How to help my dog with anxiety?

B

BBH

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 April 2007
Messages
9,357
Visit site
I took in a rescue dog a few months ago and he was an anxious sole but settled well.

Last night I was up the whole night with him . It was the first night we have had severe winter weather , high winds and lashing rain against the windows and he spent the whole night pacing , panting and awake .

I put the Tv on to have noise other than the weather and am planning on taking him for a good walk later as it's still wild out there to try and desensitise him . Fireworks are going to be a nightmare as they drag on two weeks around here with divali aswell.

I'm going to see my vet to see if I can get some kind of mild sedative but don't. really like resorting to medicines .

Has anyone else experienced similar ? x
 
We've got two very nervous rescues. probably not much help, but The thing that helped them most was one of our existing dogs, eho was a supremely confident dog. Unfortunately we just lost the confident dog, but the other teo seem fine now. One has had 18 months with him, the other four years, so hopefully they foubd their feet.

My little dog hates fireworks, but always runs to me for a cuddle and an ear massage seems to help. She has got better every year. Making her a den out of cushions next to me seemed to help in the early years. We do live a good mile out of the village, so dont get the crazy firework noise that more urban dogs must experience.

Sorry that was a long waffling post. I think your dog eill grow in confidence with time. You could try an adaptil plug in thing, see if that helps.
 
Good idea to go to the vets NOW.....we're only a month away from firework season and you may need to experiment before finding what suits your dog. I would medicate now, get through the firework season and then focus on training. That's not to say that training won't help now - it will, but is unlikely to give you the complete answer given the amount of time before 5th November.

Things to try: zylkene, adaptil (collar & plug ins), valerian, thunder shirt, carb laden dinners when expecting fireworks - so, cooked pasta or such like. Build the dog a den/safe place....away from windows.....could be in the cupboard under the stairs, make it cosy, line with a duvet. Good idea to turn the TV on or have music on loud to mask noises. A large meaty bone is useful as chewing is a relaxing activity and produces serotonin.

As suggested above, a confident calm dog may help if you have a friend with such an animal that can be guaranteed to be relaxed in your house as opposed to in his usual environment. You don't want to have another dog that kicks off or takes the lead from your anxious one otherwise you will have two panicking.

Buy a copy of 'crash, bang, wallop' and start playing the CD very very quietly whilst he is eating or engaging in play, or some other activity that he enjoys.

Out of interest, did the dog come from abroad? I ask as his reaction to rain on the window does seem very extreme for an adult dog brought up in this country. Just wondering if it's the first time he has experienced such weather.

Good luck.
 
I have a hyper, hysterical and anxious dog who at the moment won't even go out of the gate. I'm going to try a Vetpro stress and anxiety product which has all natural ingredients. Small dog is using their urinary tract function product with great success. No bladder infections for weeks!
www.vetpro.co.uk
 
  • Like
Reactions: BBH
gunnergundog said:
Good idea to go to the vets NOW.....we're only a month away from firework season and you may need to experiment before finding what suits your dog. I would medicate now, get through the firework season and then focus on training. That's not to say that training won't help now - it will, but is unlikely to give you the complete answer given the amount of time before 5th November.

Things to try: zylkene, adaptil (collar & plug ins), valerian, thunder shirt, carb laden dinners when expecting fireworks - so, cooked pasta or such like. Build the dog a den/safe place....away from windows.....could be in the cupboard under the stairs, make it cosy, line with a duvet. Good idea to turn the TV on or have music on loud to mask noises. A large meaty bone is useful as chewing is a relaxing activity and produces serotonin.

As suggested above, a confident calm dog may help if you have a friend with such an animal that can be guaranteed to be relaxed in your house as opposed to in his usual environment. You don't want to have another dog that kicks off or takes the lead from your anxious one otherwise you will have two panicking.

Buy a copy of 'crash, bang, wallop' and start playing the CD very very quietly whilst he is eating or engaging in play, or some other activity that he enjoys.

Out of interest, did the dog come from abroad? I ask as his reaction to rain on the window does seem very extreme for an adult dog brought up in this country. Just wondering if it's the first time he has experienced such weather.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thankyou for your post and advice, no he didn't come from abroad he was bred and adopted here . He did come from a big city though and maybe a lot of buildings masked the wind noise . Tbh he hasn't seen or experienced very much but outside is very confident . His nemesis seems to be loud noise of any description.
 
Honey08 said:
We've got two very nervous rescues. probably not much help, but The thing that helped them most was one of our existing dogs, eho was a supremely confident dog. Unfortunately we just lost the confident dog, but the other teo seem fine now. One has had 18 months with him, the other four years, so hopefully they foubd their feet.

My little dog hates fireworks, but always runs to me for a cuddle and an ear massage seems to help. She has got better every year. Making her a den out of cushions next to me seemed to help in the early years. We do live a good mile out of the village, so dont get the crazy firework noise that more urban dogs must experience.

Sorry that was a long waffling post. I think your dog eill grow in confidence with time. You could try an adaptil plug in thing, see if that helps.
Click to expand...

Thankyou I will try the plug it can't hurt . I have been wondering wether a second dog would help, this is the first time in 20yrs I've only had the one.
 
my old lurcher was awful in noisy situations, storms, fireworks etc and i found zylkene worked well for her. it stopped her pacing and panting and she did lay down on her bed and just looked fed up. i used to check the weather and if anything like a storm was expected i would give her tablets well before the start, once the storm had started it was too late because she was too worked up for them to take effect. i also tried a thundershirt as had seen good reports but it made no difference to her. i just tried to ignore her, i think if you comfort it makes them worse...
 
Would second a strong dose of meds to break the back of it before you start training.
Also to limit his space to somewhere small and dark, with inoffensive background noise if possible. Whilst I don't 'comfort' an anxious dog, I do try to act 'jolly hockey sticks'. The trick is to not make them feel like they are correct to be scared, and also to try not to worry yourself...it's not enough to pretend, they know, and they take their cues from us.
 
Trazadone is apparently a very good drug to take the edge off. One of mine became storm phobic after a bad summer of storms. I try not to coddle her but let her sit near me if she needs to. Fireworks she runs around barking at them so I try and be home on July 4 and New Year's Eve and day.
 
Thankyou all, I have ordered an Aptimal ? Collar and we'll see if that takes the edge off. It's funny because a war film came on yesterday with gunfire , explosions etc and he's not bothered in the slightest the issue seems to be noises coming from outside . I've booked a vets app aswell x
 
BBH said:
Out of interest do you ignore the behaviour or try and comfort the dog ?
Click to expand...

Good question - if you comfort the dog may see that as reinforcing the behaviour. Like saying "Good boy" to a horse who is spooking at something. Learning to cope with stuff is important, as long as it doesn't reach a really stressy stage
 
  • Like
Reactions: BBH
The latest research that I have been taught during courses and seminars suggest that comforting the dog whilst remaining calm yourself is the best way to support them.
Only if you are stressed out and anxious will the dog respond in a more negative way.
Some dogs respond very well to a covered crate with lots on soft bedding, the soft bedding absorbs a fair amount of vibration from loud noises and bangs, a radio playing all the time in the area (not justice scary stuff is happening), with my last lurcher who was terrified of fireworks this crate was next to the chair I sat in in the evenings, some dogs prefer it in a quiet corner, something tasty to chew (I used a stuffed Kong), some dogs prefer to see you from the crate others like to be completely enclosed. Start using the crate now as somewhere to settle when you are settled, give all food in it and allow the dog in and out at will, when the dog is happy to relax and sleep in in you can start shutting the door.
Tryptophan may be worth giving but you would need to discuss that with your vet, adapter plug ins and or collars work for some and also thunder shirts.
Good luck, also be aware another dog may pick up on this dogs anxiety and become bad rather than helping this one improve.
 
JillA said:
Where is that research please?
Click to expand...
From what I have read showing sympathy and cuddles only reinforces the dogs fear that their is something to be afraid of..Showing you are not afraid and go about your activities as normal is the best way to normalize behaviour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top