O'Riley's Journey towards Noise Phobia freedom
My lovely, gentle 9 yr old Golden, O'Riley, who I adopted in November of 2003 is a perfect dog in every way.................unfortunately, he has severe noise phobia.......thunderstorms turn him into a crazed,clawing, terrorized wild animal.

He clings to me and tries to claw his way inside me...........it has been a difficult time but this blog is to hopefully celebrate his release and mine from the intensity of his fear.

Having been on a hit or miss mish mash of meds .......Valium.........Ace.........Xanax, I finally (at the suggestion of my vet) contacted a Vet Behaviorist. We had our first meeting on 4/20/07............I will call her Dr A............we talked for 2 1/2 hours as she also observed O'Riley. I felt an immediate connection with her and knew, with NO doubt that she was passionate and dedicated to making O'Riley's life a happier one. We discussed drug therapy and behavior modification.......it is clear that O'R and I have a lot of work to do..

This journal is sinply to keep track of meds given and when/why ..........and the result of the meds AND training.

Dr A has suggested we start O'Riley on 40 mg Clomicalm 2x/day for two weeks and in two weeks (May 11th) begin 60 mg 2x/day........this is an anti-anxiety drug that he will be on for the season............and,when needed , before a storm, I will give him 1-2 2mg tabs of clonazepam and can repeat 1 to 2 times/day, not exceeding 6 tabs/day

I need to work hard at re introducing him to MY being the very benevolent yet strong leader........I need to teach him how to 'calm' ...........I need to make a safe room in the basement and make it a happy place to go..........so that when I am not home he can be put there and not freak out.

Today we have had cloudy. rainy weather, but nothing at all severe, yet O'Riley has been anxious and whiny........because we live near Lake Ontario, it is very difficult to predict storms............tonight a thunderstorm or two have been predicted.........I gave O'R 4 mg of Clon at 6pm..............he is no longer whining but he is watching my every move...........We wil see how tonight goes.........I have a white noise machine in my bedroom and with the TV on and shades drawn I am hoping for a quiet night..........I have no problem re-dosing him if we have more storms tonight !