Why Do Dogs Get Anxious And How Can You Help Them When They Do?
Dogs get anxious for all sorts of reason and while some dogs are anxious by character and will always need plenty of comfort, other dogs will develop anxieties because of a bad experience or a major change in their life or situation.
Many dogs that come from a rescue are anxious dogs, both as a result of their experience of being left or given up to a rescue and because of the unusual situation of a rescue, which is often full of other worried dogs. (That is no criticism of rescue centres, because they do a great job, but exactly the way they explained it to me).
Sometimes dog anxiousness can be so intense that they'll shake or run and hide at the mention of the word 'walk ', and thunderstorms and fireworks are classic situations that may set a dogs anxiety off.
Sometimes anxiety can be more of a temporary problem where for example a dog that's got a health problem can all of a sudden become anxious as they feel more vulnerable. In some cases the anxiousness will set in gradually like when dogs grow old, particularly if there are younger dogs around them.
What makes dogs anxious is not necessarily easy to understand as dogs can react badly to almost anything. I've heard dog owners say their dog is frightened of men, or beards, or anybody wearing a hat, or the sound of one individual newsreaders voice... The list is both unusual and unending.
The Way To Calm An Anxious Dog
If you take a look at the enormous range of things that can make your dog anxious, from being scared by nature, through bad experiences, to being afraid of loud noises and having unexplainable fears, it is perhaps not what they do that matters, but how you respond to their stress which will make a difference to your dog.
Absolutely key to helping your dog relax is to be calm yourself. Dogs are extremely sensitive and if you tense up when they get anxious or begin worrying yourself, they're going to pick up on that and it'll simply confirm that they have every reason to be concerned. Basically, your dog will be thinking, if you're worrying too , there must be something wrong and they were right to be anxious in the 1st place.
An anxious dog will also benefit enormously from you being very obviously the leader of the pack as in nature, the rest of the pack will take their lead from the what the Alpha dog does. This means that if the leader is calm and not anxious about what is going on they'll stay calm too.
Anxious dogs have often believed that they are leader of the pack and thus answerable for decision-making and the packs safety. This is a very tricky job for a dog in a human world as frequently they don't understand it, meaning anything from the postman, to someone on a cycle, or on the T. V. could be a threat that they react strongly too.
One of the best things you can do for an anxious dog is learn how to show them you are the pack leader and in time they will learn to trust you and your judgement, which will immediately scale back their anxiety.
Many dogs that come from a rescue are anxious dogs, both as a result of their experience of being left or given up to a rescue and because of the unusual situation of a rescue, which is often full of other worried dogs. (That is no criticism of rescue centres, because they do a great job, but exactly the way they explained it to me).
Sometimes dog anxiousness can be so intense that they'll shake or run and hide at the mention of the word 'walk ', and thunderstorms and fireworks are classic situations that may set a dogs anxiety off.
Sometimes anxiety can be more of a temporary problem where for example a dog that's got a health problem can all of a sudden become anxious as they feel more vulnerable. In some cases the anxiousness will set in gradually like when dogs grow old, particularly if there are younger dogs around them.
What makes dogs anxious is not necessarily easy to understand as dogs can react badly to almost anything. I've heard dog owners say their dog is frightened of men, or beards, or anybody wearing a hat, or the sound of one individual newsreaders voice... The list is both unusual and unending.
The Way To Calm An Anxious Dog
If you take a look at the enormous range of things that can make your dog anxious, from being scared by nature, through bad experiences, to being afraid of loud noises and having unexplainable fears, it is perhaps not what they do that matters, but how you respond to their stress which will make a difference to your dog.
Absolutely key to helping your dog relax is to be calm yourself. Dogs are extremely sensitive and if you tense up when they get anxious or begin worrying yourself, they're going to pick up on that and it'll simply confirm that they have every reason to be concerned. Basically, your dog will be thinking, if you're worrying too , there must be something wrong and they were right to be anxious in the 1st place.
An anxious dog will also benefit enormously from you being very obviously the leader of the pack as in nature, the rest of the pack will take their lead from the what the Alpha dog does. This means that if the leader is calm and not anxious about what is going on they'll stay calm too.
Anxious dogs have often believed that they are leader of the pack and thus answerable for decision-making and the packs safety. This is a very tricky job for a dog in a human world as frequently they don't understand it, meaning anything from the postman, to someone on a cycle, or on the T. V. could be a threat that they react strongly too.
One of the best things you can do for an anxious dog is learn how to show them you are the pack leader and in time they will learn to trust you and your judgement, which will immediately scale back their anxiety.
About the Author:
You can discover more about dog anxiety and how you can calm an anxious dog when you drop by the authors website, plus get a free report on the major symptoms of dog separation anxiety.
>
.jpg)
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment