Symptoms of fear-based anxiety usually include whining, panting, drooling, pacing, shaking, and restlessness. In most cases, the anxiety passes once the trigger is no longer present, but some dogs may require a recovery period. Visits to the veterinarian, car rides, and encounters with strangers can also provoke stress. Many dogs become anxious when they hear thunder, fireworks, sirens, or construction noises. Fear-related anxiety occurs when your dog is made anxious by certain trigger sounds, visual stimuli, or situations.If your dog is experiencing vision or hearing loss, he may also become more easily startled and show signs of anxiety in unknown environments. Hypothyroidism, Graves’ disease, encephalitis, and prediabetes can all bring about anxiety in dogs that previously exhibited no symptoms. Illness-related anxiety is triggered by a health issue in your dog.A dog with rescue anxiety may exhibit signs of general anxiety as well as separation anxiety. Your rescue dog may have memories of being abandoned or suffering a traumatic event before they wound up at the shelter. Rescue anxiety affects dogs who’ve spent long periods in a shelter or rescue facility.Urinating or defecating in the house is often a symptom of separation anxiety, as is excessive barking and destructive behavior. The anxiety is usually triggered because your dog becomes bored and lonely when you’re not present. It occurs when your dog becomes upset when he’s left home alone or his primary caregiver is away for a prolonged period. Separation anxiety is an extremely common type of anxiety in dogs.Because all calming products may not help all types of anxiety, it’s important to consider what type of anxiety affects your dog before choosing a product. Like people, dogs can suffer from several different kinds of anxiety. Over-the-counter products that can help dog anxiety include dog anxiety jackets, calming collars, and calming treats.Border collies, bichon frises, German shepherds, cocker spaniels, basset hounds, and Labrador retrievers are a few of the dog breeds that are prone to anxiety. Any behavior modification program meant to relieve stress, anxiety, or fear can be nudged along by adding relaxation training. A visit to the home indicated that all that was needed was to gradually introduce the newcomer to the family cat and to keep the latter away from the crate when the dog was in it. For example, a recently acquired shelter dog immediately was placed on Clomipramine because of barking and attempts to escape from a crate that was being used for house breaking. Quite often, though, a well-structured program in systematic desensitization and counter-conditioning needs no extra help at all, especially when triggering stimuli and the consequences that maintain a given behavior are identified. Research indicates that behavioral pharmaceuticals work best when used in tandem with a learning program that involves behavior modification. Karen Overall, VMD, Ph.D., points out in Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals that anyone dispensing behavioral medicine should be able to diagnose, understand how a drug will work to alter a targeted behavior, and have a clear appreciation of a drug’s side effects or how it might interact with other medications. Some medications can have cardiac side effects, and even the widely popular fluoxetine (Prozac) can cause gastrointestinal problems and increased restlessness in certain animals. Because most drugs are metabolized through the liver and kidneys, the function of these organs must be assessed. This seems like the fastest way to solve problems, although we know from human medicine that drugs should be used judiciously. Altering how neurons communicate with each other alters how the brain reacts.Ĭertain pharmaceuticals can alter behavior. Behavior begins as the brain processes incoming stimuli. Although this takes commitment on the part of the family, the result decreases human frustration as it changes the dog’s conduct. Luckily, there are ways to modify anxious behavior. Calming treats for dogs are useful for stressed, anxious, nervous, or overly excitable dogs. They can also contain amino acids such as l-tryptophan and l-theanine, which may be synthesized (though they are naturally occurring). They usually contain natural calming ingredients, such as Valerian root, hemp, and chamomile. As the name suggests, dog calming treats are dog treats with calming properties.
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