Hearing protection for dogs

[Bryan Wood]

Sher and I have been looking for some sort of hearing protection for our dog so that he can ride with us in the RV. We have taken him before, but for those who have ridden in an RV and taken off their headset you know that a dogs more enhanced hearing could not survive this environment. Noise levels of 98db or greater is not uncommon during cruise. He is small and rides between the front seats while Sherri holds his ears to block out the sound. We have tried foam ear plugs for humans, etc., but he just shakes his head and off they go. Recently we were shown this site and thought that there might be others who can benefit from it.

http://www.safeandsoundpets.com/

Regards,

[kevinh]

Originally Posted by Bryan Wood

Sher and I have been looking for some sort of hearing protection for our dog so that he can ride with us in the RV.

Regards,

Hi Bryan,

Just out of curiosity - how well does your dog take to flying? Does he get sick, actively enjoy the experience or something in between?

As I think I mentioned at our last gathering, someday I'd really like to get a dog. Bonus points if the dog likes to fly.

[atreff]

Our Jack Russell, Maggie loves to fly, now that we have solved the hearing problem. We tired of holding hands on her ears, and the headset thing worked, as long as one of us was holding them in place. Then my wife took some scraps of lightweight stretch polar fleece and sewed up a headband that wraps around her head. Once the fit was good, she took some scraps of Temperfoam I had lying around and sewed them into the fleece over where Maggie's ears go.

Now, when we get into the plane, I hold up her flying garb, and she shoves her head right into it. BTW, we introduced her to flying in short spurts, kept treats available and kept it positive. Now, she can easily take a 4.5 hour XC trip, no problem.

It's funny, our Labs flew with us and just fell asleep, but this Terrier really understands that we're going up. Her eyes get really really wide when we break ground, and she looks the same coming in for a landing when she sees the trees coming up to meet her.

Art

[Bryan Wood]

Hey Kevin,

Our dog really isn't in love with flying, but I think a lot of it was the noise. Once he accepts that he is going he settles in and seems to enjoy it. We had a female black lab that used to love to fly and when I'd open the baggage door on the Cherokee and then turn around to get a suitcase she would jump in and lay there looking out at me with with her claws dug into the carpet so I couldn't get her out to load bags. She loved to fly. My In-Laws have a Golden Retriever that loves to fly also. If you introduce them to things before they are 6 months old they are not supposed to be scared of what ever it is later on. Any dog experts on the group? With this in mind we put Charlie's bed, our current dog, in the airplane while I was building and let him nap while I worked in the garage. Obviously no riveting, but he made it through just about everything else. This was supposed to make him comfortable being in the plane, but who knows if it helped. Regardless this dog goes everywhere with my wife and the plane is no exception.

See you at Oceano in a couple of weeks,

[TShort]

My dog, Jake, just got his very own pair:



I'm still working on fit; the people at safeandsoundpets.com have been very helpful and are sending me the next size up to test out free of charge. I'm gonna return whichever doesn't work.

He loves flying, but is 85 lbs of useful load. Likes to stick his head out the window while we're taxiing .. I think the "headset" might ruin some of the fun in that. Maybe I'll just put it on in the air.

Thomas
-8 wings

[N941WR]

They would probably work when Torque is helping rivet.

Seriously, we plan on taking him with us when the -9 is finished and my wife being a Vet has insisted we get him some kind of hearing protection. Those look like they will work out great.

Thanks for the post.

[Build9A]

I just talked to someone who saw a vendor at Sun-N-Fun who was selling dog headsets. Sorry my info isn't very helpful but there is apparently a product on the market. You might check the vendor list on the SNF website; they may be listed there. Jack

[grover]

has anyone ever had a dog as a back seater in a tandem plane??

[jcoloccia]

Our dog has flown in a VariEze.

[TShort]

I emailed with a couple guys on the yahoo RV8 groups that had flown with their dog in back - one was a lab.
I'm planning on testing Jake out back there sometime.

Thomas
-8 wings