Mutt Muffs?

[Amelia]

How useful or necessary are these contraptions? I don’t own a dog, but very occasionally fly for pilots n paws, and have agreed to take a service dog, a Golden Retriever, for a familiarization ride with his trainer and his autistic little owner. Should the courteous hostess provide canine hearing protection just as she does for her two-legged passengers? 

[GeeBee]

We use them for our dog, however we have to use a head band to keep them on.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Hoodie-Small-Purple/dp/B07N2M9WKD/ref=sr_1_15?crid=2F4BAY74BUNCB&dchild=1&keywords=dog+ear+muffs+for+cold&qid=1607109024&sprefix=dog+ear+muff%2Caps%2C427&sr=8-15

[kortopates]

For probably one flight, its not really necessary; especially a short flight. But for frequent flying, I am convinced after 3 flying companion dogs, 2 Labs and now a mutt terrier mix, that they don't like the loud noise for hours on end and appreciate any help they can get. They've all found ways of letting me know ... and  I am no dog whisperer!

[gsxrpilot]

We have a floppy eared dog so the mutt muffs just don't work, and she hates them. So we use cotton balls down the ear canals. She doesn't like that either but we started out by stuffing them in, after the engine was running so she'd notice the benefit. They work fine, but when on the ground, the first thing she does after jumping out of the cabin is to shake her head and cotton balls go flying all directions.

[shawnd]

I am planning on taking my dog up for the first time tomorrow. Instead of Mutt Muffs, I picked up "4 Paws Aviation K-9 Ear Muffs" available for around 90 bucks. Main motivation for this over Mutt Muff was the test results they published on the '4 paws aviation' site. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[aviatoreb]

Sadly, my little girl hates flying.  She just gets really nervous and shakes.  I got her a cute little headset that doesn't seem to do any good, and I got her a cute little flying jacket that I had planned she would wear when ever we went.

So I only take her flying - rarely - when I need her to transport with me but not just to be along as my day-in-day-out flying buddy.

Since the headsets don't seem to do anything for her, I have taken to covering her with towels and she mostly snuggles and sleeps.  The towels reduce the sound and the vibration and give her more of an environment like she has cozy at home sometimes.  She likes being under blankets at home.

In the picture that's her nose sticking out from the blanket in copilot seat.

[shawnd]

Trip report - 4 Paws Aviation K-9 Ear Muffs worked perfectly. Heck, he even fell asleep! ~40 min flight one way, enjoyed the town after the flight and then happily jumped back in the plane for our trip back. First time in a small plane so happy it worked out so well!

 

 

 

 

[Stan]

Our Westie, surprisingly didn't mind the muffs.

Used to fly from Manassas VA. to San Antonio, TX on three legs (my bladder not hers).

She, as Shawnd's, fell asleep at cruise.

 

[shawnd]

Feels like we need more dog pictures on this thread

 

[Jeff_S]

I can oblige that request!  We use the Mutt-Muffs for our yorkie, although as at least one other poster has noted, we had to supplement the straps to help keep it in place.  Since he's such a little guy (in stature, not attitude!) we were able to just cut the cuff off a pair of pantyhose and fit that around the muffs to give them some more staying power.

I've heard that dogs whose ears naturally flop over are getting the bulk of the same protection, but Rocket's ears usually stick up and even when they're relaxed they don't cover his aural canal very well, so I'm happy to give them a little extra protection.

[anthem4arequiem]

9 hours ago, shawnd said:

Feels like we need more dog pictures on this thread

 

Can't agree more! One of the things I am most excited about in buying is the ability to take my Ausie up with me (reltals frown on that kind of thing). I promise to post pictures of his first flight! 

[cwaters]

9 minutes ago, anthem4arequiem said:

Can't agree more! One of the things I am most excited about in buying is the ability to take my Ausie up with me (reltals frown on that kind of thing). I promise to post pictures of his first flight! 

same here, I'm excited to be able to take my ausie with me on trips. She has never been in a plane before so I'm kinda worried she won't handle it well, but she loves the car and boat so whats a plane right!!

[carusoam]

Dogs and planes and associated hardware....

What kind of host would I be... 
 

If I didn’t invite @Samurai Husky

Sam Husk did a ton of research for the health and well being of his flying pooch.

Best regards,

-a-

[shawnd]

I figured out how to resize videos on macOS..... so here's a video of Ollie enjoying the views:

[Samurai Husky]

13 hours ago, carusoam said:

If I didn’t invite @Samurai Husky

Sam Husk did a ton of research for the health and well being of his flying pooch.

And like a ghost from the shadows he appears; 

 

So a few things: 1. take the Db reading from inside your plane; I used a ipad app called Decibel X; I found up front the readings were around 100; The back seat was about mid 90s; the back seat directly behind the front seat was low 90s and on the floor (yes sometimes they would find their way to the floor) it was in the low 80s; 

Here is a short breakdown of noise level and exposure risk before damage.

100dba: 2 hours

95Dba: 4 hours

90 Dba: 8 Hours

Anything below 90 is considered 'safe'; 

Sudden loud noises are normally ok; (unless we are talking explosion loud in the 150+ range); but loud noises for a long period of time is where the damage is done. My Dogs refuse to wear the mutt muffs; they eventually wiggle their way off and so gave up.

As for blood saturation; i haven't found a good way of testing it; i asked my vet tech cousin if there was a good way to get it, and she said no; I also tried to reach out to a few companies that make o2 chambers for dogs; These are used in vet hospitals after a surgery so that they dont need to use a ventilator; The results were a big no; the cages are not sealed where it would pressurize the enclosure. Its used to increase the 02 saturation levels at sealevel; 

The highest i have been with them was at 17500 for 10 mins; then back down again. This was due to unavoidable weather over the Sierra's; For the 10 mins they didnt exhibit any additional symptoms that they were not experiencing at 12500;  Though when i did this test my dogs were in much better shape; The 1 is quickly approaching her end and has a hard time breathing; So since then i haven't been taking them anywhere via plane; 

In the end the biggest take away was: if you want to fly high with dogs, get a pressurized plane. 

Edited December 12, 2020 by Samurai Husky

[carusoam]

Welcome back Samurai !!!

Always great to see you and get your knowledge and experience on this subject.

Thanks for sharing.

...and an invite to see if @Amelia is stopping by....

Best regards,

-a-

[Amelia]

Service Dog training flight cancelled for the third time. So, thanks, anyway, to you each for sharing your insights. I passed along the ideas here, but suspect the Mooney ride would have had little carryover to the commercial flight planned. 

[prestonvanloon]

I think they are a must have for a long trip. Our dog keeps them on, but shakes them off as soon as the engine is shut down.

 

[201Steve]

21 hours ago, prestonvanloon said:

I think they are a must have for a long trip. Our dog keeps them on, but shakes them off as soon as the engine is shut down.

 

What kind of dog is this

[prestonvanloon]

13 hours ago, 201Steve said:

What kind of dog is this

He's a rescue, but we guess that he's a Terrier / Shiba Inu mix. He's about 24lbs and fits in a backpack

[TTaylor]

[cwaters]

Kinda off topic, but for those with shedding machines. How do you handle all the fur or do you just accept it. I have an Aussie who sheds about another dog a day it seems. 

[turbobullet]

Our test flight was short lived. We barely got to taxi out to the ramp, ran up the engine, and that was the end of that, so we came back in. He was not having any of it. Seems like he could not tolerate the noise, or maybe the vibration, just kept trying to get far away from it, making himself crazy. He's not all that excited about riding in the car either, but he tolerates it, more so if we give him drugs. We may bring him back out to the hanger again one day and see if he freaks out, if seems calm then may try to taxi again, but not anytime soon. I see these pictures of all your dogs sleeping in the plane, or looking out the window, and I just don't think that will ever be a thing for ours.

[shawnd]

My previous dog (who recently passed away) was not a big fan of the airplane either. He was fine at times but unexpectedly would try to claw over to the baggage area and was clearly not a big fan. We did one short test flight with him and that was it.

Ollie on the other hand, decided to jump on to the wing walk and head straight to the pilot's seat, all by himself, the first day I took him to the hangar. Go figure! Taxi to fuel and back was successful so we then did an island hop as the test trip. Pictures from that above. Its nice to be able to take your dog up in the flight, but I rather have a happy pup at home than a distressed one in the plane. Just like humans, not everyone likes flying and we should respect that and love them nonetheless!

[aviatoreb]

7 hours ago, turbobullet said:

Our test flight was short lived. We barely got to taxi out to the ramp, ran up the engine, and that was the end of that, so we came back in. He was not having any of it. Seems like he could not tolerate the noise, or maybe the vibration, just kept trying to get far away from it, making himself crazy. He's not all that excited about riding in the car either, but he tolerates it, more so if we give him drugs. We may bring him back out to the hanger again one day and see if he freaks out, if seems calm then may try to taxi again, but not anytime soon. I see these pictures of all your dogs sleeping in the plane, or looking out the window, and I just don't think that will ever be a thing for ours.

Cute little guy.

So your guy not liking driving or flying that makes sense.

My girl she loves driving.  She always wants to sit in my lap and look out over the driving wheel like she's in charge while we drive around. So its a bit inconsistent that she doesn't like to fly.  As I said, I only fly with her then very rarely if it is an actual transportation thing, like if I am catching up to my family at thanksgiving and I don't want to leave her at home alone.