For some of you, it’s very obvious when your dog is worked up. Stressed, or anxious. For some, it’s not that easy to tell. Either way, we’ve worked with dogs experiencing symptoms of stress and anxiety for over a decade, and have found some tried and true ways to help them let it go.
Believe it or not, most of the dog owners we work with can’t tell when their dog is feeling anxious or stressed. At least, not until their dog becomes so anxious that the symptoms are more obvious and dramatic.
Here are some signs that might indicate that your dog is feeling stressed, nervous, or anxious:
Appetite loss (picky eating or low food motivation are included in this)
Increased hyperactivity or “frantic” behavior
Jumping, especially on the people they are most bonded to
Panting or “smiling”
Pacing
Struggling to focus or problem solve
Struggling to settle and rest
Whining, growling, barking, or drooling
Lifting one front paw up
Marking territory
Going to the bathroom in the house (especially if they are already potty trained)
Being able to tell when your dog is starting to spiral (before they are too deep into their anxiety) can help you more proactively combat it… and help them!
Here are three things you can do to help your dog be less stressed and anxious:
#1. Use hemp or cbd based supplements to promote relaxation
This one is a tricky one. Which ones actually work? We’ve been helping dogs overcome fears, anxieties, and stress for a years. We know how many products are on the market claiming to calm your dog down, or to solve their anxieties. Unfortunately, most of them don’t do what the marketing claims.
So is there a benefit to using “calming supplements” for dogs?
Well that’s a loaded question, but after having used many different kinds in hundreds of dogs over the years… our answer is yes.
In our experience, these kinds of things do not transform your dogs behavior by themselves, but they can take the edge off and make life just a little bit easier for both you and your dog. Especially if you pair them with the kind of activities that we describe in #2.
It’s important to note, that good quality calming supplements work best when used consistently, instead of intermittently. This means that we have seen the most positive impact when dogs take them every day.
Here are three supplements that have helped us to help even some of the most stressed out dogs feel better:
1. VetriScience Laboratories Composure Chews - These are our top recommendation! They are widely supported in the professional dog behavior and veterinary community for a reason. They work more effectively than most other calming aides we have tried.
2. Hemp Oil For Pets - We absolutely love hemp oil or CBD oil, and have used it for both stress relief, and joint pain in dogs. It’s easy to just mix with some food daily to help take the edge off.
3. Zesty Paws Calming Bites - These are so convenient, and our dogs love the taste. This is our next favorite calming chew, and one of the brands we have seen the most success with!
We’re not going to be unrealistic… supplements can help you and your dog so much. It’s unlikely that supplements or calming aides alone will completely solve your dogs anxiety. In combination with the right activities and training, they can make the process much more smooth.
#2. Give them activities that promote licking, chewing, or sniffing. These three behaviors help to relieve stress and promote relaxation.
Use this stainless steel slow feeder bowl to create a calming activity for your dog to enjoy. We love using these to promote licking and help dogs relax. We just mix some canned wet dog food with a bit of water, fill the bowl a bit, then pop it in the freezer for a few hours! This can be a snack or a meal for your dog, depending on how much you fill the bowl. Give it to your dog anytime they need help relaxing, or they need a calm activity to do. We have had success giving them when we leave the house (especially for dogs with minor separation anxiety), during fireworks or thunder, or even just on a busy day when we need to help our dogs take the edge off and be a little more relaxed with the chaos. The design of this bowl makes it easy to clean (huge bonus for us), more challenging for your dog (which is a good thing!), and we’ve never had a dog chew the bowl up because of its stainless steel material.
Give your dog a treasure hunt to sniff out their food using a snuffle mat like this one. If you’ve never used a snuffle mat for your dog before, try tossing a few of their favorite treats on it the first few times they use it. Then use a mixture of a few treats with some of their normal dog food. Sniffing is a great way to provide mental stimulation, and to help your dog calm down.
Use a lick mat to give your dog a relaxing treat and help them chill out a bit. Not all lick mats are created equal though. This lick mat is our favorite, because we can attach it to our pups crate to help them relax and feel comfy in their “den”. For something a little more interactive, we love this lickimat wobble bowl, to help wear them out and calm them down. For things like bathtime, or having our dogs hold still while brushing them, this lick mat with suction cups is perfect. We have a collection of all of these to use for different things, and love them all. You can use peanut butter, wet dog food, yogurt, or many other things on the lick mats. We usually freeze ours to help them last longer.
Give them something to chew! We all know that most dogs love to chew, but giving them a dedicated “chew session” to help them decompress is great for helping them stay regulated and reduce stress. We’ll list a few of our favorite chews and bones below. Every dog is different, but we’ve had a ton of success with these ones for our own dogs, and dogs we have worked with over the years.
Odor Free Bully Sticks - Our dogs are obsessed with these!
Yak Chews - A great option for dogs who might go through bully sticks too quickly.
Pork Chomps - This is one of our favorites for smaller dogs.
Benebones - For long lasting chews, this is our go to option.
Marrow Bones - More for licking, instead of chewing, we refill these and freeze them!
Have them hunt out their food with this Snoop Dog Toy. Our pitbull absolutely LOVES this thing. The large size fits just about 1 cup of food, so you can use it to feed your dogs entire meal. Just like with the snuffle mat, you might have to use a few treats at first to show your dog how it works. This toy is both interactive, and helps your dog relax by having to sniff out all the food that falls out when they bop it around. It’s soft and quiet, which we also love, so it doesn’t make a ton of noise if we are busy on a call while our dog uses this. So far, it’s held up and been very durable too! We have 6 dogs of our own and we’ve used the same one for over a year.
#3. Make sure you balance all of their activity with rest
This one seems simple… but it makes a big difference. Dogs who are stressed or anxious typically have higher cortisol levels in their body.
Did you know that it can take 2-3 days for cortisol levels to drop back down to normal after a “stressful” event?
This means that your dog can show symptoms of being stressed long after the thing that stressed them out happened. It also means.. that if your dog is experiencing stressful things on a regular basis… they may never get the chance to lower those cortisol levels, and can become “stuck” in an endless loop of anxiety.
The thing that might surprise you even more… is that this can happen with “good things” and with “bad things”. Fun, exciting, adventurous things can cause spikes of stress in your dog that leaks out in the form of stress related behaviors afterward.
If a dog is terrified of thunder or fireworks… their cortisol levels will rise and they will become highly stressed when they hear thunder or fireworks. After the thing is over, those stress hormones will be floating around in their body for a few days before they fully recover.
If a dog is super crazy over the top excited to go to dog daycare…. their cortisol levels will rise and those stress hormones will still take a few days to work out of their system and back to normal levels.
Things that are both scary… and insanely exciting…can create a stress spike.
That’s why it’s so important to provide your dog with a way to decompress and relieve stress after a high energy event, whether it be a “good” thing or a “bad” thing.
For our dogs, and dogs we are training to feel less stressed and anxious, we always provide a rest period and calming activity after the higher intensity activity, to help them recover more quickly. Most of the things listed in #2 above are great options to provide this for your dog.
Here are some examples of activities we follow with a decompression period:
A walk around the neighborhood (especially if they get excited by distractions)
After an appointment at the vet or groomer
A visit to the dog park
After a friend that they love visits (guests coming over)
After an exciting game of fetch (especially for dogs who are nuts about fetch!)
After something stressful or exciting, we like to give our dogs 15-30 minutes of decompression, followed by a “nap”. This is especially important for puppies, who need 18-20 hours of sleep per day!
An overstimulated, tired dog who is not receiving enough rest, will act more hyper, more frantic, and even more crazy! Despite what many might think. If it feels like you are exercising your dog a ton, but they still won’t calm down, this added piece of decompression and rest may be the missing piece for your pup.