5 Ways To Ease Anxiety In Your Dog

dog anxiety

Contrary to popular belief, your dog can get frightened by many things. The horn of a car, the smell of garbage, or even the constant clattering of kitchen utensils are all examples of things that can scare your dog.

People who have seen their dog panicking know that they look scared and vulnerable when this happens. Your dog’s muscles tense up, and they are likely to get confused and disoriented. Thankfully, there are several ways you can put your dog at ease. Here are four ways to ease your canine’s anxiety.

1. Play Music

Music has many therapeutic effects on both humans and animals. Music can be beneficial to calm down some dogs. It does this by decreasing the hormones that a dog produces in response to stress. Putting your dog in a dark room with no windows and music playing is the best way to take this approach. Additionally, you can also use this method to prepare for a stressful event such as going on a long road trip. Make sure you are picking calming music, as loud sound may aggravate your dog.

2. Work With a Trainer

Sometimes, trying to calm down your dog can be too much for you to handle alone. In these cases, it is essential you work with a dog trainer. Trainers can assess your dog and help decipher the root of your dog's anxiety. Working regularly with a trainer can help reduce or eliminate your dog's reaction to stressful situations.

3. Try A CBD Product

Trying to ease a dog out of anxiety can be highly stressful for both you and your dog. Some dogs react well to CBD products and owners have found positive results with calming an anxious dog or using CBD to prior to a stressful event. When using CBD on your dog, you want to use a product that has been specially formulated for them. We recommend Apawthecary Pets cookies or Product N˚ 113 tinctures. If you are looking to manage your stress levels, you can find a number of CBD products for humans at Product N˚ 113 in Canada or in the USA at Sunday Scaries.

If CBD doesn't work for you dog you may want to try pheromone medication or speak with your veterinary about anti-anxiety medication.

4. Exercise

Exercise is one of the best natural ways to ease your dog's anxiety. Exercise physically and mentally stimulates your dog, which can reduce anxiety. When a dog exercises, your dog releases endorphins in its body, which does two things:

Balances mood: Endorphins interact with hormones responsible for mood, helping to produce positive emotions. Ultimately, this will boost your dog's mood and suppress anxiety..

Stabilizes hormones: Scientists have confirmed that endorphins stabilize various hormones, and the hormone responsible for fear is one of them.

Exercises you can do with your dog (aside from your daily walk) are: tug of war, fetch, playing with their favourite toys.

However, you should only make your dog do these exercises if they want to. Forcing them may cause them to get more anxious and scared and may even cause aggressive behaviour.

5. Distract Your Dog

Sometimes, all your dog needs is a little distraction to take their mind off their immediate environment. This is one of the most effective ways to calm your dog down. There are several affordable tools you can use to distract your dog, some of these include:

Food Puzzles: Puzzles are a great way to distract your dog. Since the environment is the leading cause of a dog's anxiety, redirecting their focus on the puzzle can be a great way to get them less concerned with what was causing them stress.

Toys: If you’re a dog lover, you will know that every canine has a favorite thing to play. Have a variety of toys on hand that your dog enjoys. These can include toys to chew on, Kongs filled with treats, and squeaky toys.

It is no easy feat to try to calm down your dog when they’re anxious or scared. We hope that consistency with the tips discussed above can help remedy your dog's anxiety and help them live a happy, stressful life.

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