Alleviating Pet Anxiety with Calming Collars

I think that selling our house, buying a new one, and moving was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done in my life. That was just me, never mind the stress on the pets. I did anticipate how bad it might be for them, and there was a product I knew I wanted to try to help them through it – Calming Collars. I had read about them on other blogs and saw them on Facebook, and they sounded promising.

With two nervous and one reactive dog, we can use all the help we can get. Cricket had done well on all natural anxiety relief pills, but they didn’t do much for Luke or Sheba. I prefer to use all natural solutions for these issues whenever possible, I don’t like to turn to drugs unless we have to and we’re not to that point yet.

Calming Collars are based on aromatherapy; they are made from stylish fabrics that are filled with safe, quality herbs made to relieve many issues such as excessive barking, hyperactivity, stress, and anxiety or fears from things such as noises, storms and separation anxiety.

I was initially impressed with many things about this product. Each collar is custom made in the USA, to order. That means the calming herbs that are inside it are fresh, they haven’t been sitting on a shelf somewhere for months before being sold. They usually ship within a week, and we received ours within that time frame. Since I am always thinking of things at the last minute, that was great, because we got them in plenty of time for our move.

The collars come in two different blends, Good to Go for car sickness, and Calm Me Down for anxiety issues. They also have a Too Cool collar which is filled with polymer crystals to keep your pet cool.

It is suggested to put these collars on ahead of time when possible (or it may take a bit longer to work), so I put them on the dogs the morning before we were going to start packing up our final belongings to move. This meant many strangers (to Luke) in the house, and that the dogs and Sam had to be kept safely separate from all the activity, which does not make them happy.

To be honest, the collars didn’t make the dogs completely calm, but I didn’t really expect them to. I don’t have anything to compare this situation to, since we’ve never moved with dogs before, but overall I think they did well. I actually saw Luke just lying in the doorway after the trucks were loaded, watching the Dadz and other men talking in the driveway. Even as they moved around he did not jump up to bark unless someone got real close; and that is good for him.

I kept the collars on the dogs that night as we slept in our mostly empty house, and when they went to Auntie Lynn’s the next day while we were at our closings. Cricket does not like riding in the car, and bad (or totally stressed) Momz that I am, I lost track of her pills during the commotion of packing. She fell asleep in the car! They were all completely comfortable with their collars on. One other thing I was concerned about was how the collars, which have two channels of herbs, would fit on with their other collars which has their ID. It was not a problem! The collars are also adjustable for a proper fit.

The only issue I had with fit was with Cricket’s. She was at the top of her measurement, and I maybe should have gone a size up. Hers did fall off a couple of times because I couldn’t quite tighten it enough to stay secure. She has unusually thick fur around her neck in the winter.

By day three when we were cleaning out the new house (we bought it with contents), and moving our furniture off the truck in, the dogs didn’t do quite as well even with their collars still on. Well, actually the girls did OK but Luke got a little snarly and crabby with his sisters. But let’s face it, after three days of stress it was asking a lot for a reactive dog like him to still be calm. He was fine after we separated them.

I also got the opportunity to try the collars out during a brief thunderstorm a couple of weeks after we moved in. None of the crew likes storms, and Sheba is the worst. As soon as I heard the first rumble of thunder I ran and got the collars. The storm was brief, but they seemed to settle down quickly and in this case I really think the collars helped. Normally, Sheba will stay nervous long after the storm is gone, but this is what she was doing:

I’d still like to try them during a longer storm before I’m 100% convinced, but I am very hopeful about it. The great thing about these collars is that they come with a money back guarantee. My thought on all natural remedies like these is that they sometimes work for some dogs, but not others. But if you peruse the company’s website and Facebook page you will see that they have a lot of satisfied customers.

One of my favorite things about these? They smell so good! When I left Luke’s on overnight, as I rolled over in bed and hugged him, I could smell the collar and it was not at all cloying, but very pleasant. The scent even lingers a bit on their fur after taking the collar off. Plus, Luke just loves his. He gets all excited when I get it out!

A few other details:

• Calming Collars ship worldwide.
• They come in one or two channels as well as extra wide (4 channels – best for cooling collar).
• If worn constantly, these collars will stay fresh for about 3-4 months. For occasional use they should last about a year.
• They are also made for cats! We received one for Samantha but I was a bad Mom again and didn’t get it on her for the move. She is not used to wearing collars, but when I did try it on her later, she scratched at it for a minute but then settled down. Sam is a pretty calm cat anyway, but I plan to try it on her when brushing her and trimming her nails, which she doesn’t like much.

I will try to remember to report back once I’ve done that, and once I see how it works for the dogs during a thunderstorm. If spring ever really gets here we just might get one of those!

*Disclaimer: We received a Calm Me Down collar for each of the pets in exchange for our honest review. We were in no other way compensated for this post; Wag ‘n Woof Pets only shares products we believe will be of interest to our readers, and all reviews are our own honest opinions.