Harmonease Chewable Tablets reduces noise-induced fear and anxiety in a laboratory canine thunderstorm simulation: A blinded and placebo-controlled study

Thunderstorm simulation in the laboratory setting induces fearful and anxious behavior in beagles, most notably manifested by increased inactivity (“freezing”), which, in a companion study, was ameliorated by the anxiolytic diazepam (Araujo et al., 2009). Using this protocol, the present study assessed the efficacy of Harmonease, a chewable oral anxiolytic botanical product containing a proprietary blend of extracts of Magnolia officinalis and Phellodendron amurense. A balanced, placebo-controlled, blinded, single crossover design including 20 healthy adult beagles was used for this study. After a baseline thunderstorm test, subjects received Harmonease Chewable Tablets or placebo treatment daily and were reassessed on the treatment day 7. After a 7-day washout period, the treatments were crossed over and a design identical to that used in the first phase was used. The thunderstorm test was performed in an open-field arena (8 ft × 9 ft) and consisted of three 3-minute phases: an anticipatory phase in which no stimulus was provided; the thunderstorm phase in which a thunderstorm track was played over a speaker system; and a recovery phase in which no stimulus was presented. Inactivity duration was considered the primary variable for assessing efficacy which was measured by a trained observer. Difference in number of dogs improved versus worsened by treatment group was significant at P < 0.05. Specifically, 12 of 20 (60%) dogs improved from baseline when treated with Harmonease, whereas only 5 of 20 (25%) improved on placebo. Furthermore, 9 of 20 (45%) placebo dogs showed increased inactivity duration (worsened), whereas only 4 of 20 (20%) treatment dogs worsened. Increases in distance travelled consistent with reduced inactivity were also seen under Harmonease. Harmonease reduced fear-related inactivity or freezing in dogs in this thunderstorm simulation model. This supports past studies demonstrating that the combination of botanical extracts in Harmonease is effective in dogs for the management of stress-related behaviors.