Hi everyone! It's Buster here.
I’ve just met a new friend who could easily take my title as the “cheeky office dog”. But I thought, if homeopathy can help me, it can probably help my new friend too.
May I introduce Gunner? He’s a six-year-old hound cross that Shannon – the office manager of my owner – adopted last year. Apparently loud noises frighten him a lot.
The strange thing is that Gunner lives near a shooting club and the rifle shots from there don’t bother him at all. Maybe it has something to do with his name? Or perhaps, as a proper American dog, he’s particularly constitutionally stalwart.
Triggers: Thunder and Fireworks
Whatever the reason, Gunner couldn’t really explain why thunder and fireworks were different … why they caused him so much stress that he had to behave completely unbearably.
I mean, he nearly chewed a hole through his owner's wooden door! Just look at this:
So Shannon fitted a camera to the door to find out what exactly was happening to poor Gunner (and her house).
And listen to this … she could see that during a thunderstorm he freaked out so much that he managed to turn the doorknob and run out into the closed driveway.
Outside he seemed to calm down a bit and Shannon left him there for a while. (I suppose he must be very talented if he can already turn a doorknob. I’m sadly much too short for that, otherwise I’d have tried it myself long ago).
Anyway. There came a day when fleeing to the driveway was no longer enough. Apparently Gunner got so frantic at some point that he jumped through a glass window and ran off.
He was found on the main road (fortunately unharmed) and brought to our office.
I liked Gunner at first sight. So that he didn't have to be left alone, Shannon started bringing him into the office more and more often.
Aconitum and Ignatia
At first she treated him with Aconitum 200, but it didn’t really help. Then she tried Ignatia 200, but that didn’t do anything either. I knew he didn’t want to be aggressive, he was simply frightened. (And besides – just between us – I wanted to keep my nickname to myself).
So I concentrated fully on telepathically reminding Gunner’s owner that Joette always says in her classes that Argentum nitricum helps her anxious clients. My concentration must have worked (I’m pretty clever, aren’t I?), because on Gunner’s next panic during fireworks his owner gave him Argentum nitricum 200. And he settled down immediately. That’s a good sign, isn’t it? More information about dosing and potency of homeopathic remedies can be found here.
Because Gunner had already experienced so much stress in his life, unfortunately his noise anxiety had also developed into separation anxiety when his family had to leave him alone.
He even managed to chew through a wooden blind and bite through a windowsill when his family left him alone for a night.
Argentum nitricum for chronic stress
Instead of using the remedy only as an acute treatment for emergencies like fireworks or thunder, Shannon decided to give him a dose of Argentum 200 each morning. Since then he’s been doing better, as she can see from the camera.
Occasionally he still has a panic (yes, he broke a screen and nearly let the cat out). But now that he gets the remedy every day from his owner, I have high hopes that my friend Gunner will keep improving.
At least he no longer trembles and howls so pitifully when a thunderstorm comes. There are many positive signs and I’ll keep you posted.
By the way, you may be wondering how his owner managed to give him the medicine. So – please don’t tell my many animal friends – if you put the little pellets on a flat plate and add a dab of coconut oil, all animals lick them up straight away.
Most of us love coconut oil and get so excited that we don’t check whether someone has sneaked tiny remedy pellets in. And please again: you didn’t hear this from me … it must stay our secret.
Thank goodness Gunner was adopted by such a cool family who know a lot about homeopathy. (And of course it doesn’t hurt that he’s now friends with me!) So let’s all keep our paws crossed for Gunner – just look at that face!
Have a wonderful day,
Buster
