Train Away

We tried this app through Pupfluence on IG (@sassyqtbailey). It's a strong concept (desensitizing and exposure therapy), but I think the app needs some work. I tried recording our own audio - not sure it works. The default audio is great but could be expanded on to include common triggers (skateboard, helicopters). Keeping the app open is also a downer, would be great if it could run in the background and let the audio be longer in duration. Hoping to see this develop further.

Overall this was a well made and well thought out app. The quality of sounds that played and the amount of options available was impressive. For my dog, I found it more helpful to work with him on ignoring the sounds as they played through the day rather than just leaving it on and walking away. If I had one complaint, it would be that if you go into another app or get a phone call or your screen goes black, the app stops playing completely.

The concept of this app is a great one, but unfortunately the app itself didn't work for us. My pups will bark at anything - people walking by, the mailman, the door opening, etc. - and so I was excited to see how this tool would work for them. When I first tried this using the sounds included in the app, my dogs were not at all phased. I then recorded the sounds of my actual door, keys, etc thinking this might make a difference but it really didn't. OK, maybe they just didn't associate those sounds with the real thing, no problem. Next, I tried the thunderstorm part. One of my guys is a chihuahua, and we all know how nervous they are. Thunderstorms in the south can get crazy, so we normally medicate him and out his thundercoat on. I figured this might get him used to the sound so he wouldn't be so darn scared. Again, no dice. He didn't react to the sounds at all. We did have one thunderstorm in the time I tried this out and I stood out on my covered porch recording the sound to use instead. Again, nothing. I would say overall that the idea is a good one, but the app itself just didn't seem to work for us.