January 21, 2021
Written By: VetriScience
By Jessica Smith
Do you often feel that you’re unable to control your dog's behavior? Does your pooch suffer from stress or separation anxiety? If you’re worried about your dog's emotional wellbeing, it’s important to understand what triggers stress in their body and how to manage it.
Dogs are creatures of habit and sensitive to any changes to their daily routine. Environmental stressors can boost the hormone levels in their bodies and lead to unwanted behaviors like excessive barking, aggression, and inappropriate urination.
Here are some tips to help you manage your dog’s emotions.
1. Stick to a Daily Routine
It can be helpful to stick to a routine so your dog knows what to expect every day. Your pet isn't entirely comfortable with sudden changes in their regular schedules. Many dogs can benefit from a schedule, according to Preventive Vet. From walks to bathroom breaks and feeding times, knowing when to expect things can be a relief for nervous or anxious dogs.
2. Get Plenty of Exercise
Keeping your dog active is an important part of a healthy lifestyle! Take them out for a jog or a long walk in the park with you. Keeping your dog active with games, adventures, and fun trick training can help reduce stress levels and boost confidence. A tired dog is less likely to get into mischief.
3. Allow Them to Rest Properly
As part of a healthy lifestyle, it's critical for dogs to get plenty of sleep. Your dog needs proper rest at night and throughout the day. After a walk or game of fetch, your pup requires a little R&R to help restore their energy levels. Quiet conditions are essential for your dog, as they help to reduce stress and anxiousness.
During the winter months, your pup may need more sleep than usual.
4. Chew It Out
Keep an eye on your pet’s behavior for signs of stress. Unusual occurrences or changes to their routine can upset your pup and disturb their emotional stability. Healthy and safe chews, bones, or fillable toys are a great way to distract your pet during stressful situations. They can also keep your dog entertained when you’re busy or out of the house. Keeping your pup occupied can help reduce your pup’s stress or anxiousness.
5. Try Calming Supplements
Having trouble keeping your dog calm? Composure calming supplements can help! These tasty chews feature effective ingredients like L-theanine to support calm behavior during car rides, vet visits, thunderstorms, fireworks and other stressful occurrences. Available in bacon, peanut butter and chicken flavors, Composure is clinically shown to work within 30 minutes and last up to 4 hours.*
6. Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Part of being a pet parent is making healthy choices for your four-legged friend. From diet to lifestyle, you need to make wise choices for your pets. Like us, pets love to indulge in delicious treats once in a while, but too many isn’t good for them. If you want to keep them fit and healthy, you need to choose the best diet for their specific needs. With a healthy diet, regular exercise, and healthy treats, you can keep your pup healthy & happy for years to come!
Jessica has been closely studying the pet health industry trends for quite some time. Intrigued by the booming growth of this sector, she takes interest in penning down her views and providing quality insight on current trends in the pet health industry combined with her love of animals.
