Comforting Traumatized Rescue Animals

Dear Dr. Fox:

In a recent column, a reader asked about his dog, a Hurricane Katrina survivor, sucking on the bedspread. You asked to hear about other Katrina-rescued animals.

We adopted two Katrina Labs a couple of months after the flood. We were planning only to foster, but fell in love and kept them. They are housebroken, neutered and get along with our cats, two other Labs and a poodle.

One of the Katrina dogs, Beau Jack (a yellow Lab, 1 1/2 years old), had bad nightmares. For months, he would howl loudly two or three times a night or during a daytime nap. I put a large dog basket by my bed to help comfort him.

Then I remembered that when one of our other Labs was a puppy and we put him in his crate, we would put a stuffed animal in with him and called it his "sleep baby." He would even pick it up and take it into the crate with him. So I bought several stuffed animals and put one with Beau Jack in the bed. He started sucking it and used it like a pacifier. When he had a nightmare, I would wake him up and hand him a sleep baby. The nightmares have lessened to about two a month.

He had very good manners when we got him; someone must have really worked with him. He now has a collar with tags and a microchip. I tell him that he will never be lost again.

-- J.R.

Houston