a challenging process-- for her and us.
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I could put pages of old wives tales, home remedies, etc that people swear by...but science has proven doesn't really work. One great one they actually used only people who swore they had a food additive allergy...totally bogus. But when they knew they were getting it, or were lied to, both groups had reactions.
Do dogs get placebo effects? Honestly, yes. Because if the person expects it to help, their body language, feeling calmer...the dogs benefit. Our being calm may be the best medicine possible.
I'm not saying that RR never helps beyond placebo. I'm sure there are rare people and pets it might help. But when you give people who think it works fakes and it still works, study after study, logically you have to at least entertain the possibility that your expectations are a big factor.
That also doesn't mean I don't do things I know there is close to zero support for. But at least I know it, don't present it as proof and I acknowledge there is no proof. If something works for you, great who cares if there is no science behind it?
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@zande said in Use of Rescue Remedy:
Placebos -...Then someone suggested tying a length of chain to the back of the car, the sort of thing one used to do for children. So it touched the road every so often. A Placebo ! <<
People try really nonsensical stuff and then credit a change to it. I had a Chow who was horrifically car sick. Behavior training (get in car, treat, get out of car...get in car, back down driveway then pull back in...eventually drive around block. No help, she had streaming mucus even with meds.) So like you, I just put padding down (though I used towels and kept adding to plastic bag). On the way from Tennessee to visit my grandmother, she just suddenly stopped. Never threw up or even drooled in the car again. So was going to grandma's the magical cure...or did she just get over it as it often happens with tons of things.
That's called a coincidence, not a placebo.
I am sorry Sally, you are someone I look up to. Your dedication to the breed is inspiring. But even for you I can't believe a chain touching the ground does anything medical.
But I still make a wish on shooting stars, birthday candles and pulling on a wishbone, so I have my own things. I can't judge yours. The things I tried for restless leg syndrome I'd be embarrassed to admit, but I am honest enough to admit there was at least a flicker of hope with each one. And if I ever get another dog with car sickness, I can't say I wouldn't try your chain.
There are things beyond science. I'm really okay with that.
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Debra,
Not everything that is "researched" is factual.
I bet you think that Chemo/radiation is great too because "Big Pharma" has researched it.
I believe that GOD put everything on this earth to heal us. I'm so glad that I went the natural route
with my Rocky because if I would have believed the Vet he would be DEAD right now.
My S.O. Tony was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer last March. We went to a world class surgeon
in NYC and was told his only option was surgery/chemo/rad.
Thankfully we went the other way and found an alternative medicine doctor and now he is cancer
as well as my Rocky.
Just because something is research doesn't mean that it is the end all be all for the solution.
Stop acting like you have all the answers, you don't.
Experience wins out every time and I'm not saying that you don't have have any, I'm saying that
you come off like you know it all and no one else knows anything. Oh, it has to be researched.
Be listening to you for years now and that is how you come off.
I don't know it all but what I do know is that I have experience not research to back it up.
Have a nice day. -
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People died young and horribly before antibiotics. Science is a good thing. Not much isn't powered by greed, but an intelligent person takes the benefits and tries to avoid the bad.
The problem is your belief that you have a right to repeatedly attack me. Just because you interpret my posts to be saying I know it all doesn't make it true. You getting nasty every time someone (me, and I'm sure everyone else you run across) who offers science and research is a far worse problem that someone who believes in research over home remedies.
I have never SAID I think I know jack (giving research/science is offering professional/experts views, not pretending that I freaking know everything or anything other than how to research!), but you attack me for something I haven't said. You have actually repeatedly attacked me.
So if you don't like how you think I come across, that's your problem. If I say something and you disagree with what I say, that's fine. Your abusive responses to how you "take" my posts... not so much.
Want experiences? MY experiences tell me you're a bully, and I don't have to "take" how you come across, your actual abusive attacks are here for the world to read.
This is a freaking BASENJI BOARD. How about you talk about basenjis, keep your opinions about my posting style to yourself. Go bully and attack someone who gives a flip about your "take" on things.
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@debradownsouth said in Use of Rescue Remedy:
And if I ever get another dog with car sickness, I can't say I wouldn't try your chain.
I am delighted to hear that, Deb ! But I am almost certainly a great deal older than you and motorcars were a great deal less sophisticated in days of yore. Back then, there WAS a medical explanation for the chain on the back of cars (for children, yes but also for a Lurcher).
It was supposed to release static electricity. Which I found totally plausible but was unable to explain it in any meaningful way to Garman.
Frankly, science keeps finding new explanations for everything and I am more than happy to believe in old fashioned ideas.
I use the eye dropper thingie in the lid of Rescue Remedy and pull the side of the dog's mouth open to drop it right in. No, they don't care for it by the time the realise what they are getting - they've had it !
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@zande
I agree, things change, research finds new things. Leora and I were just talking about SIDS and how theories have changed. It used to be stomach, but in 1998 they said back and firm mattress. Doctors rolled their eyes at yogurt, but then had to admit it does help. (I'm not going to look up the chain thing.. my thinking is for kids, concentrating on the rhythm of it helped to ease the visual as side vision is one part of motion sickness. That way I won't prejudice myself against it in case of need.
)I'm soon to be 62, so I doubt by much. I feel 90 some days.
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@debradownsouth said in Use of Rescue Remedy:>
WOW, I see you’ve had a few more “it’s not MY problem” threads. Priceless
At some point you might want to reevaluate yourself. Couldn't hurt, no one's perfect.<<< I'm soon to be 62, so I doubt by much. I feel 90 some days. >>>
Debra, you’re feeling like 90 some days is likely due to your rigid and naive trust in mainstream medicine. I’m 60 and feel like 35 most days, and I’m more for alternative modalities. I don’t take a single prescription drug, I’m constantly told I look half my age and the same goes for my husband, children, relatives and friends who share the same alternative beliefs. My animals are in optimal health and live long lives. We live our lives bravely by what we know works, not by naively trusting in the ever-changing research.
FTR, Bach’s Rescue Remedy is a life saver for many in both human and animal therapy. It is especially used in the avian community, myself along with tens of thousands of bird owners worldwide use it for their parrots - and that’s a bigger research study than most government studies of 200 or so participants. Does it work for all, of course not. Drugs don’t work for all, many even kill. Why not try something safer first? Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. Some of us are brave enough and confident enough to be our own scientists for the love of our animals and our humans. Such brave and devoted individuals should never be censored. Research isn’t written in stone; it changes constantly.
About that RLS (restless leg syndrome) of yours, research magnesium - both orally and in a topical oil – also weekly Epsom salt baths. Hope you find relief from it so maybe you won’t be so “cranky." If you do find your cure using magnesium....you’re welcome!
As a side note, my dog is scheduled for a laparoscopic spay very soon, before her second heat. She has adjusted wonderfully to her homemade organic diet, which seems to have calmed her nippy trait as well. It never ceases to amaze me how diet and herbs are nature’s best healers.
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@debradownsouth said in Use of Rescue Remedy:
I'm soon to be 62, so I doubt by much. I feel 90 some days.
Marvin was 91 when he broke his neck. That didn't kill him but old age probably did. Yes I am younger than he was but a heck of a lot older than you ! And therefore old enough to distrust conventional 'scientific arguments' in favour of personal experience. And alternative medicines if appropriate - for example, I am a firm believer in the efficacies of acupuncture for the older Basenjis and for ME !
If a thing works, I will try it again.
Newspapers are full of advice. Eat this, avoid that - and within a week they reverse things - So I read things with a large degree of scepticism.
Live yoghurt replaces the flor in the stomach after a dog has experienced a period of vomiting etc. I thoroughly recommend it.
Well done, Gigi, for going for a 'keyhole' spay. I did with the gal I had to spay when Marvin was in the hospital. She was over it within a very short time.
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@zande Thank you so much Sally, I was going back and forth for a while about the "keyhole" spay, wasn't sure whether to take the ovaries or the uterus. Decided with the help of our holistic vet. I want to make it easier for my girl with the keyhole. She will not tolerate wearing a cone/e-collar for long, I needed to find a way that the healing time is shorter with less need for pain meds, etc.. It's so helpful to hear from someone who had it done to their dog and was happy with the procedure. I'm still going to be a wreck that day!
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I give my dog a little plain yogurt a few times each week, it keeps any digestive and/or yeast issues away. I also feed a little pumpkin. Unsweetened pumpkin is great for dogs. Especially in cases of diarrhea or constipation, works fast for both. They usually love the taste too.
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Thank You Gigi and Sally for backing me up. I would rather trust alternatives them drugs any day of the week. I'm not saying that for some dogs and people that they don't work but,I believe to try something less trying on the body does the trick.
And, I'm not a bully,everyone is free to do what they want,just don't claim it doesn't work when there are some that have had it work.
My experience started race horses back in the late 60's. I apprenticed with a trainer that learned from the best, The late great " Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons. He trained winners of the Triple Crown races. I learned early on about alternative ways although they weren't alternative back then.
I brought my skills into dogs when I got into basenjis back in 1976. I still work in the horse field
and even though there are many new treatments for horses,many including me use time honored ways.
It has helped me with the dogs as many are the same. Easier on the system and I love that I have kept alive traditions that have stood the test of time.
My Rocky was/is a great racedog,winning the LGRA/NOTRA National twice as high combined winner and was #1 LGRA Basenji 4 years in a row and NOTRA 2 years in a row so I must be doing something right.
I love my basenjis with everything in me and only give them the best of everything including only natural medicine. -
@rocky1 Hi Rocky1, sounds like you really love and care very well for your dogs. I agree with you 100% about trusting alternatives and natural medicine. I have doctors and nurses in the family, so I know about the mainstream medical profession, a bit too much actually. Our bodies and especially animals bodies are designed for natural healing, it just seems like common sense to try it first.
Your dog Rocky sounds amazing. You should be very proud!
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@serenjane Hi, Rescue Remedy is a well-trusted and safe therapy for birds, dogs, horses and humans. It's been around a long time. I have used Rescue Remedy for my dogs who get nervous during thunderstorms and it worked better for some than others, I have also used it for a cockatoo parrot I rescued 18 years ago. He's 22 today and still going strong. I would say it's safe, so why not try it? It doesn't work for all, but it does for many. Research essential oils such as lavender, valerian, and there are specific synergy blends made for calming dogs. * I only use essential oils as aromatherapy in a diffuser, not internally.
I'll suggest something I have used over the years for dogs, "VetriScience Composure" Chews - recommended by veterinarians, yet safe and natural. Another popular one is "Quiet Moments Soft Chews by NaturVet" - they can take the edge off a nervous dog, but again may not work for all. You can find several such calming chews on Amazon, look for ingredients such as Chamomile, Melatonin, L-tryptophan, Passion Flower. The ingredient I like most is L-Theanine. L-Theanine is an amino acid and safe for dogs, it's wonderfully calming for humans dealing with anxiety too. GoldVet Naturally Calm contains Suntheanine, which is a 100% pure type of L-theanine. You may have to try a few different blends and brands to see which one works best for your dog. Best of luck!!!
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@gigi
Thank you for your response and encouragement to keep trying different things for calming Seeka. This is week 2 with the Rescue Remedy. I’ve tried a few of the “calming” treats, however she will not touch them even if wrapped in cheese. -
@serenjane You're quite welcome. Our fur babies enjoy giving us a hard time - lol I wonder if you inserted the chew into a small meatball would she take it? If nothing works they do make liquid drops, but I've never used the liquids. The "VetriScience Composure Max" also comes in a liquid form on Amazon.There is another one I see mentioned on several dog forums called "K9 Calmer" (Amazon). I prefer the VetriScience, but both products contain L-Theanine, and Thiamine (B1). Might be easier to give a liquid added to a bit of applesauce or mixed with something Seeka really loves. My girl loves applesauce, peanut butter, plain yogurt, pureed pumpkin, sweet potato, and coconut oil, she would eat anything mixed with those. Happy to help, hope you find something that works for Seeka!
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