Need Help With Dog Anxiety?

This last week has been a high dog anxiety week with the fireworks and all. How to help with dog anxiety is a question I get a lot. And I have a deep understanding of it, which is why people choose to work with me on it.

Separation anxiety, fear aggression, fearful dog all terms that describe what more and more urban dogs seem to be suffering from these days. For the most part as a dog owner its not only heartbreaking and hard to watch but frustrating in figuring out what to do about it.

The #1 Mistake Owners Make to Try and Fix Dog Anxiety

Human nature whether women or man has a need to fix things in our lives that aren’t working and nurturing is an automatic response to seeing kids, people, and animals who are struggling with fear. The problem is when it comes to dogs we don’t know how to communicate in the same language that dogs do. Therefore many times we think we are helping dogs and we are actually making it worse.

The first response to a dog showing signs of anxiety is usually, “It’s okay.” We tell our dogs over and over in the midst of a freak out session “it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. In a very soothing voice. It’s what we want to hear if we felt that way but in the dog’s head this could easily translate into “my person is telling me to keep doing what I’m doing.”

What Do You Fear?

Think of something you have a huge fear of. It could be standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, toes an inch from the edge and looking down. It could be flying in airplanes, or swimming where you can’t touch, there are no lane lines and no edges to hold onto, it could be dealing with people you don’t know, or making the leap to leave a job you hate and do what you love. Whatever it is that you have a real fear of; you get anxiety just even thinking about… go there now.

Then imagine what happens when someone tells you, “It’s okay.”

Does that statement really help you? Does it make the fear go away?

Exactly. It may be a soothing voice but it doesn’t help one bit with what to do to get rid of the fear.

The only road to getting out of fear is practicing your action and your response. The way you respond to fear is the result of billions of internal messages (you say 50,000 things to yourself every day of your life!). It will take some time and some repetition to shift your patterns. Be patient, be persistent. You will succeed.

 

Applying the Internal Message Game to A Dog’s Anxiety

Hopefully this brief description of how people who have the ability to logic have to work themselves out of fear will help those of you with dogs who have any type of anxiety understand more clearly that a dog who has anxiety in any situation has to practice something new to do to get over it. And they have to practice over and over again.

No one really knows but the case being that people say 50,000 things to themselves everyday, there is a good chance your dog has many pictures running between those big ears every day too and our mission to help is to create pictures of actions you want to see more of.

 

What Can You Do To Help Your Dog With Anxiety?

As with people, dogs have their own reason why the anxiety exists, based on reality or not. I’m going to list the biggies here to help your dog to the trail of a more relaxed happier dog, but please feel free to book a free dog lifestyle free session with me here to find out more specifically you can do for your individual situation.

Dog Speak and Body Language

Do not say “it’s okay” when your dog freaks out! Instead give your dog a job. Redirect the focus!

Saying “It’s okay.” is only perpetuating the problem. Because dogs think and learn in pictures, when you tell your dog “it’s okay” the literal meaning is their reaction in that moment is to take the actions they are doing as “ok”.

You also need to check your own sense of anxiety. If you are feeling anxious, even if it is that your dog has triggered you into the feeling and not something around you, you need to put that in check. Your dog will pick up the feeling and again perpetuate the reaction.

Redirect. Always redirect the attention into another action. It can be to sit, come, walk on a leash, follow you from room to room and then sit at your feet in each room, or if you can coerce them into a favorite toy or treat, do it! Don’t let your dog sit and spin out on with the focus directed at anxiety.

Expecting the fear will go away with only a few practice sessions is also not realistic. So if you have a dog that needs some help from separation anxiety, fear aggression or fearful of anything, do yourself a favor and work on one of your own fears while you help your dog develop a new habit in the same way… by practicing something new over and over and over again.

Exercise

There are a few different choices in this area. This method can be very powerful since dogs sense of smell is huge. Don’t discount this one, especially when you combine it with exercise and how you are projecting language at your dog.

Pheromones and Bach Pet Rescue Remedy help calm and soothe a nervous or fearful dog. Both options are safe, but they work differently. Pheromones soothe your dog by giving them a familiar scent that works within their brains to activate the centers responsible for feeling calm and safe.

Bach Pet Rescue Remedy has more of a sedative effect. The herbs used in these dog calming remedies soothe your pet by naturally interacting with your dog’s brain to increase the output of certain brain chemicals or to very mildly sedate it.

*affiliate links (these are products I use)

Separation anxiety, anxiety about anything, fear aggression or any behavioral issue can be very frustrating. Learning to speak dog is paramount to dealing with the problem and a few session with a professional dog trainer can make a world of difference for your dog and for you.

Schedule your free Lifestyle Dog Training Strategy Session Here!

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