A friend of mine will be shipping an adult dog across the country and is worried the dog will be unduly stressed as she has not been out and about much. My question is this - has anyone any feedback regarding products like Herbal Calm, Calm & Relax or any other herbal products specifically for stress relief? Do they work?

The rescue I used to manage successfully used Rescue Remedy on the dogs on the 4th of July, and other events like that.

Since that time, I have heard of some dogs having some undesirable reactions (increased anxiety) to herbal calming aids. So I'd make sure whatever your friend decided to use, she tried out a few times at home first! (The reactions I've heard about seemed to be most prominent in Rottweilers for some reason)

One of the dog supplements the I blend at work is a combination of Hawthorn, passiflora and wild lettuce, we sell stacks before fireworks night and to the showing fraternity for travel and pre show anxiety, obviously I won't advertise it here, but the combination of those blends seems to be of help.

Is the O.P. dog also prone to motion sickness? Or is this anxiety only?

Kelly, do you know which ingredient it was that had those reports?




I think I would have some concern that if the preparation was strong enough to relieve anxiety, then I would be worried about administering it for the unsupervised stretch of time involved in a cross-country flight. Also, isn't that a much longer period than any preparation could be expected to work? (I'm thinking that Kelly's suggestion about pre-flight trials is critical.)

JMO!

I don't think that it is a good idea to 'medicate' a dog, with anything, tranq. or homepathic preperations, that is going to be unsupervised. Regardless of 'testing' it before shipping the dog.

On a air flight, the dog will be in compartment where it will be without supervision durning the flight. Too many things can happen. JMO, of course.

There are some 'pet' shipping conmpanies that ship pets in smaller planes were someone is with the animals during the flight. Perhaps, that might be a better shipping choice if the dog has to fly & has to be medicated.

 Quote: Anne Jones

I don't think that it is a good idea to 'medicate' a dog, with anything, tranq. or homepathic preperations, that is going to be unsupervised. Regardless of 'testing' it before shipping the dog. .... There are some 'pet' shipping conmpanies that ship pets in smaller planes were someone is with the animals during the flight. Perhaps, that might be a better shipping choise if the dog has to fly & has to be medicated.

Yes, I agree with you, Anne. I have read and heard of bad things happening with medicated dogs being shipped. Testing it in advance would be the absolute minimum, and I would still be very hesitant.

We substituted valerian for the wild lettuce 10 years ago because the VDM decreed it was 'medicinal' and had to be sold, by them, at an exorbitant price of course! we had used it with great success for yonks, however, we have had the same level of success with the replacing of the wild lettuce, and it has been tried and tested rigorously by us and our customers since the change over.

The 'sedative' effect is very mild and just takes the edge off the anxiety so the dog isn't pacing and panting, the dosing is crucial, and a ten day loading dose is needed to saturate the system, then it is reduced in dose for maintainance of the specific problem, we use a similar blend for dressage and competition horses with the same success; the lack of efficacy with new customers is often because they either didn't load the dose, or didn't give the correct amount for the weight of the animal.

The thing that reassures our customers is with the carefully and stringently blended calmer is they cannot overdose on it, but they can underdose it which then won't give the result they are looking for.

I'm not thumping the tub for the natural remedies, but in the age of litigation we wouldn't sell a product that could harm an animal or land us in court, the interesting thing for me is that the vet will prescribe a sedative for travelling horses and those that need to see the dentist or the farrier, that would worry me more.

Doing things like putting the dog in the crate, driving around town, driving to the airport,feeding delicious treats, driving back home will go a long way to acclimating the dog.
I think they can get used to just about anything if they understand that it is temporary, no need to panic, this too shall pass.

I tend to agree with that Betty, the breeder I got my EP's from shipped a pup to the US, and she turned herself inside with worrying about it so she did lots of short train/car journeys while they were waiting for the paperwork to come through, did short separating exercises etc with friends, and when the pup landed at the airport your end, he apparently yawned, stretched wagged his tail and bounded off happily to his new 'mummy and daddy'! I believe he is doing rather well in field and trial comps over there...

Thank you, Everyone, for the input. I've sent a link to this thread to my friend.

Connie, I don't believe the dog is ever motion sick as she rides in my vehicle with my dog just fine.

Honestly, I don't know why all the concern. Possibly, the Herbal Calm should be taken by the owner rather than the k9 )