Is your pet dog anxious?

This is a long post that covers several different topics related to pet dog anxiety such as separation anxiety, travel anxiety, thunderstorm anxiety and more.

*Get this post emailed to you as a pdf. read it later at your convenience. Click Here.

Dog anxiety issues covered in this Post:

Click on the links below to jump to a certain section:

Signs of anxiety in Dogs
How to help a pet dog With anxiety – Our top Tips
Dog Separation Anxiety
Thunder and Fireworks anxiety in Dogs
Travel Anxiety
Boarding Anxiety
Fear at the Vet or Groomer
Fear of other Dogs
Dog’s anxiety around new People
Anxiety around Bikes, Rollerblades or Strollers
CBD Oil for Dogs and other Products

Signs of anxiety and anxiety in Dogs

First, the following are some general signs of anxiety in dogs:

Hyperactivity
Whining
Pacing
Panting
Licking their lips (flicking their tongue)
Trembling
Raising one paw up to their body
Wide eyes
Having accidents (out of the ordinary)
Destructive behavior
Excessive barking
Refusing food or treats (out of the ordinary)
No interest in toys
Ears back
Excessive shedding
Excessive yawning

Just because your pet dog is showing one of these signs it does not necessarily indicate you have a big problem. Your pet dog might just be mildly anxious (we all are at times) or excited.

Sometimes dogs just need a lot more exercise to manage their energy or time to adjust to new situations and environments. This is especially true if you recently adopted your pet dog or have had any other major changes such as moving or having a baby.

How to help a pet dog with anxiety – our top tips

You’ll see us repeating several ideas throughout this post because we believe they are THAT crucial for helping an anxious dog.

1. Exercise. Make sure your pet dog is getting enough physical exercise and mental challenges every day. Generally, this must be a minimum of a 60-minute walk each day + 10-15 minutes of training.

Unless your pet dog is a young puppy or has a physical disability, a minimum of an hour walk is a affordable amount of exercise for a lot of breeds. If you are unable to physically walk your pet dog for an hour, consider hiring a pet dog walker or a pal capable of managing your dog.

Exercise alone will not magically make your dog’s anxiety disappear, but it will help. The less pent-up energy your pet dog has, the better, and if your pet dog is worn out when you leave for work or when the fireworks start or when you have to take him to the vet, he will have an much easier time.

See our post: exercise ideas for hyper dogs

*Get this post emailed to you as a pdf. read it later at your convenience. Click Here.

2. High-value treats or toys. If you can find something your pet dog is ready to work for even under stress, you’ll have an much easier time helping him deal with situations that make him anxious such as road trips, thunderstorms or being left alone.

For keeping your dog’s focus on you in stressful situations, we recommend single-ingredient treats made with real meat or small pieces chicken, other meat or cheese.

If you need your pet dog to focus on a chew toy or puzzle toy, we recommend a Kong toy or two stuffed with tempting goodies like peanut butter and then frozen (so it’s harder to get out and lasts longer).

Finally, if you have a retrieving nut or a pet dog who loves to play tug, these types of toys can also work to your advantage in some situations. (Fireworks in the distance? how about we play some tug?)

3. work with a trainer and a vet. anxiety in dogs can be a severe problem, even enough for some people to consider re-homing the dog. Please do not hesitate to reach out to a professional trainer for help. We also recommend you talk with your dog’s vet about momentary anti-anxiety medication for your dog, depending on your certain situation.

My pet dog has separation anxiety – what to do?

Some dogs feel anxious when they are left alone or when they are separated from their owners, even for short periods.

If you’ve recently adopted a new dog, it’s normal for the pet dog to need a couple of weeks to adjust to your new routine so she may be feeling anxious in general (understandable). She doesn’t necessarily have true separation anxiety. She just needs a affordable amount of time to adjust to her new home.

Likewise, when you bring home a puppy from a breeder she is likely to cry the first couple of nights because she is separated from her normal routine of sleeping near her mother and littermates. a lot of puppies adjust within a week or less.

See our post: how long do puppies cry at night?

What is separation anxiety in dogs?

We consider a pet dog to have separation anxiety if she has never been appropriately conditioned to being left alone and as a result becomes nervous or terrified when her owner leaves the house.

Signs of separation anxiety in dogs

In addition to some of the signs of anxiety we provided at the beginning of this article, some other signs certain to separation anxiety include:

An unhealthy attachment to you or another family member, following you anywhere when you’re home and always wanting to sit close to you, sit on your lap or lean on you
Crying and scratching at a bedroom, shower room or office door if she is not allowed inside with you.
Frantic excitement to see you when you return, typically jumping and scratching at you and barking or whining.
Destructive behavior when left alone, such as chewing carpet or furniture or rugs when usually the pet dog is not destructive.
Trying to break out of a kennel or to chew or dig through a doorway to the point of harming her mouth or paws.
Having accidents when left alone, when usually the pet dog is potty trained.
Refusing food or treats when left alone when usually the pet dog loves food.

How to help a pet dog with separation anxiety

1. double your dog’s exercise. double your dog’s exercise and make sure she’s getting a minimum of a 60-minute walk per day, every day. If you’re able to give her time to run off-leash or on a long leash in addition to your walk, even better. We also recommend a pet dog backpack to help your pet dog burn energy and have a “job” to do.

2. stick to a routine before leaving. Dogs learn by repetitions and conditioning, so decide where your pet dog will stay when you are gone, and stick to it. If she panics when left in the laundry room, she is going to panic when left in the bathroom, bedroom or kennel, so just pick one place and stick to it.

Establish your routine for leaving and try to be as consistent as possible every time. let your pet dog outside for a potty break, then calmly put her in her “spot” 20 minutes or so before you leave. As you’re getting ready, don’t fuss and anxiety over her. just be calm and emotionless.

As hard as it is, it’s best to just neglect your pet dog as you’re leaving. going to work or wherever you need to go is simply no big deal, so do not feel sorry for your dog. getting emotional and showing guilt is not going to help your dog, so don’t say goodbye. Don’t speak to her. just go.

Likewise, don’t fuss over your pet dog when you return, either. stay calm and do your best to neglect your pet dog for at least a few minutes.

3. supply high-valued puzzle toys when you leave. For a lot of dogs, a Kong toy stuffed with peanut butter and frozen is tempting and will give them something to focus on for a while when you leave. You can even leave 2-3 frozen Kong toys for your dog.

4. Take in-depth notes on your dog’s certain “triggers.” If you can write down your dog’s exact “triggers” you can work to desensitize her.

For example, if your pet dog starts pacing and whining whenever you pick up your keys, you could randomly jiggle your keys throughout the day even when you’re not going anywhere. You could even toss her a piece of cheese each time you pick up your keys. Eventually, the sound of your keys will not hold the same meaning.

Your pet dog might start to get anxious as soon as you’re making breakfast or when you’re drinking your coffee or maybe not until you put on your coat. It helps to take certain notes and enjoy for patterns so you can work to help your dog.

A valuable guide on how to desensitize your pet dog to being left alone is the book “I’ll Be home Soon” by Patricia McConnell.

Other ideas to help a pet dog with separation anxiety:

Leave a TV or music on or other “white noise.” consider the music “Through A Dog’s Ear” created to help dogs relax.
Hire a pet dog walker or pal to come walk your pet dog mid-day
Take your pet dog to pet dog daycare once or twice a week. This is worth it even for the sake of decreasing your own anxiety and worry about what kind of damage you’ll come home to.
Try some of the products pointed out at the end of this post such as a Thundershirt or Rescue Remedy

Additional resources on separation anxiety:

How to end Separation anxiety in Dogs (That Mutt’s ebook)

How to stop separation anxiety in dogs (blog)

*Get this post emailed to you as a pdf. read it later at your convenience. Click Here.

Dog thunder and fireworks anxiety

Unfortunately it’s common for dogs to feel anxious during thunderstorms because of the noise, wind and change in pressure. Fireworks are also scary for dogs due to the sudden loud “explosions” and the high-pitched whistling some of them make.

If your pet dog is afraid of thunder or fireworks, she might tremble, try to hide, pace, whine, pant heavily, drool, try to “dig” while indoors, paw at you, bark or even act aggressively. She might also refuse food, toys and attention.

Some dogs could harm themselves or damage home while trying to dig or “escape” from the storm or fireworks.

If your pet dog is afraid of thunderstorms or fireworks, here are a couple ideas that can help:

During the actual thunderstorm or fireworks:

1. supply comfort. Not all trainers agree on giving affection to a fearful pet dog but we believe it’s ok to reassure your dog, especially when she is showing calm behavior vs. frantic behavior.

For example, if your pet dog is hunkered down on her pet dog bed, it would be ok to pet her and CALMLY say, “Good girl, Bailey.” If she’s racing around the room barking and panting, try to encourage her to focus on a Kong toy or to work on down/stay for highly valued treats.

It’s very crucial for you to be calm in buy for your pet dog to also pick up on this. show your pet dog that thunder and lightning or fireworks are no big deal. try to just go about your normal routine.

2. supply a safe place during fireworks or thunder. During a thunderstorm, your pet dog might want to hide out where she feels the most safe such as in her crate, on her pet dog bed, under a table, in your bedroom or in a closet.

It’s ok if she just wants to hunker down and wait out the storm. You might want to try drowning out some of the noise by running a fan, the air conditioning or a white noise machine.

3. High valued food.Give your pet dog a highly valued chew toy if she’ll accept it to distract her from the noise.

4. try anti-anxiety products. The Thundershirt was created for this very purpose, so it’s worth a try!

You might want to try pet dog appeasing pheromones or Benadryl for your dog. We go into a lot more details on these products later on in this article.

Preparing for future thunderstorms or fireworks:

1. Desensitize your pet dog to storms and fireworks.

This is no easy task, especially if your pet dog has an extreme fear, but the idea is to slowly get your pet dog used to thunderstorm sounds or fireworks sounds.

YouTube has thousands of thunderstorm and fireworks recordings. here is one video that is 10 hours of thunderstorm sounds! The goal is to play thunderstorm or fireworks sounds at a low enough level so your pet dog is not fearful. toss her treats or get out her Kong toy.

One option is to randomly play the sounds softly without acknowledging your dog. No reaction whatsoever from you. Ideally, your pet dog will just learn these sounds are no big deal, even as you gradually increase the volume over several days and weeks.

Another option is to give your pet dog a highly valued food reward while you play the videos. This can be to distract your pet dog at first but also to help him associate positive experiences with the storm sounds.

2. Distract your pet dog with high-valued chew toys before the storm starts.

This isn’t always possible, but if you can get your pet dog focused on a Kong toy or other puzzle/chew, it might minimize her anxiety. It’s much harder to get the pet dog to focus on something else after the thunder and lightning has started.

For example, Lindsay used to live ideal next to the fairgrounds that would put on an annual fourth of July fireworks display. She would give her pet dog Remy a Kong toy stuffed with peanut butter about 10 minutes before she knew the fireworks would start. By the time they started, Remy was so focused on his treat, he didn’t care about the noise.

Other noises: Guns, band instruments, motorcycles, snowmobiles, the vacuum

If your pet dog is anxious around other typ