Read This if Your Dog Struggles

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I adopted Baxter.

And for a long time, I regretted it.

He was so cute at the animal shelter. He looked up at me with eyes that seemed to pierce my soul. He jumped up on the wall of the dog cage and wagged his tail and gave a whine that said, “Please, take me home with you, I want to be your dog!”

It made my heart melt.

“Are you sure you want him?” the animal shelter worker asked me. “Border collies need a LOT of time and attention!”

“I’m sure!” I grinned. “I work from home, I’ve got tons of time for him! He’s the perfect dog for me!”

The animal shelter worker explained to me that Baxter had gotten dropped off at the shelter before for being destructive and having anxiety issues–excess energy she called it, while I nodded. “He’s not good with cats, children, or other dogs,” she warned me.

None of that mattered to me. I was sure I could handle him; I’d had huskies growing up and I wanted a dog I could take on runs and hikes, I wanted an athletic, active, intelligent dog that I could spend time with teaching tricks. And I’d always had a fascination with collies ever since I’d seen them on TV as a kid.

I felt very lucky that a pure bred collie was in the animal shelter for me to pick up. I had spent weeks scrolling through the pictures of available dogs online before Baxter’s picture popped up and I knew I had to get Baxter.

Baxter whined all the way home, while I tried so soothe him first with my voice and then with music, but it didn’t work. I kept turning the music up higher and higher to try to soothe him but also drown out his ear-piercing whining.

At home, he ran around sniffing everything, whining the whole time, then he ran to the front door and cried and scratched at it.

“Poor buddy,” I scratched him behind the ears. “You’ll settle in soon and love it here. I promise.”

How wrong I was…

Within a couple of weeks, Baxter loved me. But he didn’t love life. He was an absolute ball of anxiety.

He was hyper-vigilant at all times and barked at his own shadow and any noises we heard. He paced constantly.

My once-daily runs turned into 2x daily runs trying to help Baxter work his energy out. He pulled like crazy the entire runs, like he was frantic whether we were walking or running. When we passed other dogs he’d pull to get away or lunge to attack. He’d choke himself to get to cats and squirrels.

If I so much as left the room, Baxter would scratch at the door and cry loud enough so that I couldn’t hear myself think. I tried every training method I researched online but nothing worked.

Golly forbid I go run errands. I tried crate training Baxter and leaving him in a crate at home, but if I did that he’d scream bloody murder and make his mouth and nose bloody trying to get out and absolutely tear to shreds any “indestructible” toy or bed I left in there with him.

If I didn’t leave him in the crate, he’d find something, anything of mine to destroy and he’d also urinate in the house.

Calming treats and supplements I tried did nothing at all to help him.

I ended up getting everything delivered because I didn’t want to leave him alone.

It was like I was being held hostage in my own home.

Still, we had a good bond. He kept me company and I never felt lonely with him around while I was working from home. It was nice to have someone rely on me and love me no matter what I looked like or what I did. And his mischievous way of finding anything I dropped was cute and funny when it wasn’t irritating. (He trained me to be a much tidier person because if i didn’t put things away he’d destroy them for me!)

But then everything got a million times worse when I had to go back to working in the office. My job required no more remote working or I’d get fired.

It would be expensive, and time-consuming to go pick him up and drop him off, but the first thing I tried was doggy daycare.

I brought him into be evaluated but within 10 minutes, the trainers told me that Baxter is what they call a “problem dog” and because he was unpredictable and snappy around other dogs they wouldn’t take him.

Next I tried to use a pet sitter who’s home I would drop him off at…within an hour they told me that he was too destructive and loud to watch. His separation anxiety was off-the-charts.

I was at the end of my rope. And so was Baxter.

I had to go to work and leave Baxter alone in the crate…I’d come home during my lunch break to let him out and I could hear him crying from the moment I stepped out of my car onto the sidewalk. I’d enter the house to find him panting like crazy with wild eyes and blood on the crate’s door from where he tried to bite it open. After taking him out to go potty, it was always a struggle like wrestling with a bear to put him back in the crate.

It broke my heart to see him like that. But I didn’t know what else to do.

I even got a private evaluation with a dog trainer who didn’t have any new advice to tell me other than what I had already research myself.

It was starting to look like either I’d have to quit my job (which I couldn’t afford!) or return Baxter to the animal shelter. I loved Baxter so much though. I couldn’t bear the thought of returning him. I didn’t want to break his heart again, just like the last person who returned him to the animal shelter.

As a last resort, I decided to approach my manager and ask her again if I could go back to working from home. I was hopeful that Sheila would say yes because I knew she was a dog lover and I knew she’d even fostered rescue dogs herself and volunteered regularly with a dog rescue.

Sheila patiently waited while I explained my situation.

Tears were in my eyes by the time I finished explaining.

Sheila passed a tissue box across her desk while I waited for an answer.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “If I make an exception to let you work from home, we’d have to make an exception for everyone. So I have to say no.”

I covered my face with my hands and tried to keep calm. I wanted to scream. It seemed I would have to rehome Baxter afterall. I was a horrible dog-mom!

“But,” Sheila’s voice cut through my self-pity. “I have a suggestion for you to help Baxter. Have you heard of Relievet?”

I shook my head and took in a gulp of breath, “No, what’s that?”

“Relievet is a company that sells organic treats, chews, and oils for dogs with scientifically backed ingredients. Some of their products have helped me calm down foster dogs that had such bad behavioral problems that we thought we might have to put them to sleep.”

I sighed, “I’ve already tried calming supplements and they didn’t work.”

Sheila nodded, “I’m not surprised. My vet told me that apparently a lot of supplements for dogs sold online don’t have what they say they have in them. Or worse, they do have what they say that they have in them, but their ingredients are not good enough or strong enough to work.

“It is really important to get it from a trusted source like Relievet who publish all of their lab results online and even have a pharmacist to make sure all the dosing is scientifically accurate to get results.”

I sucked at my teeth, skeptical. “I don’t know, I’ve already tried so many things, I’m nervous about spending more money on this when I don’t think anything will help. I’ve spent so much on Baxter already.”

Sheila shrugged, “To be honest, because I work with a rescue, Relievet gives me special pricing. But even so, they have a money-back guarantee for all of their customers.  But I don’t think that will be an issue for you. I know it is difficult for you, but Baxter’s issues really doesn’t sound so bad compared to some of the dogs I’ve rescued.”

I pulled up Relievet on my phone while talking with Sheila to take a look myself. “This says Relievet C.B.D. for pets,” I frowned. “Sheila, I already tried C.B.D. I think it is a scam. It didn’t do anything for Baxter.”

“I already tried to explain,” Sheila said, “Most pet C.B.D. companies don’t actually use a clinically proven amount of C.B.D. proven to calm a dog’s anxiety. They use very little amounts. If you do your research, you’ll see that Relievet sells the highest concentration equivalent to ones that are actually used in studies. What’s even better is that if you look at the price of the C.B.D. itself based on concentration, Relievet is the most affordable. Especially if you buy a higher concentration. What I do is buy a concentration meant for a large dog and it lasts my small dogs all year. All you have to do is look at their dosage calculator to find out what to buy and how long it will last.”

“Plus, what a lot of companies don’t take into consideration is how much C.B.D. is long in digestion. So in treat form, pet C.B.D. treats have to have a lot more C.B.D. to work.”

“I’m a bit confused,” I admitted.

“Just trust me on this,” Sheila laughed. “And remember, Relievet’s products are a training tool! They should help calm Baxter down enough for you to train him yourself. But they’re not going to make him sleepy or change his personality. They’ll just help him focus and help him stop thinking the world is ending.”

“The goal is to get him calm enough to train him and once he’s trained, hopefully he will only need Relievet every once in a while when you introduce him to new situations.”

I thanked Sheila for her recommendation but decided to do my own research when I got home. Could Relievet really be worth all the hype?

The first thing I looked at were the reviews. There were hundreds of great ones.

Here are a few of them I read on Google:

I was shocked to see that they have a 5 out of 5 stars on Google reviews! They also have a 5 out of 5 on the BBB, a 5 out of 5 on Facebook and a 4.8 on their website with over 350 reviews.

It was hard to believe because I’d never seen a business so well-reviewed, but I’d also seen plenty of the reviews mentioning the personal touch of the owner, Chris, so I guessed it made sense. The reviews talked about his personal touch and how he often speaks to customers personally about their dogs and even sends handwritten notes to thank people for purchasing.

You just don’t hear about businesses caring that much about their customers nowadays. Or caring that much in general! On his website, you can even see a picture of him making the products himself.

Reading about it, I saw more about the science behind why Relievet works. Apparently, every mammal on the planet, including dogs, has what is called an endocanabanoid system, which ECS system regulates or influences many automatic bodily processes and functions, including the nervous system, appetite, memory, mood, and sleep.

I was skeptical, but the more I read, the more impressed I was. There was even a study on worms that showed that worms that that took C.B.D. at certain doses lived 18% longer!¹

And another study out of Britain showed that 100% of anxious dogs who took C.B.D. at the doses that Relievet recommends for calming were calmer during car rides and separation.²

Relievet’s ingredients, such as broad spectrum C.B.D. help to regulate that system by attaching to endocanabanoid receptors in the body, bringing back a natural balance, that helps alleviate suffering in the body’s automatic bodily processes, promoting well being.

This wasn’t about dogs (Relievet also sells products for cats, horses, and parrots), but the most impressive thing I saw related to Relievet was a news story about how they saved a parrot who had such bad ‘feather plucking’ that it had an open wound that wouldn’t heal until she started taking Relievet.³

Seeing the great deal on shipping, the science, all those reviews, and the money-back guarantee, I knew I had to give Relievet a try for Baxter. This was our last chance.

I ordered the Calming Chews and the 2-Ingredient Treats. I liked to see the limited ingredients and the ease of use for giving the treats to Baxter.

(And Sheila was right: another thing important to me is the price and when I compared the quantity/quality/strength of the  treats to other C.B.D. products from other companies, I realized that Relievet’s were the strongest by far and the most affordable actually by far in comparison when you look at the strength - especially when you take a look at their handy Dosage Calculator where you put in your dog’s weight and you’ll see how long each product will last and at what strength to give it.)

And I also liked all the information they had on the page about why their products are the way they are, and why the C.B.D. should be the strength it is in the oil because so much C.B.D. is lost in digestion and so other C.B.D. dog products don’t have nearly strong enough weight-based dosing.

Most importantly (to me at least) was reading about how safe the products are. They’re as easy on the body as taking something like fish oil and they have the psychoactive properties of the hemp plant entirely removed, so no risk of changing your dog’s personality or making them overly lethargic.

The Relievet treats arrived two days later with packaging that would be fit for sending expensive pottery.

It also came with a cute little fridge magnet, a flier explaining exactly how to use them, and a note from their CEO thanking me for choosing them! I was impressed to see it truly was a small business, giving each customer personal attention.

Just holding the treat jar in my hands, I knew that I was holding a special product. It was nicer than the container most human food comes in! I could tell right away that I would be saving the jar when it was empty because it was such a nice one.

Of course, the real test was how Baxter would respond. He ate up the 2-Ingredient treats enthusiastically, and even started drooling, begging for more!

Next, I sat and waited. And waited. I watched him for the next twenty minutes and nothing happened, but what did I expect? Him to start doing gymnastics?

About an hour later, though, I was watching TV when I noticed Baxter getting up on the couch to lay beside me. Normally, Baxter was not a cuddly dog. Normally, he’d be laying by the front door or pacing around, not laying by me and letting me stroke his soft fur.

Maybe it is just a coincidence I thought.

The next few days, on schedule, morning and night, I gave Baxter the Relievet.

At first the changes in Baxter were subtle, and I thought I was imagining them or they were a coincidence. He stopped panting and pacing at night. He seemed calmer during the day. He didn’t chew on his crate anymore.

It almost felt like my imagination, but it seemed like he really was getting easier to train. He wasn’t a different dog, but he was now a dog that was willing to learn and change and get trained. All the work I did on training finally started to feel like it was paying off.

The most clear thing that proved to me that Relievet worked was being able to train Baxter to heel beside me on walks and runs. Before, it was impossible. No matter how much I tried to bribe him with treats or use methods like stopping and waiting for him to calm down, nothing worked. But now, Baxter was much more able to focus on me during the walks and runs.

Even though he wasn’t a different dog, it felt like he was a new dog, and our bond was able to strengthen and grow more than ever, without me worrying about my neighbors complaining about his crying or me not being able to go on errands or go to work without worrying about him.

After a few months, his separation anxiety has come so far I would say he doesn’t have separation anxiety at all.

Relievet gave me the relationship with my dog that I always wanted, and I’m so incredibly grateful for that. I went from thinking i’d have to say goodbye to Baxter to thinking that one day I may even be able to progress to doing things like taking him to the dog park. He seems to make new progress every day.

I emailed the CEO Chris, to thank him for creating such great products, and to tell him I was planning on writing a blog post about Relievet.

He responded personally, first he thanked me for telling him all about Baxter. Then he thanked me for writing a blog post, and gave me a discount code we could share with my readers!

The discount code is: BAXTERLOVE you can use it to get 50% off your first order of 2-Ingredient treats!

Clicking or tapping the buttons below will bring you to Relievet, and the discount will show up whenever you add something to your cart.

I put my treats on subscription because it is easy to cancel anytime and it gives you an additional discount so it is worth it for the convenience and the money saving.

As soon as you place an order Relievet's small team will fulfill it as soon as possible and send it via USPS. You'll receive it in just a few days, and can start using it immediately. Just follow the recommendation from the dosage calculator for your pet.

It only takes about an hour for your pet to start experiencing the benefits, just like my Baxter did! (Just don’t forget to use training too!)

I’m truly so grateful that I can now keep my Baxter. I hope to have many more happy years with him thanks to Relievet.

Thanks for reading, and wishing the best to you and your pets.