Home Remedies for Dog Anxiety You Need to Know
Does your dog seem depressed, or could they be anxious but you cannot tell the reason behind it? Anxiety is a common symptom in dogs, and a wide range of reasons causes it. Such ideas could have a personality or situational basis. Your dog could be experiencing anxiety due to different phobias or fears. Such anxiety takes the expression of constant barking, excessive grooming or licking, and reacting with aggression toward other animals or people.
Would you love to learn the remedies which could help to improve your dog’s response to stressful situations? Today, I present to you my top natural treatments for your dog’s anxiety.
1. Use Essential Oils for Dog Anxiety
Yes, essential oils for dog anxiety are useful! Numerous dog parents have justified the use of essential oils to calm tension in their dogs. This natural remedy has been found to lessen and alleviate any symptoms that are related to anxiety attacks in dogs.
As held by research, a wide variety of aromatherapy essential oils for dog anxiety including bergamot, lavender, and Roman chamomile are useful in calming anxious dogs (1).
If your dog has essential oil sensitivity, it is recommended that you use hydrosols.
Another great way to use essential oils for dog anxiety is a collar medallion. The medallion is usually infused with relaxing and calming essential oils for dog anxiety such as lavender and valerian which help with your dog’s anxiety.
Since the medallion can be hung on your dog’s collar with ease, you get to ensure that your pet remains relaxed and calm all day long.
It is critical that you choose the best essential oils for dog anxiety for optimal calming and relaxing outcomes. Pet So Fun has all the guidelines to selecting and using essential oils for your anxious dog. Follow this link for a complete guide on essential oils for dog anxiety.
2. Distraction
In addition to essential oils for dog anxiety, you can curb your dog’s anxiety by distracting it from the stressful situations. If your pet exhibits nervousness as a result of particular stressful contexts including, then distracting him/her goes a long way to helping them recover from anxiety.
Such contexts include thunderstorms, fireworks, or even being in a crowd. As suggested by research, distraction works through the engagement of the dog’s brain in work. Therefore, the dog focuses on the things they know as opposed to the unknown, frightening stuff around them (2).
A stressful situation might not necessarily demand new training. However, your dog is often exposed to a stressful situation. Such is the right time to teach your dog new tricks which are tied to a reward. It is advisable to reward your dog with treats when they complete simple commands. Some of the commands might include: roll over, sit up, shake, lie down, stand, and sit.
Equally, you could take advantage if your dog has high motivation for food. Here, you could distract your pet with puzzle toys including a tug jug, toy, or a treat ball. Such distraction is essential in helping your dog associate scary situations like strangers and loud noises with highly valued food rewards. Consequently, your dog will perceive a possible scary event as a tolerable condition.
3. Physical Exercise
Does exercise work for you when you are anxious? Well, exercise also works for dogs as it helps relieve their stress. Activity is critical for the completion of tasks which may help your dog heal from its anxiety.
Firstly, physical exercise helps in promoting the stimulation of serotonin production. This is a feel-good chemical component which is produced when humans work out. Exercise also enhances the elimination of pent-up tension and energy which are a common cause of anxiety.
Therefore, activity is important in burning off any extra doggy energy using running, a hike, or a fetch game with your dog may significantly help reduce any problems which relate to nervous tension or separation anxiety.
As scientists recommend, participation in aerobic exercise is associated with lower tension levels. Aerobic exercise which lasts a minimum of five minutes has the potential to trigger anti-anxiety disposition (3).
Simply put, a tired dog is a good dog. Therefore, do not shy away from exercising your dog as this could help alleviate its anxiety.
4. Relaxing Dog Massage
We all love a good body massage, don’t we? I would say, my dog seems to relish a relaxing massage. Giving your pet a massage may help in calming its anxiety. Notably, long, low strikes are essential in calming its nerves.
TTouch is such a famous dog massage method, that designed by Linda Tellington-Jones. This massage approach is based on hand and finger-circular movements all-over the dog’s body. This massage method seeks to awaken cellular intelligence and activate the cell function thereby giving your dog a feeling of relaxation.
As held by research, petting a dog is critical in calming your nerves. Therefore, by giving your dog, you strike a win-win relaxing situation since therapeutic massage is a reliable remedy for stress and anxiety (4).
Play calming music for your dog to help alleviate anxiety. You should consider leaving your radio or television at any time you leave the house to ensure that your pet is left in comfort. However, it is worth noting that there is special music that can help soothe your dog in times of anxiety. There is a wide range of aimed explicitly at music which can soothe and calm your nervous pet.
Such music works through minimization of its complex auditory information. Your dog will intentionally select, arrange, and record the music for the provision of ease of auditory assimilation.
Soothing music is essential in easing situations characteristic of travel and separation anxiety. Look out for such music, and your dog might even benefit from its benefits of noise phobia desensitization.
5. Add Natural Supplements to Your Diet to Improve Anxiety.
Did you know that you could significantly improve your dog’s anxiety condition through natural diet supplements? Some natural nutritional supplements work as effective remedies for hyperactive and anxious tendencies.
Do rely on:
a) L-theanine:
This is a non-protein, free amino acid which is almost exclusively present in tea plants and shows predominant presence in green tea leaves. This component has been determined as playing a critical role in the direct stimulation of alpha brain wave production. It also promotes the stimulation of a deep relaxation state (5).
Notably, L-theanine has achieved significant outcomes in human relaxation. This is the argument behind the use of L-theanine as a calming supplement.
b) Thiamine
Also known as thiamin, thiamine exists as a water-soluble vitamin of the Vitamin B1 (B complex) group. As held by research, this vitamin has the ability to influence an organism’s central nervous system. Especially, thiamine is essential in soothing and calming anxious animals (6).
Indeed, expert views suggest that thiamin deficiency triggers animal irritability. Since thiamine cannot be stored in the blood, any situation which increases metabolism, illness, stress, or activity advances at the depletion of the levels of thiamin in the body.
Dogs, just like humans, do experience anxiety, and they need special care to help alleviate such anxiety. What usually does cause anxiety in your dog? Have you mastered any viable ways of reversing this condition?
If your dog persistently shows hyperactive and anxious tendencies, then you need to try the above simple guidelines to ensure that your dog is anxiety-free.
You could try a relaxing massage, distraction, physical exercise, or even using anti-anxiety supplements to improve anxiety.
BIO
Ruby is the proud owner of Pet So Fun. She is also responsible for the abundant content creation on the website. She knows that there are millions of pet owners looking for the right kind of information online. And this is where her expertise lies. Smith writes about pet care health and fitness along with the best pet product recommendations. There is nothing on her blog that doesn’t encourage others to create a healthy and friendly environment for their pets.
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