With that said, if you would like to try CBD oil to relieve your pet’s anxiety, we recommend you speak with your vet to determine whether CBD oil could be a good treatment option. While humans use CBD oil for various ailments, including anxiety, there is not enough scientific evidence to support CBD oil’s effectiveness for anxious dogs. Because some natural therapies work best with other medications, it is essential you consult with your vet to determine which products are best for your pet, including essential oils. Natural therapies that use aromatherapy and pheromones may help decrease your pet’s anxiety. Some home remedies that work well for relaxing humans can also calm dog anxiety naturally. The drug selegiline (used in Europe for chronic anxiety in humans) may help senior dogs with cognitive dysfunction syndrome and reduce their level of stress. To help your pet cope with anxiety-producing events such as car rides, fireworks, and thunderstorms, your veterinarian might prescribe a medication like a benzodiazepine along with an antidepressant. If diagnosed with a serious anxiety disorder, your vet may prescribe occasional medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and antidepressants, including clomipramine and fluoxetine. Speak with your vet if you have any questions or concerns about your dog’s behavior. Over time with repeated exposure and plenty of healthy treats, you can increase the length of exposure time and level of intensity.Ĭounterconditioning changes your dog’s response to the irritating stimuli by associating the negative stimulus with something your dog loves, like treats, time with you, or playing a game. Desensitizing your dog to the anxiety-inducing stimulus requires you to slowly introduce your pet to the offending source of anxiety for short periods starting with a lower level of intensity. Training and counterconditioning can prove effective in reducing a dog’s anxiety. The cause of your pet’s stress will determine the best treatment(s) or combination. Dog Anxiety TreatmentsĪddressing your dog’s anxiety can improve his overall well-being and your sanity.
Destructive behavior can also be dangerous to your pet as it is often through doors and windows dogs try to escape a frightening experience. Other aggressive behaviors like growling and barking can further worsen an already tense situation. In contrast, indirect aggression can happen when a human comes between the aggressive dog and the source of his aggression (usually another dog). Direct aggression occurs when a dog acts aggressively toward humans or other animals. Without question, the most troublesome of symptoms is aggression, which, depending on the circumstances, can be targeted directly or indirectly. While these symptoms may result from infrequent anxiety-causing events like fireworks and thunder, they can become a severe issues for your pet (and you).
How to tell if your dog suffers from anxiety? Here’s a list of symptoms to watch for: The section on dog anxiety treatments below can help you densitize and redirect your dog’s sudden anxiety.
If you’ve ruled out aging and medical conditions as causes, it could be that something happened that you just didn’t see. Sometimes, dogs exhibit anxiety for no apparent reason. Like the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s in humans, dogs with CDS suffer from a decline in memory, perception, learning, and awareness. This occurrence in senior dogs can be related to cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS). Unfortunately, as dogs age, fears may increase. While most dogs’ reactions to these stimuli are often brief and minimal, these triggers could cause a significant long-lasting fear in anxious dogs. Of course, some dogs react unusually to usual things - like vacuum cleaners, grass, and trips to the vet’s office. More specifically, 17% showed fear of other canines, 15% fear of strangers and 11% of new situations. The study further noted that almost 30% of the dogs experienced general fearfulness, with loud noises being the catalyst for most. Dog anxiety driven by fearĪccording to a Finnish study reported in Nature magazine, 72.5% of 13,715 canine subjects in a study displayed anxiety-like behaviors. Outside of separation, there are several causes of anxiety the two most common are fear and aging. Please see our Guide to Separation Anxiety in Dogs for an in-depth look at its causes and treatments. This common disorder affects all breeds, some more than others. Although our focus here is about general anxiety in dogs, we would be remiss not to mention separation anxiety in dogs. If you believe your dog has anxiety issues, this guide examines what causes dog anxiety and what you, as a pet parent, can do to help your dog.