How Can You Help A Dog With Anxiety

How To Calm Dog Anxiety Naturally

Dog anxiety is common. It can stop your dog from enjoying normal doggie activities like going for a walk around the neighborhood. So its important to find a way to help her relax and have fun!

While some vets may prescribe your dog pharmaceutical meds they may not be the best choice. Medications for anxiety can have some pretty bad side effects . Luckily, there are lots of remedies that provide natural calming for dogs..

First, heres some background on dog anxiety.

How Long Will A Dog Cry When Left Alone

This is one of the most common questions we get asked, and unfortunately, there is no easy answer. It depends on the dog’s individual personality and level of anxiety. Some dogs will cry for a few minutes while others may bark or howl for hours on end.

If your dog is displaying any type of destructive behavior , this is a sign that they are not coping well with being left alone. If your dog is excessively barking or howling, this can be extremely disruptive to your neighbors and may result in a noise complaint.

If your dog is experiencing any of these behaviors, it is important to seek professional help from a certified animal behaviorist or trainer.

How Can Service Dogs Help With Anxiety

Psychiatric service dogs assist their owners by performing special tasks that can help alleviate the individuals depression, anxiety, phobia, etc. These tasks will be specific to the PSDs owner and will typically be something that the person cannot do themselves.

Assistance from psychiatric service dogs can be physical, mental health related, or it can require the dog to use their natural senses. Either way, a trained PSD will typically serve as a buffer in certain situations and read signals from their handler to help them in whatever way is needed.

An article from the Huffington Post further details the top 10 benefits that therapy dogs give to their handlers who suffer from PTSD, Bipolar disorder, or other mental health conditions that result in anxiety attacks or diagnosed anxiety disorders.

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Choose The Right Service Dog

A dogs temperament must be taken into account when choosing one to train as a service animal. While any breed can technically be an emotional support dog, some do not have the right personality. A service dog needs to be smart, calm the majority of the time, not easily excitable, and willing to learn and work.

While you can certainly look into reputable service dog breeders, finding a potential service dog at your local shelter is also possible. Look for one that is alert without startling easily. The dog should be social and quick to greet you, follow you attentively, and not mind being touched and held.

Some of the more popular breeds that are conducive to performing well as service dogs are:

• German shepherds

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Dealing With Separation Anxiety In Dogs

Sometimes referred to as separation anxiety, some dogs can find being left on their own an overwhelming and stressful experience.

Check out our video for to see our tips on how to help keep your dog relaxed when youre not at home.

For some dogs, separation-related behaviours are simply a product of boredom due to lack of appropriate physical and mental stimulation. Whereas for other dogs, separation-related behaviours and anxiety are much deeper rooted. When a dog is emotionally attached to someone and that person goes away, it can cause fear, frustration, and anxiety. Over time, your dog might even start to anticipate the behaviour and the changes to their environment that lead up to that person leaving and may start showing their anxious behaviours before it happens.

Understanding the root cause of the problem and why your dog is reacting in this way will allow you to implement the right kind of training that will improve their behaviour in the long term and not just straight away.

Its important to remember that each dog is an individual and will progress through training at different rates. Always aim to ensure you are working within your dogs limits and that you are keeping a close eye on their stress levels. Recognising signs of stress and knowing how to manage stress levels is key in making sure that your dog is happy.

There are a number of signs that may show that your dog is stressed, which include:

• Excessive panting

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Use Positive Reinforcement To Help Build Confidence

According to Tess Marty, a dog trainer and contributor to Dog Spotted, building your dogs confidence can help conquer certain anxieties. She tells Inverse, Rewarding them before they do something wrong is so important to their confidence. Marty continues, When youre on your walk or even in the house, remind them that theyre doing the right things, and it will prevent them from choosing to do something that may not be good.

Wash Your Pup With This Easy

If adding a bath mat to your tub doesnt seem to help with your dogs stress, their worries could be coming from something else like a thundering showerhead.

Thats why Becker recommends using this particular Aquapaw shower attachment when its time to give your dog a bath. It’s more concentrated and controlled than putting your dog under the full showerhead, she explains. Becker continues, You can get in deep to your dog’s skin which gets them cleaner overall. And with its 8-foot hose, its easy to maneuver around large breeds. Plus, the palm is also ergonomically designed to fit on both left and right hands.

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Things To Do To Help Your Dogs Storm Anxiety

Do you have a dog with mild to moderate noise anxiety ? There are many ways to help your dog feel more comfortable and at ease during these situations. However, if they have progressed to full-on anxiety attacks and are throwing themselves through walls and doors then it is unfortunately the below tips will likely not help. If that is the case, please contact our team at The Pet Doctor immediately.

Fireworks and such are usually more pure noise phobias and many of the techniques recommended here can assist with them as well. Storm anxiety can be more complex as there can be many components to a storm that dogs cue to. Thunder is not only noise but vibration, the noise of heavy rain, the darkening of the sky, their people running around looking worried, flashes of light, changes in barometric pressure and humidity and some can even become sensitized to the buildup of electrical charges. Yes, dogs can learn to cue to all those things and more. The complex nature of the cues with storms can make treating severe thunderstorm anxieties a complex business .

The following is a list of the most commonly helpful recommendations. Very often what works will be a combination of some of these methods rather than a single fix-all product or method.

1. Intervene Early

This tends to be true for ALL behavioral problems. Step in and deal with them sooner rather than later. The time to deal with these issues is long before major destruction and injury is occurring.

2. Reassure your Dog

When Does Canine Dementia Usually Start

Canine cognitive dementia typically begins when the dog is 11 years or older. Researchers say this neurodegenerative disease affects about 60 percent of dogs.

While no specific breed is more affected by this than others, experts say it is usually diagnosed in smaller breeds since they tend to have a longer lifespan than larger dogs. Furthermore, they say that CCDs similarity to Alzheimers could provide helpful insight into the human disease.

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Create A Sanctuary Space

Some dogs get so anxious in certain situations that no amount of calming, praising, or rewarding will give them relief. When this is the case, they need a quiet space with no stimulation where they can turn off all the input and simply unwind, says Dr. Konecny.

This can help in many situations, such as if they are nervous:

• When visitors come to your home

Drowning out ambient sounds with white noise may also help them relax in their sanctuary room.

Summary Of Dog Anxiety Treatment

Dogs are afraid of all sorts of different things. From loud noises to weird smells to scary situations, it is not unusual for your dog to get a little anxious from time to time. Trouble comes when it begins to develop into a disorder. This is where you should step in.

Above all, keep in mind:

• Dog anxiety is normal and can be treated.
• It can be caused by many different things, and the first thing you need to do is identify what your dog is being triggered by.
• Dogs can display many different anxiety symptoms. You should learn to notice them.
• If you find that your dog has anxiety, you should first figure out why and then begin training it to normalize the stress.
• There are many ways to calm anxious dogs.
• You must take your dog to the veterinarian if things get seriously problematic, or if you feel that it needs medication.

Dogs are individualistic with their fears, meaning that the best thing you can do for them is identify what is making them anxious. With this knowledge, and possibly some professional help, your pooch will be back to normal in no time at all.

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The List Of Common Symptoms Of Anxiety That You Can Watch Out For Includes:

• Restlessness and struggling to settle down
• Urinating regularly especially in the house
• Panting as if its a hot day or the animal has been exercising
• Shivering as if its a cold day
• Not wanting to eat, even tasty treats
• Excessive licking or chewing on their own body
• Regular lip licking

The key is to watch out for behavioural changes. Any of the above could be a sign of anxiety but could also just be part of their general behaviour . Additionally, the behaviour could just be an upset stomach or stress on that particular day .

Its when you start to notice that the behaviour is becoming regular or is heightened when a specific stressor occurs that you need to consider an anxiety disorder.

If youre unsure, start making notes about the behaviour. In a couple of weeks, you should be able to tell if there is a habit starting to form and if you need to take action.

How To Calm An Anxious Dog

• InDog Training

Owners of anxious or nervous dogs, this is the guide for you. If you’re desperately seeking the solution on how to calm an anxious dog or help a dog suffering with anxiety issues, we’ve got some practical tips for you to follow.

With animals that have been domesticated for many generations, theres been a shift in the way they show emotions. In the case of dogs and cats, they often mirror humans, behaving in ways that are so close to us that we think of them as another family member. This can make dealing with an anxiety disorder a big deal, writes Ameila Palmer.

Just like us, various anxiety disorders can affect your pet. These issues seem to be most common in dogs, with between 20% to 40% presented to veterinary behavioural specialists suffering from a disorder. However, many cat owners have had to deal with this particular problem too.

As a pet owner, you need to be aware of any changes in behaviour and environment. If you can keep a close eye on these two elements, you should be able to prevent an anxiety disorder from taking root and turning your loveable pet into a problem child.

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The Most Important Tip Of All: Dont Use Punishment With An Anxious Dog

We never advocate the use of punishment when training dogs but, when working with fearful dogs, using punishment can be seriously damaging and will almost always make your dogs worse rather than better. Why would you want to use something aversive when your dogs are already afraid? It will also likely only serve to hinder or damage the bond of trust you are working to build with your dogs. It will do little to alleviate anxiety in dogs.

Symptoms That Your Senior Dog Behaviour Is Anxious

As your doggy friend cannot explain to you that he is anxious, you have to understand whether it is anxious or not just by observation. Anxiety in senior dogs can include some common symptoms such as

1. Excessive panting and lip licking

2. Shaking and acting nervous

3. Aggression towards others and other dogs

4. Restlessness

5. Excessive licking and biting themselves

6. Pacing

9. Destructive behaviour and barking excessively

10. Urinating and defecating in the house

All these symptoms may not be exhibited by every dog. The presence of these symptoms depends upon the individual dog and its levels of anxiety.

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Dont Be Scared To Ask For Help

If youve done all you can to ease your dogs stress & anxiety and their symptoms persist, have a chat with your local vet. There are lots of treatments available for stress & anxiety in dogs and theyll happily advise you on how to help your furry friend.

We recommend Vetpro: Stress & anxiety – developed and approved by expert vets and gets to work in just one hour!

Need more info?

For expert advice on treatment for stress and reducing your dogs anxiety, get in touch with your local vet.

Find your nearest vet using our Find a Vet page, or speak to a vet online today!

How To Help A Dog With Dog Anxiety

Its no secret that anxiety in humans is a very common issue but did you know that your pupper can suffer from it, too? Dog anxiety comes in many different shapes and sizes but according to a Finnish study, up to 72.5% of dogs might show signs of mild to severe anxiety during their lifetime. Thats a lot of anxious pooches.

Fortunately, once you recognise that your fur baby is anxious and maybe even figure out what causes their anxiety, there are numerous ways to calm or even cure them, from exercise and simple changes to their environment to natural remedies and prescription drugs. So, lets start by taking a look at the most common causes and symptoms of dog anxiety before telling you a little more about how to help a dog with anxiety.

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Signs Of Separation Anxiety In Dogs

Dogs suffering from separation anxiety might learn their persons predeparture cueslike putting on a certain uniform, making lunch or organizing a briefcaseand begin to exhibit stress responses before their person even leaves.

Once the dog is alone, they might exhibit any or all of the following hallmarks of separation anxiety:

• Pacing: Dogs that are panicked by their persons departure might be unable to settle down and might resort to walking back and forth repeatedly.

• Vocalization: Barking and howling are common canine responses to isolation, but dogs with separation anxiety might continue vocalizing the entire time theyre alone.

• Loss of appetite: Separation anxiety can cause even the most food-motivated dog to ignore treats and bones.

• Destruction: Many dogs suffering from separation anxiety destroy small household itemslike the remote control or pillowsor resort to large-scale destruction, like tearing through furniture, walls, doors or windows.

• Elimination: Dogs that are house-trained might have accidents while alone, including diarrhea.

• Drooling: Some stressed dogs drool excessively and wind up with a soaked chin and chest.

• Escape: Dogs with severe separation anxiety might be able to escape confinement, which can result in injuries.

How To Calm An Anxious Dog: 12 Tips That Work

Want to know how to calm an anxious dog? Living with an anxious and fearful dog can be a challenge. You often have to make compromises on a daily basis and working towards removing a fearful reaction, whatever it may be towards, can be a long process. There are no quick fixes.

At the same time, it can be a hugely rewarding experience. Developing a close bond with your dog through the support and help that you give them is priceless. Watching your dogs become more relaxed and happy is such a true privilege.

Of the three dogs I have had, two of them have has severe anxiety issues. Sam, my rescue Cocker Spaniel, was very poorly socialised as a puppy and, along with various other factors, this made him an anxious and fearful boy. Strange dogs scared him, new situations stressed him out, a change in his routine was a source of anxiety. We had to employ a lot of management techniques as well as a lot of intensive training to get him to a point where he felt safe and relaxed. He also had separation anxiety. He really set me off on my dog training and behaviour journey.

A lot of compromises had to be made in terms of lifestyle to ensure that we helped him to have the most relaxing life and overcome the dogs anxiety issues. It was totally worth it! He was the best boy and gave us a lot of love and joy for over 13 years.

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• 12. You are your dogs advocate take that role seriously

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