Mekuti Calming Bands

[supergirl]

Just wondered if anyone had tried the Mekuti Calming Bands. 

http://www.mekuti.co.uk/calm_bands.htm

Just considering it for Lexi - to say that she is an alarm barker is an understatement.  I currently have her on a long-line in the house as she will jump up and run barking to the other end of the house at the slightest noise.  Initially Roly & Misha would chase after her barking as well, but now they don't bother as they can't see or hear what she is barking at and now don't even bother to get up as she does it so many times. 

The slightest noise can be me sighing at my desk, moving some papers, shifting my foot, the cat yawning!  sometimes nothing at all, which is why I think that Roly and Misha ignore her.  She also runs in the opposite direction of the sound, but not in a frightened way and most definitely aggressively. Initially I thought it was just a case of becoming de-sensitised to the sounds of my house, but it does seem to be getting worse.  She does seem to be highly sensitive and I just wondered if this may help her (seems to be used as part of TTouch treatments)

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[EmmaA]

I haven't tried them but i have used the website and got a balance harness from it. If you e-mail the lady that runs the website she is very helpful and will recommend products for your situation and also techniques you can use to help as well. The behaviourist i took Lucy to recommended the products highly.
Good Luck 

[brownsugar]

No experience with the bands, but remember some posts of Clairep4 (muppeteers) who uses them 
She also uses other calming techniques with one of her dogs 

[supergirl]

Thanks, I think we'll give it a try.  I expect a certain amount of barking, someone at the door, postman, next door letting their dogs out, noisy people outside the house etc.  In other areas she has calmed down quite a lot, but this is the one area where it seems to be getting worse, almost every few minutes. 

[jann]

My daughter has one for Rufus !  It works like magic 
 He doesn't need it all the time, but every now and then just gets too excitable and won't listen to anything. The instant it goes on he calms it really is astonishinhg to see.

I don't know if it would work so well for all dogs but going from my experience I would try one 


Good Luck 

[supergirl]

My daughter has one for Rufus !  It works like magic 
 He doesn't need it all the time, but every now and then just gets too excitable and won't listen to anything. The instant it goes on he calms it really is astonishinhg to see.

I don't know if it would work so well for all dogs but going from my experience I would try one 

Good Luck 

Thats great to hear (ordered one this morning).  She is calmer when she is the only dog in the house.  I'm walking the dogs separately at the moment and my mum has said that Lexi is an angel when the other two are out of the house, really calm, but as soon as they are in the house every little thing seems to set her off (even though the other two ignore it).  Fingers crossed this will help her.

[jann]

My daughter has one for Rufus !  It works like magic 
 He doesn't need it all the time, but every now and then just gets too excitable and won't listen to anything. The instant it goes on he calms it really is astonishinhg to see.

I don't know if it would work so well for all dogs but going from my experience I would try one 

Good Luck 

Thats great to hear (ordered one this morning).  She is calmer when she is the only dog in the house.  I'm walking the dogs separately at the moment and my mum has said that Lexi is an angel when the other two are out of the house, really calm, but as soon as they are in the house every little thing seems to set her off (even though the other two ignore it).  Fingers crossed this will help her.

That's often the trigger with Rufus wh n he comes here and tries to torment Flo and Barnaby, he just gets too excited, but the band really does work   

I hope it's as succesful for you too     would be interested to hear how you get on with it

Jann

 

[clairep4]

Calming bands work by basically bringing the dog awareness of the mouth/muzzle area, and can be good for vocal dogs because they are often very tense around the mouth.

I've found so far they either work like magic or they don't have much effect (although sometimes you need to try different widths of elastic as just changing the width can make all the difference - you can make your own by buying nicker or garter elastic and making a figure of 8 with it, one loop around their neck like a collar and the other loop over the muzzle).

I use a Mekuti one with Zorro and it's brilliant on him, really effective (with him I use it for general anxiety rather than for vocalisation). One thing I've learned from Zorro is that it really helps to use it pre-emptively - his anxiety directly relates to how tense his lower back and legs are, so every morning I have a feel and if he's tightened up overnight, I'll pop his calming band on, and he then never escalates his behaviour.  But I also do a fair amount of TTouch on him and try and keep the house nice and calm, no raised voices, no mega exciting games etc as it tends to just raise his anxiety levels overall.  I don't know how well a calming band would work if that were the only thing you were doing but let me know how you get on.

It sounds as though Lexi could do with some general bodywork as well though as it sounds like she's fairly stressy. Does she sleep well when the other dogs are around or is she just on edge all the time?   Sleep can be a major factor in dogs' stress levels, just think what you feel like if you've not slept properly for a few nights on the trot - alot more likely to over-react to things, and dogs need alot more sleep than us...  The other dogs will be hearing all the same stuff as her but not feeling stressed so they're not bothering to react to it.

Have you tried a bodywrap on her at all? If she's feeling generally insecure then that could help, also gently massaging her ears and doing little one and a quarter circles around her muzzle if she'll let you.

PM me if you want any help 

[supergirl]

Thanks Claire.
Sleeping was a problem initially, she very much likes her own space.  Misha & Roly tend to be wherever I am, both sleep in my room (dare I say on the bed).  To begin with Lexi had problems settling, would get up pace around etc, if either of the other dogs moved when she was on the bed she would react with a "I Kill you" type of response.   I put her crate in my bedroom and she was happy to sleep in there and has gradually begun/now prefers to sleep on the bed with us without any problems, so I no longer need the crate upstairs.

If we're all downstairs in the sitting room (watching TV etc), she prefers to be in the dining room, but will pop in every so often just to check on us before going back to her bed in the dining room.  Every now and then she will come and spend the evening with us, but I do get the feeling that she likes to keep an eye on the comings and goings through the house and keep those pesky cats in order 

I don't really know much about her background other than she was an only dog that was too much to cope with (possibly a little spoilt).  She's only 14months and is very puppyish and would play non-stop with Roly (who adores her) - they're two partners in crime and her tail never stops wagging. 

Hopefully the calming band will have the "magic" effect - I'll let you know how we get on.

[JennyBee]

I've just ordered one of these - am also going to a TTouch workshop on Saturday with Brodie and am really looking forward to it!

[clairep4]

I've just ordered one of these - am also going to a TTouch workshop on Saturday with Brodie and am really looking forward to it!

Hope you enjoy it - who's running it?

[JennyBee]

I've just ordered one of these - am also going to a TTouch workshop on Saturday with Brodie and am really looking forward to it!

Hope you enjoy it - who's running it?

Someone called Tracey, it's in Glasgow - I'm not the one who arranged for us to go so am a little bit hazy on the details

[elaine.e]

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but I did a 1 day workshop with Sarah Fisher and Marie Miller about a month ago and really enjoyed it. I took William because I felt he would be easier to practice on than Louis (and he was probably the most relaxed dog there). I'm probably going to do the 2 day follow up in May with Louis because I think he will really benefit as he's totally unfocussed at the moment.

Some of the dogs on the 1 day course had body wraps on them and their owners felt they really helped. I don't know anything about the Mekuti Calming Bands but I've just bought a Mekuti Harness for Louis. haven't used it yet though.

[hollyd443]

My daughter has one for Rufus !  It works like magic 
 He doesn't need it all the time, but every now and then just gets too excitable and won't listen to anything. The instant it goes on he calms it really is astonishinhg to see.

I don't know if it would work so well for all dogs but going from my experience I would try one 


Good Luck 

A great result  My Mum pointed me in the direction of this thread as it sounds like these bands could help with Miss Roxy. My only question though, do they not try and pull them off their nose?

[clairep4]

My daughter has one for Rufus !  It works like magic 
 He doesn't need it all the time, but every now and then just gets too excitable and won't listen to anything. The instant it goes on he calms it really is astonishinhg to see.

I don't know if it would work so well for all dogs but going from my experience I would try one 


Good Luck 

A great result  My Mum pointed me in the direction of this thread as it sounds like these bands could help with Miss Roxy. My only question though, do they not try and pull them off their nose?

Depends on the dog really. If they do it's often because it's something different for them, so let them take it off and then try again 20mins or so later. If they still seem uncomfortable with it, then you can prepare them by doing some touches around their muzzle/over the bridge of their nose, pop the band on and then do some touches over that.

I find with Zorro that he will tolerate it really well as long as he's feeling anxious (in fact he wags his tail and presents his head ready for it when I bring it out  ). But once he's feeling okay again he takes it off with his paw, so I basically just trust his judgement on it.