A Reactive Dog, No Power and No Internet – Help!

The electrical providers are performing major work on the power lines over the last two days so we are into our second day with no electricity. There have also been moderate thunderstorms for the last week so the atmosphere is also electrically charged. When you are in a house out of town with the only sounds being the cows, birds and the very rare passing car when the electricity goes out it demonstrates the type of hum that a normal house has all day every day. This background noise is much more evident to the dogs than us due to their enhanced hearing.

So that would make for a  much more relaxed environment you would think, that is unless you have a reactive miniature poodle that does not cope at all well with any changes to her environment. Poor cherry is not having a good day today reacting to every outside noise by trying to jump up and run down the corridor barking out of control. White noise (background noise) is used as a very effective calming technique for reactive dogs. I use it extensively for her, always leaving a radio or television on so there is an ambient level of noise in her environment. It also works well for me as having PTSD and its associated anxiety I find that I am calmer when there is some noise around me. Not to mention that no computer, no internet, no television and no cup of tea has made me a bit on the stressed side today.

Luckily I have a store of good books to catch up on and Cherry and I are lounging around with her snuggled up next to me getting a nice calming massage while I read about canine body language and, until the phone battery gives out, my iTunes library.