Dog Calming Products For Your Anxious Dog
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| A calm dog is a happy dog |
When your dog is expressing nervous or anxious behavior, it is not to get attention. They are reacting to very specific problems that they are having. There are some breeds of dogs that are just more nervous than others, but many develop anxieties as they get older, with separation anxiety and noise anxiety topping the list.
There are several techniques and dog calming products on the market that could help your dog. It is typically considered best to try these first for helping with dog stress, before resorting to medication. Depending upon the severity of the anxiety, medication may be your dog’s best bet – your veterinarian will have to make that call, since all medication for dog anxiety is prescribed.
Behavior Modification/Training
Behavior training or modification is considered to be one of the best ways to help with calming dogs. The only downside to this is that the training must be done correctly and it can take a while. The training involves slowly desensitizing your dog to whatever is causing the anxiety. If it is a noise anxiety, recreate the noise (for example, there are thunderstorm/rain CDs if you have a dog scared of thunder) at very low levels while either engaging your dog in a fun activity or giving treats. Eventually, you want to get to normal thunderstorm sound levels without your dog reacting to severely. For separation anxiety in dogs, prepare to leave without any extra attention to your dog, leave for a minute or two, and come back without any attention to the dog. Space out the time gone for longer and longer intervals, until your dog ‘learns’ that you WILL come back. It should be noted that none of these behavior modifications can be performed in one or even two days. It must occur over a length of time and periodically reinforced. It is best to get advise or help from professional trainers.
For a list of certified, professional dog trainers to help you with training, consult the following link for the: Association of Pet Dog Trainers.
Pressure Wraps
Pressure wraps, such as thunder shirts for dogs, are becoming a rather popular device to help with all sorts of dog anxiety. It is essentially a jacket that your dog wears, which has a swaddling effect on your dog. Through pressure points, this helps to alleviate a lot of dog stress. It should be noted that this will not eliminate the anxiety, but helps your dog feel more secure and less nervous about their particular situation.
DAP – Dog Appeasing Pheromones
Dog Appeasing Pheromones mimic the pheromones released by a nursing mother dog. DAP products comes in a variety of ways to use: DAP collar, DAP spray, and DAP diffuser; all slowly release pheromones and make your dog feel much more secure.
Exercise
Exercise has been known to help with cases of separation anxiety in dogs, with the logic being, a tired dog is more likely to sleep while you are gone than worry about you being gone. This is primarily true if your dog is not suffering from extreme separation anxiety, where medication may be the best option. While other anxieties are just as stressful, separation anxiety is a special case because it is more frequent and usually lasts longer than the other types of anxiety issues. A good, long walk and playing fetch will help release energy making your dog more conducive to sleeping.
Chew Toys
Chew toys go hand in hand with the exercising. Chewing is another way to release energy, so investing in some good, indestructible chew toys should really be on your list for separation anxiety problems. Kong is a well known name for long lasting chew toys, as are StarMark. Both also have toys that allow you to put treats inside that can keep your dog busy for anywhere from 20 minutes to hours – depending on your dog and the toy selected.
Easy to get at treats may be a good distraction for your dog if they are experiencing noise anxiety or traveling problems, as they make your dog concentrate more on the food than the noise or traveling.
Aromatherapy
Still another option to help with dog anxiety is aromatherapy. Similar to pheromones, except different aromas help accentuate different feelings. Essential oils, like lavender, clove, borage, chamomile, and cinnamon can help invoke calmness while enhancing your dog’s mood.
Essences
Along the lines of aromatherapy, essences are usually given orally or applied to the skin. They invoke similar feelings of calmness in your dog. This can be helpful to use when traveling, for separation anxiety, and even helps reduce aggression.
Crating
Crating can be helpful if your dog is destroying your home or urinating/defecating because of anxiety. However, if crating is causing even more anxiety, then professional help is probably needed. Either your dog was not properly crate trained, or needs medical intervention. The crate should be a place of comfort for your dog – their own place. Do not allow your dog to be even more uncomfortable in the crate – this is just feeding on their already stressed out nerves.
If your dog enjoys their crate (mine does), you can even try putting a blanket or sheet over the top and sides (making sure they are still getting plenty of air and ventilation) to make it feel more enclosed, like a cave. This helps them feel more secure.
Bottom Line
One of these methods may work like a charm for your dog. Or you may need to combine multiple methods. Each dog is different and will respond differently to the options. If none of these work for your dog, then it may be time to visit your vet and discuss medication.
Just make sure you do something to help your with their anxiety problems! They will only get worse as time goes on. It is much easier to correct these anxiety problems when they are first experienced, than trying to fix it after several years of it progressively getting worse.
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