Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Calmz Anxiety Relief System

Marcus:  This was not my fault!  Jan messed up, not me.



Jan:
For once, Marcus is not exaggerating, and he's too embarrassed to do the review, so I will.

I leaped at the chance to try a product called Calmz anxiety relief system on Mr. Hyper, a.k.a. Marcus.  He is the most energetic, loudest screeching dog I've ever met.  If I pick up a sock, he goes ballistic and races around the house leaping at cats, moving furniture and screeching in a cat's face, "I'm going for a walk, I'm going for a walk!"  He is grabbing leashes and chewing and ... and ... and.  I'm exhausted just listening to him.

Merci tries to hide at walk time.  She's going deaf and blind, so when he leaps into her face screeching at her, he scares the daylights out of the poor old lady. 

Calmz is "acoustic and vibrational therapy".  It's intended for an anxious dog. Marcus has a lot of anxiety.   He was adopted out in the Walmart parking lot at the age of perhaps three weeks.  He wasn't even eating solid food yet.  He lived with a man who beat him for going potty in the house but neglected to take him outside to go, especially at night.  Two weeks after adoption, in wet and freezing December weather, the guy's mother threw Marcus outside in an alley to get rid of him.

He is terrified of being alone. 

He has been attacked on our walks so he is highly nervous in new situations, especially if there is a loose dog running around.   I was so hoping the Calmz would help calm him in the house and on our walks.  


These are the items that come in the box: a vest, batteries and the Calmz acoustic vibrator.  It uses 3 AAA batteries.


Marcus started off wearing just the vest.  He wears a harness so a vest was no problem; however, I quickly learned the vest and the harness with two leashes did not fit well together, so any "calming" would have to be done at home and not on our walks. 


Marcus was proud of his vest.


This was taken prior to adding the Calmz acoustic vibrator.  I found inserting the batteries a bit hard because I had to remove and return a tiny screw.  My fingers do not work well with tiny objects. 


This is after the device was inserted into the opening for it.  The device has 8 vibration settings from low intensity to high intensity. Some repeat in cycles.



The vest was a nice fit - at first.  But he is a contortionist and soon stretched it out of shape.  He did not mind the vibrations, only turned his head side to side at first as if he was listening.  I wanted to see if the Calmz would help him calm down around the house.  It did help him the night we had a thunderstorm and he became very upset.  I put the vest and vibrator on him and he went to sleep at my feet.

The batteries died.  I have grown old and forgetful.  I forgot to buy new batteries on shopping trips, then I forgot to change the batteries, and then I kept forgetting to put the vest on him first thing in the morning to see if it would calm him before our walks. 

And then the unthinkable happened.

The vest was sitting on a chair about two weeks ago and the Calmz anxiety relief system became a casualty of a two male feline territorial pee war.   The vest was washed and dried - twice.  I tested the Calmz.  It was dead.  I put in fresh batteries.  Still dead, but it began to grow hot in my hand.  I managed to get that tiny screw off, grabbed the hot batteries in a towel, ran out the door and threw them outside the dog pen. 


I apologize to the Calmz people for the "death" of the product before Marcus finished testing it.  It did work well on the thunderstorm stress.  If I were not so forgetful,  I might have found the right time and setting to use on Marcus, and it could well have helped him.

Or not.  I read a survey I was supposed to take when finished and it specified that one qualification for this review is there are to be no more than two dogs in the household.  There are two older dogs in this home.   There were three until Sam died early this year.

Check out the webpage for the Calmz anxiety relief system for a video and information on what it is intended to accomplish. This just might meet your needs for your anxious dog.

The Calmz anxiety relief system was provided to us in order to give an honest review.  We received no monetary compensation.

14 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    A variation on the thunder vest... sounds good in theory. Certainly looking good in the 'waistcoat' Marcus! Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx

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  2. It did sound like a really good idea!!!

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  3. The idea is good, but sounds awfully fiddly. Most people would be unhappy with that.

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  4. Sounds interesting and a good possibility it would have worked
    Lily & Edward

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  5. Wow, those batteries sure had a short life in that device. It really would have been nice to know how well it would have worked. Do you think they might give you another vibrator part to begin again??
    It was good to see Marcus all 'dressed up'!

    (Please do not send me any email right now, I am having a lot of trouble with spam and it is temporarily shut down.)

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  6. Oh dear, sorry your testing ran into issues!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  7. Well, it was good until the peeMail arrived, dang.

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  8. Jan it sounds amazing! Really, Marcus looks so happy and I think it is working or.worked. How much are they?

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  9. Hmmmmmm Sounds like a tens unit fur doggies. Sorry it didn't work. We're sendin' purrayers.

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Raena

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  10. Marcus' story sounds similar to Saphera's... she was first spotted running next to the interstate - our best guess is that she was about 6 months old. Her tail was broken and she was in a panic. That was years ago - she continues to be hyper-vigilant, but that doesn't mean she's a good watch dog - she watches so she knows when to hide...

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  11. Sorry it didn't help,I enjoyed your very honest review.

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  12. Um...Miz Jan? You think maybe the Calmz vest would work on my mom? Chrispmouse is coming and... just wondering. Calmz might work better to simmer her down than the catnip mouse I put under her pillow. Purrs! Herman!!!

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  13. Poor Marcus, he has certainly had a sad start to his life. We're sure happy he lives with Jan and the rest of the Farmers now. He may not be a calm woofie but he's pretty special.

    Marcus, we sure think you looked pawsome in that vest!
    Sasha, Sami, & Saku

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  14. We reviewed the Calmz system with Bentley and it worked well during 4th of July and a mild storm. It does use batteries really fast. ☺ I'm sorry that your got fizzled. : (

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