Loud noises like fireworks, thunderstorms, and even construction can turn celebrations into nightmares for pets that suffer from noise phobias. Luckily, there are a range of products aimed at helping pet owners mitigate these stressful situations. In this episode of Barking Mad, we explore calming techniques, training methods, and innovative products in an effort to provide pet parents with a range of resources to help keep their pets cool, calm, and collected during times of stress.

Helpful Links

Learn more about dog anxiety and stress from Dr. Sydney McCauley and Dr. Allison Andrukonis: https://bsmpartners.net/insights/dog-anxiety-and-stress-symptoms-causes-and-ways-to-help-them-cope-part-1-common-forms-symptoms-and-causes/

And find more insights on how pet parents can help their canine companions cope with anxiety and stress: https://bsmpartners.net/insights/dog-anxiety-and-stress-signs-causes-and-ways-to-help-them-cope-part-2-ways-to-help-them-cope 

Learn more from Dr. Katy Miller about operant conditioning as an effective method for animal training: https://bsmpartners.net/insights/unleashing-potential-a-guide-to-training-animals-with-operant-conditioning/

Find more information about Black River Dog Training: https://brdogtraining.com/

How to Stand Out in The Wild West of Pet Supplements by Dr. Katy Miller: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/standing-out-wild-west-pet-supplements-bsm-partners-32ixc/?trackingId=K6PgXhZPzBLgLDccTYzvgQ%3D%3D

Learn more about:

• Pawnix Noise-Canceling Headset for dogs: https://pawnix.com/
• ThunderShirt and other ThunderWorks products: https://thundershirt.com/
• Pet Honesty’s Calming Supplements for dogs: https://www.pethonesty.com/collections/dog-calming

Show Notes

00:00 – Inside the Episode

01:53 – So, What Is a Noise Phobia?

03:02 – What Situations Might Induce a Noise Phobia?

04:46 – How Common are Noise Phobias in Dogs?

06:10 – Dr. Katy Miller on “Fight or Flight”

07:43 – Stress Behaviors to Look For in Dogs

10:31 – The Fiery Phobia Hamster Wheel (And How to Get Off!)

12:27 – Training as a Tool for Phobia Management

15:42 – But Don’t Worry—There Are Other Methods!

16:30 – How to Prepare Your Pet & Your Home

18:21 – What To Do During a Noise Phobia-Inducing Event

19:45 – Lessons Learned the Hard Way

22:46 – What To Do After The Event

23:57 – Are Pharmaceuticals An Option?

25:46 – Wearables, Pheromones, Supplements—Oh My!

26:13 – Introducing Kirsten Brand of Pawnix, A Noise-Canceling Headset for Dogs

27:20 – The Science Behind the Pawnix Headset

32:29 – Introducing Dominic DeDominicis of ThunderWorks, Maker of the ThunderShirt

35:13 – What Are Pheromones, and How Do They Work?

37:24 – Combining the Powers of Calm

38:39 – The Scoop on Calming Supplements

40:17 – Introducing Dr. Greg Reinhart of Pet Honesty, A Supplement Brand

41:06 – Favorable Results from an In-Home Use Test (IHUT)

43:21 – Supplements Can Be Effective, But They’re Not Instantaneous

44:48 – Melatonin, L-tryptophan, Gingko, and Other Calming Ingredients

47:18 – “Just Because It’s Natural Doesn’t Mean It’s Safe!”

48:09 – Exploring CBD: Use With Caution

51:13 – Key Takeaways from the Episode

52:16 – Conclusion and Farewell

Jordan Tyler: If there's one thing I've learned from being alive, it's that people seem to really like exploding stuff. Even better if you can light the match and blow it up yourself. We make this known by our love of setting off fireworks at national and cultural festivals and celebrations worldwide, at baseball games, parties, and other merriments.

Stephanie Clark: In the United States, fireworks are used heavily on the Fourth of July, America's Independence Day, as well as during the New Year. These countrywide and sometimes even global celebrations are all good fun. But, they can be very stressful for pets that suffer from noise phobias.

Jordan Tyler: In today's episode, we're exploring all the situations in which pets could experience noise related stress, including fireworks, of course, but also a range of other noisy occasions and scenarios, and how we can identify signs of stress and anxiety in our furry companions.

We'll also discuss steps pet parents can take to help make sure their pets are more comfortable leading up to, during, and after such stressful situations. You'll get the scoop on all this and more from a handful of pet industry professionals, animal training experts, experienced pet owners, and trusted innovators from BSM Partners.

Stephanie Clark: Welcome to Barking Mad, a podcast by BSM Partners. We're your host. Dr. Stephanie Clark.

Jordan Tyler: And I'm Jordan Tyler.

Stephanie Clark: So Jordan, what even is a noise phobia?

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, in and of itself, a phobia is simply a fear of something, but what makes it a phobia is that it's an irrational, uncontrollable, and persistent fear, which ends up causing an overwhelming sense of undue stress. So in humans, one response to a phobia can look like a panic attack, just to demonstrate the severity of how people can react to different kinds of phobias.

So, a noise phobia would be an uncontrollable, irrational, and persistent fear of loud noises. When a dog experiences this, they exhibit a range of stress induced behaviors, from barking, to drooling, to shaking, to straight up running away. And often when a dog is running from a source of fear, they'll run so far that they can't make it back home. In fact, research suggests between 11 and 16 percent of dogs are likely to go missing at least once within a five-year period, and one of the top four reasons they go missing is, you guessed it, loud noises.

Stephanie Clark: It's crazy to think about, because noise is all around us. But what situations might induce a dog's noise phobia? We spoke with Lee Ann Hagerty, BSM Partners’ resident foster dog mom and Director of Consumer Enrichment and Insights, to find out more.

Lee Ann Hagerty: From my perspective, loud noises and noise phobia in dogs can be triggered by a variety of events. You know, New Year's Eve obviously is one of those. Fireworks are commonly featured during New Year's Eve celebrations and the sudden loud explosions can be terrifying for dogs. Fourth of July, as we've talked about before, similar to New Year's Eve with fireworks. And I will say that, interestingly enough, Halloween, although it's not necessarily directly associated with loud noises, some people do set off fireworks or play super loud music during Halloween parties, which also can cause distress for dogs with those noise phobias. So, at least from a holiday perspective, those are some of the key ones that I could think of that you would have a concern with loud noise.

I had a dog that was noise phobic about anything. So, any sudden loud noises, including thunder, gunshots, construction, emergency vehicle sirens, car alarms, all of those things would set her off. And unfortunately gunshots, because there's a gun range near us. So yeah, you really have to think about what are external factors that are out there, even beyond just your general holidays, and what are different triggers that these dogs could be experiencing.

Stephanie Clark: As we're putting this episode together and speaking with the experts like Lee Ann, it really is astounding to learn about all the frightening noises pets and more specifically dogs experience during certain times of the year and every day depending on their environment.

Jordan Tyler: Now Kirsten Brand, owner and founder of Pawnix, which is the first noise cancelling headset for dogs, says noise phobias affect roughly one in three dogs. Since she started her company, she's discovered a whole host of other scenarios in which reducing noise or providing protection against loud noises is super important for the well-being of both dogs and their owners.

Kirsten Brand: Cases that I didn't think of, like, New York City and Chicago when, like, a person's apartment building is getting work on, right, and there's all that construction, or we like to refer to it as power tool season. So it helps there with power tool season.

There's others that are just like, even after fireworks sessions, they put it on their dogs just so that they can get them to go outside and go to the bathroom. Teddy, we take him in the car and put it on him because he gets anxiety and motion sickness. And so, especially when we're going to the V-E-T, and I'll spell it because he's in the room, then he puts it on too because he has social anxiety about other boy dogs.

And it's just, like, I don't even have to have the electronic on, but, like, where it's positioned and how it's, like, hitting his little acupressure points and everything and it being secure on his head. He's like a totally different dog. So just different situations that I never designed it for are coming out of the woodwork.

Jordan Tyler: So, these headphones Kirsten mentioned are pretty cool, and we’ll talk more about them later in the episode—don’t worry. First, though, before we get into how to mitigate these stressors that our dogs may face, let's hear from Dr. Katy Miller, Director of Veterinary Services at BSM Partners, about how and why stress—especially long periods of sustained stress—can wreak havoc on a pet's body.

Katy Miller: When a dog gets stressed, they reach a fight or flight response, and that has a release of hormones called cortisol and adrenaline, and those affect the body.

Cortisol we kind of associate with stress, and that chronic elevation of high cortisol levels can have detrimental effects on the immune system, it can affect their metabolism, and it generally is considered a not good state for the body to be in, in a high stress state all the time.

Jordan Tyler: Sounds like it—what exactly happens in a dogs body when these hormones are released?

Katy Miller: So, if you have a long term, especially cortisol release, that's really bad for your body. Eventually it affects the immune system. It weakens your immune system. It takes away the maintenance things that your body would do to take care of itself and put all its energy towards this fight or flight. And so, we really want to be able to reduce that as much as possible and reduce the triggering of those hormones. And once the hormones have been released, how do we help a pet deal with them being triggered?

Jordan Tyler: To better understand how pets exhibit stress behaviors, we also spoke with Cory Miller, owner of Black River Dog Training, who offers more than 25 years of experience training dogs, horses, and raptors. (Not velociraptors. Fun fact, raptors is another word for birds of prey, so think falcons, ospreys, and avian creatures of that nature.)

Another fun fact, Cory is Dr. Katy’s husband, and both of them are professional falconers. So maybe for a future episode, but back to noise phobia in dogs.

Cory Miller: When we talk about phobias, there's a huge spectrum there. You know, that phobia could manifest as, you know, say your dog just gets a little clingy. Well, I mean that could be from a phobia. Then you've got the other end of the spectrum. My sweetheart used to have a golden retriever that would hear fireworks, and we, you know, we didn't really, in the house, we didn't hear him. We knew the fireworks were going off though because she would run into the bathroom and try and dig through a shower stall.

So, it depends on the kind of the spectrum. It's always better to catch a problem before it's a problem. So, there are some small things that you can look for. And of course they vary by, you know, individuals, but if you use your pets’ day to day behavior as a baseline, then it's a little easier to kind of find things out of the normal.

For example, I have a, there's an English Setter sleeping on the floor over here. That's kind of his normal behavior. If we start to see stress with him, it could be something as simple as changing rooms. That's not something he does frequently. Normally he's trying to sleep in whatever room I'm in. Under stress, like a thunderstorm is a great example—we had some thunderstorms come through recently before we really could hear the thunder, he was leaving the room and then he would kind of come back and then he'd go to another room and then he'd come back. Originally, I translated that as I have to pee. And then we went outside and tried a potty break, and he walked outside, looked around, went back in the house, right?

So now, based on that baseline, something fairly subtle, that was a stress indicator. We just worked with a little West Highland. They're great because they're so expressive. So, an indicator in that dog, you know, it's just something simple. His ears started to come down. You know, his tail was a little bit flatter than normal.

You know, there's little things that you can look for. If you can catch those, then a lot of times we can mitigate the bigger problems. Drooling, you know, if you get a dog that's just really, you know, laying there drooling, now we've gone into a high state of stress. There's little things and that's what I try and encourage people to catch is look for the little things.

Stephanie Clark: That's really fascinating. Just like people, stress behaviors can look way different between breeds and for each individual dog. So, coming from a training perspective, once we recognize these kinds of behaviors in our dogs, what can pet parents do to keep them calm and comfortable?

Cory Miller: What I really like to do, what I prefer to do, is really approach things from a place of calm leadership. A lot of people want to comfort and console and, you know, “Oh sweetheart come here,” and they want to pet and console, “It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.” In my experience, that is not productive. If we look at it from sort of an operant conditioning standpoint, this animal has exhibited a behavior, and then we have given that animal our interaction and support based on that behavior. So, their answer to, “I'm stressed, I've heard this thing I don't like, I'm scared of this thing,” is to run to us and act like they're terrified, and then we kind of perpetuate it.

Sometimes we'll get clients in where we sort of have a phobia hamster wheel. You know, the dog gets upset, then they get upset, now the dog's more upset, now they get more upset, and now we're on this fiery hamster wheel that nobody knows how to get off of.

Jordan Tyler: Oh yeah, absolutely. And it turns into a vicious cycle of stress that is now impacting both the pet and the pet parent. And, you know, maybe they're even feeding off of each other's stress.

Cory Miller: That cycle is something that I really, truly believe in. Dogs in particular really, really want leadership. They'll take control. They would kind of rather have somebody else take control. Even when people say they think they're correcting a problem, well, you're feeding energy into a problem or you're teaching them to internalize the problem and express it somewhere else.

So, I really do think that people, the energy they express, I really do think that that feeds the problem. Then the people respond in kind and you, it really is common that you get this cycle going. Half of dog training is training people.

Stephanie Clark: Those are really great insights there. Now, if you prepare far enough in advance, you can really address the root of the problem through training. According to Cory Miller, an ounce of prevention in this regard is worth a pound of cure.

Cory Miller: So, we try and do it from a place of approach and retreat, if we're in a controlled setting with a lot of operant support. So, we just worked with a dog that is absolutely terrified of the car. We figured out that the fear of the car is not actually the car. It's the turbo in the husband's truck. The dog is fine in the wife's car. He's fine in the truck at an idle. When the turbo comes on, the dog starts to panic and hide, which the dog then relates to the truck in general.

So, then it was, you know, leave the truck running, walk the dog towards the truck. When I can see the dog slow down, the dog gets a little too close to my leg, they lower their ears, they change their posture, we just pause. And when I can get that dog to do anything constructive, I mean even as much as stop moving your feet and just look at me, then we mark that behavior, reward the dog, and we walk away. And now we leave the dog feeling like, “Hey, you know, that wasn't that bad. I approached it and I got rewarded for it. So, let's try it again.”

And I'll set a marker, like a threshold. If I can get within 20 feet and at 20 feet is where I see the dog kind of start to exhibit stress, well, then we're going to go to 20 feet fifteen, twenty times until the dog looks at the 20-foot mark and says, you know, no big deal. I've done this. Well, then maybe we'll go to 18 feet. And if we see a stress response, we do the same thing. We start over, and before long, we end up with a dog that sees the truck jumps in the truck and is totally comfortable with it. But I believe it's because we allowed the dog to sort of learn to manage itself. Instead of us trying to manage the dog, if that makes sense.

Jordan Tyler: Now, Cory mentions operant conditioning. So, I'd like to butt in here and highlight an article that Dr. Katy wrote earlier this year about operant conditioning as an effective training method for all kinds of animals, including dogs. We will link that article in the show notes for this episode if you'd like to learn more.

Anyway, as Cory was saying, behavior training can be a super effective tool for mitigating noise phobias and unwanted behaviors in general in dogs. But they aren't an overnight fix.

Cory Miller: The approach and retreat method combined with some operant conditioning, it's something that the average pet owner can pretty readily grasp, and it's something that pretty readily yields some results. And, you know, success breeds success. So, from the perspective of the dog owner, if we can give them something and they go, “Hey, gosh, I saw an improvement today,” you know, that encourages them. Hey, we'll do it again tomorrow instead of, “Well, I tried this thing. I bought this product. I did this thing, and I got nothing.”

People will find that I can be a little bit insensitive about things like that. Because an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, right? People call me and go, “Oh my gosh, it's July 2nd. What do I do?” Well, the first thing you do is buy a calendar because this happens every year.

Jordan Tyler: Now, if you don’t want to go down the training route of noise phobia management, that’s okay! There are plenty of durable products you can try, expert tips to implement, and even nutritional interventions to help manage stress in pets. Stick around later in the episode to hear more about a few of the durable and consumable pet products out there.

I do want to note, regardless of what approach you take to noise phobia management, preparation is a crucial piece of this puzzle. Understand what triggers your pet and what makes them feel more comfortable and more calm, and be aware of when these noise phobia situations might arise. Then, take initiative to seek out solutions before the problem arises in full force, so that when it does, you’re prepared.

Speaking of preparation, Lee Ann offered a ton of great tips for what pet parents can do prior to a noisy event to keep their pets cool and collected.

Lee Ann Hagerty: The best thing that you can do as a pet parent is create a safe and comfortable space indoors for them during these loud noise events. You know, think of sort of a designated area in your house that can be their own personal sanctuary. Somewhere you can make it cozy with blankets and pillows, play some white noise, or calming music to mask any of those external sounds. If your dogs are used to being crated, this can be perfect opportunity for them because they see that as a den like sort of safe place for themselves.

Make sure they're wearing a collar with a tag and are microchipped. You never ever know when they might get lost or escape, and having that proper identification really is going to help you to be able to get reunited with your pet.

Another option is exercising your dog before the event. A tired dog is more likely to relax and sleep during some of these stressful times. Not always, but it can help. Additionally, some of the things we may not have talked about too much, but you could consider using some of the calming aids like pheromone diffusers or supplements that are out there, but again, consult with your veterinarian, get some personalized advice from them as well, if you feel like the tips and tricks that you're trying to use for your pet aren't working well for you.

Stephanie Clark: I'd like to call out the last point in particular. If you're struggling to manage noise phobias in your dog, talk to your veterinarian. As we said earlier, all pets are unique and have unique needs. So, an intervention for one pet may not be as effective for another pet who needs a different kind of support.

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, that's a great point. Now, in all her years of pet fostering experience, Lee Ann has seen some stuff. She knows that preparation is a crucial piece of managing noise-phobic dogs, but she also has some tips on what pet parents can do during and after the event to ensure their pets are safe and comfortable, even after the scary part is over.

Lee Ann Hagerty: During the event, it's very important to take precautions to ensure your dog is safe. Make sure you secure your doors and windows to prevent them from escaping. You know, if you've got a screen, a dog is likely to go through that versus a sliding glass door. So just make sure those types of things are secure. You never know what a dog that is in, as we said, flight mode is going to do. They could easily just jump through a screen or something like that.

If you do bring your dog outside, please keep them on a leash to avoid any accidents or running away. That even includes if you're in a fenced in yard. I've had a dog hear a gunshot and take off over a 4-foot fence. So just absolutely make sure that you can avoid this running away or those types of things by having them on a leash.

Keep them away from any of those things like fires that might be going on during Halloween and you've got your fire out front for the kids and you're sitting in the driveway handing out candy. Don't have your dog out there. Don't have them near something that they're going to freak out and go through it. Uh, that would be very unsafe. And obviously, please, just like your children, keep your pets away from the fireworks.

Again, avoid making sudden changes to things like their diets, especially when they're stressed. You know, don't give them these holiday barbecue meals because it's Fourth of July and you think they should have a lovely hamburger. They don't need one more thing to add stress to their body, and changing their diet like that can absolutely do that.

Jordan Tyler: So, fun story time. This was a few Christmases ago. We learned the hard way how a diet change can really exacerbate stress. I'll spare you the dirty details, but basically, we gave our senior dog a decadent treat. It was like one of those handmade ones that you get from like a boutique pet store. It had like the frosting on it. It looked like a donut. So, we gave that to him on Christmas Eve. And then on Christmas Day, we went to my aunt's house and we left the dog at ours.

Well, this was after COVID. So, the dog had gotten really used to my husband and I being at the house all the time and his separation anxiety was starting to get really pronounced. Anyway, we left him at home on Christmas. We're gone for maybe four or five hours. And came home, apparently that tasty treat didn't agree with his stomach and maybe the anxiety of us being gone exacerbated that upset. But long story short, you can imagine the stinky scene we returned home to.

Stephanie Clark: It's really quite common when you think of it. I mean, my sister comes to visit us for the holidays and she brings her little dog and he's naturally a little bit more cautious, we'll say, and sensitive, and he had again another tasty Christmas delight in his stocking, and the next day he gave us all a big old present, all over the house, and so while we try to do nice things and we try to spoil our pups, especially around the holidays, sometimes it's just better to keep status quo.

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, you know, and I'd also like to reiterate—so, we have another dog. We have the senior dog and then we have the puppy and the puppy will eat literally anything. He has a condition that I've spoken about on this podcast before, I think. If you want to go listen to the trailer, I'll tell you more about that story, but basically it means that he's at least a little hungry pretty much all the time. So, he just gets into stuff that he's not supposed to get into. He's eaten decorations, he's eaten books, he's eaten discarded wine corks, literally, you name it, he will try to eat it.

So, if your dog is like mine in that regard, it's super, super important to make sure toxic substances are somewhere where the pet isn't going to get into them. So, you know, things like sunscreen in the summertime, mosquito spray, anything like that. Just make sure that they're kept somewhere where the pet isn't going to be able to get into them, because that's kind of the last thing you want to be worried about when you have a bunch of people over, you're celebrating and then your dog gets into something that they shouldn't.

So, anyway, those are some of the things that we should consider leading up to and during an event that may cause some noise phobia behavior, but what about some of the things we can do after the event?

Lee Ann Hagerty: It's back to the safe environment. It's again, you need to make sure that they feel like they're in a safe environment. Make sure your house is secured. Make sure your yard is secured. After something like fireworks and thunderstorms, please be sure to remove any debris. You've got branches that can come down during thunderstorms. In Tennessee, I can assure you our sidewalks were littered with fireworks out there. So again, make sure there's not something that your dog can get into or have access to and be like, “Oh, what's this? I don't know what this is. Let me decide to ingest it.” And then you've got a foreign body issue.

Keep an eye on them. Make sure you're looking for those signs of stress that Dr. Katy talked about. Consider seeking professional help from a behaviorist if, you know, they're that far off the rails or you don't feel like you have the expertise to try to, you know, mitigate that situation. Again, it takes patience, it takes consistency, but you absolutely can learn to manage their noise phobia and help them to live a happier life.

Stephanie Clark: Okay, so we've talked about things you can implement in the home and through training to address this noise phobia issue, but there has to be other interventions. Let's dive right in and start with the hard stuff.

Katy Miller: Pharmaceuticals can be an option for some pets, but for one, you want to make sure you plan ahead of time. So, this isn't something that you want to get to the day of and be trying to get a hold of your vet for some medication for your pet because a lot of times, everybody else has the same problem and they can run out of medication, or you may not be able to get in. So having some on hand if you have a dog that has severe noise phobias would be a good idea.

But each one you need to kind of take with a grain of salt. So, anytime you add something to the body, there can be a reaction to it or something that is, you get the reaction that you want, but you can also get reactions that you don't want. But each one has their own individual uses, and you want to talk to your vet well ahead of time to be able to make sure that you're getting the right medication, and that it's the right one for your pet.

Jordan Tyler: I do want to highlight that pharmaceutical medications don’t always work right away, and as Dr. Katy said, they don’t always have the intended benefit, depending on the pet. This is actually true of supplements and pheromones as well, and we’ll get into that more later, but these stress interventions also take time to have a profound effect. So, in other words, it’s important to have patience as you’re figuring out what works best for you and your pet.

Stephanie Clark: So, medication is an option, especially if you are working with your vet. However, there are natural approaches that can be just as effective. Some of these include supplements, and pheromones, and even wearables or durable products. Because all dogs are individuals! So, let's explore all the options to best equip you with a wealth of knowledge of all different products to find the best one for your fearful pup.

So, starting with durable products, you heard from Kirsten Brand of Pawnix briefly earlier. But let's get the scoop on her noise canceling headset for dogs. For Kirsten, the concept happened, well, kind of by accident.

Kirsten Brand: My dog was always scared of loud noises and we would travel and just being on a plane like slamming the overheads, she'd get scared, and so through her being afraid of thunderstorms and fireworks I had like tried everything and one day on a plane I just put my own headset on her and I was like, “Oh my god, she's going to sleep.” Like I can do this. I just figured I could strip out like from a human headset and make one for her, and then the more I told people about it, they're like, “That's a great idea!”

And so, you know, the universe just kind of gave me a path to be like, here's noise cancelling headphones for dogs. And since it was a need for myself, I knew it was a need for other people. So that's how Pawnix was born.

Jordan Tyler: I love how you were able to come up with a personal solution and instead of keeping it to yourself, you were like, “Here, world, enjoy.” That's just great.

So, would you mind walking us through the science of how these headsets work? I understand you have sort of a 1.0 model and now you're working on a 2.0, so would love to hear more about how that 2.0 version will be different.

Kirsten Brand: So right now these are the electronics that go in pockets of this Pawnix headset, right? So, it stays all around their head and that's how it stays on. When the Pawnix is on, so physics for you, there's two microphones. So, there's one that picks up the noise, then we'll create the anti-wavelength of the sound. And when it gets played out, it'll knock the original sound down as it's going into their ear.

So, if you can imagine it's being picked up from the outside here, comes in, does a whole bunch of software stuff, plays the anti-noise back out, and they knock each other down. And the stuff that's not being fully knocked down, if there's any vibration or anything leaking in the sides, there's another microphone here that's attempting to do the same thing.

And it's hybrid technology that was invented for all the human headphones, like your Sony, Bose, or Beats. And so, we're basically like, all right, how do we do it, but in a way that's what is affecting the dogs? And since they hear like five times more than we do more intensely, a bigger sound spectrum, that's what we focused on as to what we're addressing.

Our human ones have so many other bells and whistles, like dogs don't need that, right? We kept the Bluetooth in though so that you could play music to them because there's studies about how reggae and classical music and the low beats per minute actually soothes shelter dogs. So that gets recommended to a lot of shelters to how to, you know, how to get their dogs to calm down from all the high intensity barking. And that works, so I made playlists for my customers and I was like here go try this, and if it doesn't like work just with that all you can go all the way to playing white noise, which has its benefits in you know trying to block out even more noise.

And then 2.0, you'll notice like in the human headsets when it lays on an ear, there's like a big cup generally that goes around the ear. Well, since I wasn't doing protection, right, and I was more monitoring like sound leakage and the big bursts coming in, like that's not there. So, we're addressing how does that, how do we do that in something that's cute like this and still fits on the head, but the ear is able to kind of like nestle in like a human headset and still get this benefit. And so, it's kind of challenging when you have pointy ears, floppy ears—there's like, you know, seven to 70 different ear types in dogs. So that's the fun part right now is, how do we use what we know is our already working, amp it up a bit for, you know, like airplanes and stuff, and then make it so it's more protection so that if you want to use it in an airplane or people that use hunting dogs and stuff, like, how do we protect their hearing?

Working with Fetch Labs at the University of Cincinnati because they do a lot with the military, partnering with them. How do we protect working dogs? So, it's not just the airplane, it's kind of like, how do we do another one that's a little sleeker that, like, will span a whole lot more use cases.

Jordan Tyler: So, Kirsten has a ton of different iterations that fit different kinds of dogs, different types of ears, and she can get pretty customized with the way that these are produced. So much so that her and her team actually make these by hand.

Kirsten Brand: Yes, fun story about learning how to sew, right? Like, you may have taken sewing in high school or maybe an elective in college, if you're trying to like, blow stuff off. But like, I had a factory starting to make these during COVID, right? So like, my electronics obviously come out of a factory. I don't make those by hand. Like, with a PC board and everything, that comes out of a factory. But how it stays on the dog's head, I had a factory making these, and during COVID they decided to pivot and make masks and, you know, like hospital garb and stuff, which I can't fault them.

So, then I was like, well, how do I finish my orders? So, I literally sat on YouTube and figured out what machines I had to order, like how I would sew this together and basically taught myself how to sew this and then was like, well, I can't keep up with this. So, I also employ seamstresses around the United States, who basically make me the outer shell and then ship it back and we finish here in my little factory of assembling them, putting them together, putting them in boxes, and getting them out the door.

Stephanie Clark: Now for curious listeners out there, how would you recommend introducing a dog to the Pawnix headset?

Kirsten Brand: We've just taken basic advice from different trainers and said, alright, well, here's the headset, let them sniff it, provide whatever they're motivated by, if it's peanut butter or treats or, you know, or love time, right? And introduce it that way, so that you ensure that they think about it with love instead of just being like, oh, there's a loud event, let me stick it on them, and then they're like, negatively associating it with it.

Jordan Tyler: So, the Pawnix headset is one durable product that listeners can explore for mitigating noise phobias in dogs. But there are others, specifically a garment that Lee Ann lovingly described as a hug for your dog. To learn more about this product, we spoke with Dominic DeDominicis, vice president of retail sales for ThunderWorks, which sells several stress interventions for both dogs and cats. It's claim to fame, however, it's the ThunderShirt.

Dom DeDominicis: So basically, ThunderShirt started with our CEO and founder, Phil Blizzard. He moved to North Carolina and his dog, Dosi, which was a Goldendoodle—a lot of storms in the southeast, and so in the middle of the night, when the storm would go on, Dosi would be on top of his chest in bed shaking, and he's like, I’ve got to do something about this.

And so there's a thing called the hunter's wrap, where people that are training their dogs to hunting, if the dog is skittish on a shotgun blast, what they'll do is they'll wrap an ace bandage really tight around them.

So, he started with that concept, and so he took actually a t-shirt, put it on Dosi, and then he took and he wrapped Dosi with an ace wrap. That worked out well. He took that same t-shirt on, used, uh, I believe duct tape on top of the shirt. So, make sure everybody's happy about this. No, nothing was applied to the fur. But then he cut it off and then he would put it back on. And then that became the beginning of the ThunderShirt.

And then he actually got a sewing machine and started making it from there. So his first round of products, he actually working with vets and they really liked the idea. They knew the concept and they really liked the idea. And so then he just kept on expanding it. So, it really started in a garage. The old American dream, in a garage, and we were able to expand and get into not only ThunderShirts, but ThunderWunders, which is a supplement, ThunderEase, which is a calming pheromone. And we tried some other things. So, we kind of worked that whole different angle, but the ThunderShirt has been by far, that's really the namesake of the company.

The great thing about it, the ThunderShirt works right when you put it on, where everything else, if you're talking supplements or calming pheromones, it's got to go through a process to be digested into the system, go through the nerves, and then it starts kicking in.

So, my key piece of advice, if you buy one, don't buy the day before a hurricane. Get it a couple weeks before. Let your dog see it, put some treats on it or some ThunderWunders on it. Let them understand this is something that's going to be a positive in their life. And not something that all of a sudden, when there's a lot of loud noises, now I'm going to try to put this thing on you because it can be a little intimidating the first time.

Jordan Tyler: Super, super interesting. So kind of like the Pawnix headset, the ThunderShirt is targeting acupressure points around the dog's body to induce a feeling of calm and comfort during stressful situations. Now, you also mentioned supplements and pheromones. Supplements we'll get into here in a minute, but first of all, what the heck is a pheromone and how do they work?

Dom DeDominicis: There's multiple types of pheromones, so as you're talking about pheromones, you may have to try different brands because there's different types out there. The pheromone that we use on the ThunderEase Powered by Adaptil, that is what they call the maternal pheromone. So as a mother is feeding her kittens and puppies, she's releasing a pheromone to calm them down.

With a cat, they also use that one for cats that have conflict with each other, but then they also use what they call the facial pheromone. It's where they actually go around and you'll see a cat who rubs their face on different parts of the furniture or on you. That's basically them marking saying, “Hey, you're okay. I'm not going to pee on you or scratch you.” So, it's a good day for you.

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, I have an aunt who travels a lot, but she also has a senior cat, and so she uses pheromone diffusers in her house to keep her feline friend's stress in check.

Stephanie Clark: I don't know if I've mentioned Anny on the podcast before, I feel like I have, but she's my little, I call her my meatball. She's a dachshund-AmStaff mix, so she is long like a dachshund, but meaty like a pitbull or AmStaff. And unfortunately, for the first two years of her life, she had a rough go at it.

And when I was working at Murray State University as a teacher, we got to take care of the dogs that were a little less adoptable at the shelter, and Anny was less than adoptable because she was terrified. I mean, she just had an awful, awful past and she would just hide in her cage, and I volunteered to bring her home over the weekend and take care of her and see if she would actually be a good fit for my other beagle. Rest in peace, Gracie Lou Freebush.

So anyway, we actually tried pheromones, and I had the diffuser instead of the spray and I would catch her sitting next to the diffuser when I got home from school or classes and I mean, over time, I think it helped. I mean, she's now the most loyal dog. She will follow me anywhere and everywhere. I think it made life and transitioning into a happier and safer home a little bit easier.

Jordan Tyler: I love that story. That's really sweet. So, let's say a pet owner tries the ThunderShirt and it works okay, but it really works best when it's paired with another calming product, like a pheromone or a supplement. Is this safe? Can pet owners use more than one of these products to reduce their pets’ noise related stress?

Dom DeDominicis: We call combining the powers of calm. Sometimes it takes multiple things, just like in humans, same thing with your pets. You know, and there's certain environments like when you're going to travel, if your dog has travel anxiety, you're going to want to put a ThunderShirt on, then I would advise shooting some pheromones onto the ThunderShirt itself.

So, now you're double dosing your dog to be able to be calm, and you're not really dosing them twice, but you're using two different methods to calm them down during travel, which is only going to benefit the dog but also you because now you're more focused on driving. It makes it so much easier for you if you're going to the vet, for the vet, and so forth, and it's all about making it more comfortable for your pets.

Stephanie Clark: Combining the powers of calm, ooh, I love that. It sounds like it's really about using all the available tools in our arsenal to make pets more comfortable. Not only during noisy events, but also for other stressful scenarios they may experience more frequently than when a storm blows through, or a firework season starts.

Jordan Tyler: Let's move on now to supplements. There are so many supplements out there today, and we've often called the supplement space the “Wild West” because there are so many claims and so many ingredients, but not all products are fully researched or regulated. So, it's important for pet parents to do their research and align their purchasing decisions with trusted brands that conduct feeding trials and can really back up the claims of the product through evidence and research.

One such company is Pet Honesty, which offers several calming supplements and is no stranger to using the IHUT, which stands for In Home Usage Test, as an effective method for validating the safety and efficacy of its products before introducing them into the general market.

Stephanie Clark: In home use tests, or IHUT, are a valuable tool for a brand to evaluate a product with pets in a natural environment. Basically, pet parents within a brand's target demographic sign up to participate in the study. The brands then ship them the product and instructions for gathering data, and then the pet owner feeds or uses the product with their pet inside the home over a period of time. You see, by understanding how pets interact with food or a product in their natural environment, researchers and manufacturers can make informed decisions to develop and market products that meet the needs and the preferences for both pets and their owners.

Jordan Tyler: Dr. Greg Reinhart, Vice President of Research and Development at Pet Honesty, has led the development of the company's calming supplements, which use a range of active ingredients with researched calming benefits.

Greg Reinhart: Yeah, we have three products out there that are formulated to specifically help with calming and reduce excessive anxiety and stress. We have our Melatonin Calming Max Strength product. We got a Hemp Calming product, and then we just got our Regular Strength Calming product. But they have actives in there that have decades of use in the human field with beneficial results, and some of the actives we have also have dog clinical studies behind them. So, a lot of interest in this field and it's an emerging topic, and the data that we got on the IHUT is very, very favorable.

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, tell us a little bit more about the IHUT feeding trial that Pet Honesty conducted recently.

Greg Reinhart: This particular study involves 74 dogs over a six-week period. So, these were dogs that were recruited because they had known behavioral issues with anxiety and detrimental stress. They stayed in the home during the entire period. The pet parents were given a questionnaire and every week they did an assessment and every two weeks it was a more thorough assessment. In this particular study, they were given the Melatonin Calming Max Strength product. It was dosed based on body weight and we got some really, really interesting data back.

What we learned was a couple of things. It takes a while to kind of re-equilibrate the stress level in the dog. But after six weeks, we saw dramatic and statistically significant declines in anxious behaviors. We had like 86 percent of pet parents notice profound benefits. This included decreased excessive barking, decreased destructive behavior, and then decreased separation anxiety. And so, that amount of beneficial response in a number of different areas was kind of a clean sweep on things that we were hoping to see some benefit on.

Now, I will say it took six weeks for all these things to be markedly reduced. We started seeing some benefits at four weeks. The dogs seemed more relaxed and at ease, but at six weeks, it was clear that some of these very strong stress behaviors were reduced. Interestingly, the pet parents that were on the study and assessing their dogs, after six weeks, they felt less stressed about their dogs. So, they noticed the difference and they felt more as better pet parents because their dog wasn't stressed out. And they themselves said that they personally had lower stress levels. So, it kind of created a positive flywheel in that regard, which I thought was kind of neat.

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, that is super interesting, and it comes back to what we were discussing with Cory earlier, that stress cycle between the pet owner and the pet. If you can break that cycle, managing things like noise phobias and other anxieties or behaviors gets a whole lot easier for everybody involved.

Now, as you're speaking about this feeding study, you mentioned these changes were being noticed after several weeks of administering the supplement. So, perhaps this isn't a day before, Band Aid-type fix for noise phobias. It sounds to me more like it would take a period of time for a pet to actually acclimate to the supplement and realize the benefits.

Greg Reinhart: I don't know that a supplement a day of is going to necessarily help as much as if that dog was given the supplement for a period of time beforehand. Dogs pick up on certain things, they're very sound sensitive, and certain dogs are even more so.

A calming supplement given weeks beforehand will take the edge off and just allow that dog to navigate through that troublesome time period much, much better. It may not eliminate all the symptoms, but if a dog is prone to destructive behaviors, the dog will still be nervous and stressed out, but maybe won't tear up the couch or chew the chair leg or something like that.

Some of these actives work by different mechanisms and some you have to kind of reset, like the neurotransmitters in the body and things like that. And that's not an instantaneous response. And others, let's say like melatonin, has a short time period between ingestion and then having its effects on, you know, making the dog more relaxed.

Stephanie Clark: That totally makes sense. Now, you had mentioned melatonin. What are some other active ingredients Pet Honesty formulates with for its calming supplements?

Greg Reinhart: We have 10 or 11 actives. The ones that were in the clinical study were melatonin, tryptophan, L-theanine, ginkgo, valerian root, chamomile, passionflower, ashwagandha root, ginger root, lemon balm, and even magnesium, an essential mineral.

They all have different routes to help lower anxiety and lower stress. Like L-tryptophan, it's associated often on the human side with Thanksgiving meals, because turkey's high in L-tryptophan, and after you ingest it, and your body metabolizes it, it produces serotonin, which creates some drowsiness, and lowers your anxiety levels, and that—along with maybe overeating—makes you drowsy. L-theanine also is associated with increases in serotonin. So those two, uh, are pretty, pretty straight lines on how they work.

Ginkgo, there's a couple dog studies on that, which are very interesting. They found that dogs that were to go into surgery, they were given ginkgo before they went in under general anesthesia. They were more relaxed and less stressed, which is a good way to help a dog get ready for a surgery.

And then some of the other ones that have a lot of human experience, but maybe not controlled clinical dog studies, like valerian root—that's been used for a long time on the human side. Ashwagandha root, which is one that's getting a lot of publicity and recognition, both on human and companion animals. That's an adaptogen, which is a compound that can have multiplier effects in the body. Then lemon balm. I know a lot of people who are into aromatherapy feel that like lemon balm on your pillowcase will help you relax and make going to sleep easier. And there are benefits on ingestion as well, not just aromatic.

The one that's interesting to me that I did a little bit of research on is chamomile. I've always heard about chamomile for indigestion and things like that, but it has strong benefits helping to reduce stress. And then ginger root is the other one that's highly associated with if you've got tummy troubles as a human, that ginger is supposed to kind of ease that, but it also has benefits as far as reducing stress and reducing anxiety and helps you be more relaxed.

Each of these individually have reasons to help with stress, but I think when combined together, it's a pretty powerful package.

Most of these active ingredients are natural ingredients. But there's a strong caveat that needs to be called out. Just because it's natural doesn't mean it's safe. And so, one of the things that we did is very thorough toxicology assessments on each of these ingredients to make sure that they're safe at the levels used at both short-term and long-term feeding would not raise any health concerns.

Stephanie Clark: Debbie Downer over here. It is important to note that while ingredients like chamomile have been studied extensively in humans, not so much have been studied in animals, especially our pets. So, when we're extrapolating data, it's really important to take that into consideration.

Jordan Tyler: That's so true. And I appreciate Dr. Reinhart calling out the faux pas behind natural as well.

Stephanie Clark: For example, CBD, or cannabidiols, is technically a natural ingredient, but there is not nearly enough research out there to determine how safe or effective CBD is in pets and at what dose.

So, we have Dr. Katy Miller, who is pretty passionate about this topic. Let's hear her insights on CBD supplements.

Katy Miller: Yeah. So, I think CBD is kind of the new “golden child” of the moment. And so, it's out there and it's in everything and it's the miracle cure for anything that ails you. And so anxiety and pets is no different. It has come on the market and has been touted as a good cure for anxiety or stress in animals.

I think that it needs to be used with caution. There's a lot of unknowns that are still out there with it, and there is a risk with some products of heavy metal toxicity. So, the hemp plant is really good at taking up things from the soil and concentrating it in the plant. And so that's something that you want to be careful that the product that you're using that it's been tested for heavy metals. You do want to make sure that the product that you're using is CBD only, and doesn't have THC in it, since THC, we do know, is toxic to cats and dogs at certain levels.

Jordan Tyler: Just for clarity, the cannabis plant is made up of more than 500 chemical compounds, according to the National Institutes of Health, one of which is THC. THC is the psychoactive compound that, when ingested, can alter mood and perceptions of reality. In other words, THC is what makes you high. Regardless of where you stand on cannabis, as Dr. Katy said, THC can be harmful to our pets.

Katy Miller: And then you want to be careful because the products are simply unregulated, and there isn't a good consensus on what the dosage should be. There just is no standard for it, and they're all over the place. So, I think you want to be really careful about the products and do your research on the product before you use it.

Really scrutinize how well have they done it? Have they done any testing? Have they done particularly any testing on animals? Has this product ever been used in dogs and cats? That would be a great question to ask. And really research that brand before you decide to try one.

Stephanie Clark: So, when in doubt, talk it out. It may be helpful to speak to your pet's veterinarian. They can help guide you if a CBD product is an appropriate fit, or if it may interact with the current medication or an illness concurrently going on with your pet.

Jordan Tyler: There's definitely still a lot to consider when it comes to CBD. So, pet owners, be warned. Do your research, and ask the hard questions before diving into this emerging space, because not everyone is doing it responsibly.

So, let's review. We've discussed a ton of different approaches for keeping noise-phobic pets cool, calm, and collected during times of stress. For Dr. Katy and Lee Ann, proper preparation is the single best thing you can do to manage noise phobias in your pets.

Katy Miller: I think for me, the biggest thing is to plan ahead of time. Like, that's the biggest advice I could give everybody is that it's easy to ignore this when it's not happening, and then you end up in a situation that everybody's very unhappy with. It just takes that extra time ahead of the events to be able to prepare for it that makes it so that event can be enjoyable for everybody.

Jordan Tyler: Right. Or at least more tolerable for a stressed pet.

Lee Ann Hagerty: The big thing for a lot of this is not to necessarily just be, reactive, you know, how can we prevent and really help our pets to feel safe constantly, but then prep them for these kinds of really scary events that come up.

Jordan Tyler: While there are a number of situations in which a dog may experience noise phobia, and the stress it induces, all is not lost. There are a range of products, durable, nutritional, and pharmaceutical, that can lend pet parents a hand in these scenarios. That said, these remedies are not one size fits all. Remember to have patience when exploring what will work best for your pet, and do your best not to feed energy into your dog's stress, creating a snowball effect. That doesn't help anyone.

Stephanie Clark: If you're just beginning this journey with your companion, start small. Can you identify signs of stress in your pet? What symptoms are they exhibiting and what method will you try first to calm them down? We hope this episode has provided you with a useful toolbox for managing these stressors and that you walk away more informed, and you and your fur family members can all enjoy—or at least tolerate—holidays, special occasions and rainy days together.

Jordan Tyler: Thank you for tuning in to Barking Mad, a podcast by BSM Partners. If you'd like to know more about us, please visit our website at www.bsmpartners.net. Be the first to know about new episodes by subscribing to the podcast. And if you know someone with a noise phobic pet, share this episode with them to help them out.

We'd also like to thank our dedicated team, Ada-Miette Thomas, Neeley Bowden, Kait Wright, and Dr. Katy Miller. A special thanks to Lee Ann Haggerty and Michael Johnson. See you next time!