Top 5 Ways That YOU Can Help Calm Your Reactive Dog.
The Top 5 Ways that YOU Can Help Calm Your Reactive Dog.
Caring for a nervous dog demands patience and compassion. Whether it's triggered by loud noises, new environments, or separation, helping your dog find tranquillity is vital. Discover three strategies to soothe your anxious pup and create a happier, more serene atmosphere.
1. Establish a Safe Haven:
A calm and secure area ensures your dog's peace of mind. This can be achieved by designating a quiet space with familiar items, such as toys and something that carries your scent. Non-crate boundary training can aid in establishing structure in your dog's daily routine and provide a sanctuary for anxious dogs, ultimately reducing their stress levels.
2. Embrace Relaxation Activities:
Tapping into a dog's sense of smell through scent games and puzzles channels their energy in a positive direction, shifting focus from anxiety triggers. This mental stimulation promotes calmness by engaging their instincts, leading to a more content and relaxed state.
When you physically touch and speak to your dog positively, it can relax them. This is because it releases oxytocin, a hormone that makes them feel good. Additionally, it can help strengthen the bond between you and your furry friend.
Aromatherapy can work wonders in calming dogs. The gentle scents of essential oils like lavender or chamomile have a soothing effect on their senses. When diffused or applied correctly, these scents can help alleviate stress and anxiety, creating a serene atmosphere that promotes relaxation in your furry friend.
White noise is also a simple yet effective technique to calm a dog. Just as it masks unwanted sounds for humans, it creates a consistent, comforting backdrop that can drown out unsettling animal noises. Whether thunderstorms or urban commotion, white noise provides a sense of security, allowing pets to relax and find solace amidst the soothing sounds.
3. Gradual Desensitization:
Introduce triggers in small, controlled doses, combining exposure with positive reinforcement like treats, gradually helping your dog overcome their fears.
Training your dog to obey commands in moments of heightened adrenaline is a valuable skill that enhances their safety and will help desensitise the dog from disengaging with you during their moments of anxious distress. Adrenaline-fueled situations, like encounters with other dogs or unexpected noises, can trigger nervous responses.
By practising pressure-less obedience training games during these moments, you're teaching your dog to focus on your presence despite their excitement. Start with positive, high-adrenaline games that take the dog through a cycle of emotions. Ideally, we want our dog to experience moments of all-out high adrenaline, followed up with a moment of obedience and take them through a calming exercise to dissipate that adrenaline.
This shows our dog that we, as their calm, consistent leader, can take them through a broad spectrum of emotions at a moment's notice. This will hold great value for your dog and bring high levels of engagement. This style of training not only improves their behaviour, boosts their confidence, and reduces anxiety, creating a more harmonious partnership between you and your four-legged friend.
4. Raw Diet:
Switching your dog to a raw diet can yield surprising benefits beyond physical health – it can also positively impact their behaviour and temperament. Eating unprocessed meats, bones, and vegetables can reduce dog nervousness and aggression.
Firstly, a raw diet provides essential nutrients that support a balanced and stable mood. Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish and certain oils, have anti-inflammatory properties that can alleviate anxiety and promote a calmer demeanour. Additionally, the absence of artificial additives and preservatives in raw diets eliminates potential sources of behavioural disruptions, contributing to a more stable mental state.
Furthermore, chewing on raw bones and tougher meats mimics the natural behaviour of wild canids, helping to release pent-up energy and frustration. This chewing provides mental stimulation and a healthy outlet for stress, ultimately leading to a more content and less aggressive dog.
It's important to note that while a raw diet can offer behavioural benefits, individual dog responses may vary. Always bear in mind that dogs, like us humans, can have intolerances to different foods and care should be taken to mitigate stomach upset. pairing raw food with probiotic-rich foods such as live natural yoghurt can help the digestive process. When paired with proper training and a supportive environment, a raw diet can be a holistic approach to fostering a calm and well-balanced canine companion.
This advice proved extremely helpful in addressing my family's dog, Mabel's fearful reactivity. Like many dogs, Mabel has a gut biome that is not well-equipped to handle high-carbohydrate foods, typically found in most modern dog foods. This means that her digestive system cannot quickly break down these carbohydrates, resulting in a lack of nutrient absorption and an unhealthy diet. We switched her to a raw diet high in protein and healthy fats to improve Mabel's quality of life.
5. Having the Correct Approach
Your reactive dog will not benefit from more interactions with the things they initially struggle with right from the first moment. This opens the door for the reactivity to escalate into bites and puts the dog in overwhelming and unfair positions. Mainly because this is often done uncontrolled, like taking a dog with issues with other dogs to a dog park; that is a fight waiting to happen.
If, for example, you refer to dealing with a person's arachnophobia, it's essential to approach the situation with empathy. Simply exposing them to spiders regularly is not recommended for reducing their fear or treating their condition. This approach makes them more anxious and cautious, decreasing their sense of calm and well-being. It's important to consider alternative methods that are more effective and considerate of their emotions.
In many cases, this happens to reactive dogs who are expected to interact with their triggers or who are overly exposed to them in the hopes of the dog learning to deal with them. So many of my client's dogs have backgrounds of being dog park and doggy daycare dogs, much to the dismay of their well-meaning owners, It’s one of the common causes of reactivity and should be avoided to a certain degree.
Instead, spend time building a bond and honing your dog’s disengagement abilities within training classes with skilled professionals or using pressure-less positive-based games to keep your dog engaged during walks through local trails and fields.
If you're hunting for a trainer to help with your reactive dog, choosing one who steers clear of harsh or aversive techniques is essential. These methods can create fear and negative associations, worsening your dog's reactivity in the long run. Opting for a trainer who emphasises positive reinforcement and gentle training methods is often the best way to ensure a successful outcome for you and your furry friend.
Now that you have the tools ready to implement this strategy, you can assist your beloved canine companion in achieving a greater sense of contentment and tranquillity within your home environment and when venturing outside the house.
Wrights Perfect Facts!
Did you know that a dog's digestive tract is about six times the length of its body? A meal takes about 7-10 hours to pass through the body. Providing your dog with high-quality nutrition is crucial to support a healthy digestive system. Dogs have a more acidic stomach than humans, which allows them to dissolve and process things like bones. This also means food moves through their stomach faster than humans due to higher pH levels.
