Hi there. I am posting this for a friend as she has no access to the internet. she has a 12 year old jrt that has suddenly developed noise phobia due to the noise of a house being built very close to them. when the noise of the diggers etc starts she wants to get outside and hide. she is frantic and tries to get into spaces she really can't. She has been checked over by a vet and the vet has given a DAP collar and zylkene. she thinks one of them or combination of both is helping but she is by no means better. unfortunately, she is not food orientated and toys do not distract her at the moment and now any loud noise will trigger off this behaviour. It is breaking her woners heart as at her age she should be enjoying her twilight years. Does anyonehave any suggestion for her? thank you.

Have you tried leaving a radio on for her, it may help to distract her,

Because of specific of noise and maybe vibrations caused by diggers it will be hard to deal with problem. If a dog is too close noise he can refuse to eat or play, you cannot move out, can you?
I think that best option are calming tablets.

Check it out:

Nerves & Phobias - Dorwest

You can use both products together, tabs on regular basic and Valerian compound when noise is really loud.

Maybe trip to vet is a good option? He can give something stronger that herbal tablets.

If she tries to get into spaces she cant and tries to hide then it sounds like that is where she feels safe and gets comfort. Have they tried making a Den of refuge and safety specifically for her? If she has been crate trained, you could possibly do it with a crate, door open obviously, by draping a heavy blanket over it, only leaving the access in and out. Is it only at the moment shes not interested in food and toys and previously was? If so thats not unusual stessed out fearful dogs often wont take foodtreats. Chewing however is a great de-stresser for dogs, so might be worth trying with a kong with really good things in it, cheese,chicken,sausages,peanut butter, anything liver based, anything you can think of added to it that might get her interested and involved. Or a different type of chew or longer lasting chew type goodie. Put in the Den she might have a go at one. If they havent got a crate a table would be a good substitute with a blanket drapped over that.

Agree to with the other poster about a natural calmative
Sccullcap and valerian and hebal, to relieve anxiety and nervousness among other things, calms and relaxxes particularly effective for noise phobia, doesnt cause drowsiness or impair normal behaviour Dorwest Safe for long term use too.

DrPetals Elixirs, There is one I think called Dr Petals Fears calms and soothes fears and phobias, 8 drops twice daily Bach Flower Remedies. 100% Organic Natural Health Care For Animals | Dr Petals Animal Elixirs for those.

There is KalmAid too thats Amino acids and vitamin supplement, which Ive a feeling the Zylkene is amino acid based too. but if they want to have a look at that then Pet Medication, Pet Food, Pet Meds, Discount Pet Medication - VioVet - VioVet

Nomally the answer to fear and phobia noise wise, is to get special CDs and start to play at very low level, whilst the animal is doing something pleasureable, then as the animal copes slowly at the dogs pace, increasing the volumne, desensitising them to the noise as they learn to cope. In this instance though I dont think it is something that you can try. Hope the other suggestions might be of some use though.

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