Canine Self-Care
How do you prepare yourself to do unpleasant tasks? Before my appointment to have a tooth filling replaced, I made a plan to mitigate my stressors. I dressed in comfy clothes. I took some calming over-the-counter nutraceuticals. I packed two pairs of earphones (what if one pair stopped working?) and downloaded a Can I Pet Your Dog podcast. I appreciated the podcast’s humor drowning out the sound of the drill. All of these activities helped me cope with an unpleasant, albeit necessary, procedure.
Is your dog on the shy and nervous side of the shy-bold continuum? How does stress affect your dog? Does your dog have a self-care routine? Stress is cumulative and can decrease resilience. Picture an empty bucket. When your dog barks at a squirrel outside of the window, that stress goes into the bucket. When your dog barks at the letter carrier, that stress fills the bucket on top of the squirrel stress. When your dog barks at the sound of the air brakes on a bus, that stress fills the bucket on top of the letter carrier stress. When these stressors fill the bucket by stacking on top of one another, it’s called “trigger stacking.” When a dog is experiencing trigger stacking, he is more likely to quickly react and overreact, causing the bucket to overflow. After this happens, it typically takes a longer time for him to return to his behavior baseline.
Stress happens. But, there are things we can do to mitigate our dogs’ stressors and hopefully improve their resilience.
Give them a room without a view. Use vinyl window cling film to cover parts of the window your dog can see through. This window film will still let light through, but make the windows opaque. Use landscaping to block your dog’s view. The bushes in front of our home help block our dog’s view. Rearrange furniture to avoid giving your dog a premium lookout spot.
Listen up! Oftentimes, we don’t notice everyday noises in our neighborhood. That doesn’t mean that our dogs don’t notice these noises. Attenuate noise by playing calming music or talk radio. Through a Dog’s Ear * is music that has been rearranged to encourage dogs to relax. It can be downloaded, played on Spotify, or played by your smart speaker. You can also play anti-stress shows on TV such as Woofering Heights narrated by David Tennant. I found Woofering Heights especially relaxing. Need to block sound in a pinch? Put your exhaust fan on high. If you live in an apartment, this can be especially useful to block hallway noise.
That’s a wrap! If your dog enjoys burrowing under covers or pressing his body against you, he may enjoy a TTouch wrap or Thundershirt.* These can have the same relaxing effect as weighted blankets for people. If you don’t have a wrap or Thundershirt, try putting a tee shirt on your dog. Cinch it up tightly, tying a knot at your dog’s back, just before his waist. Leave him wrapped for about twenty minutes. Does he seem to relax? If so, this compression is an effective stress mitigator.
Scents and scentsability. Try spraying Chill Pill onto a bandana and tying that around your dog’s neck. (Do not leave the bandana tied around your dog’s neck when he is unattended.) You can also spray it on his bed or in a room. This scent may help your dog relax. It helps me cope with traffic! You can also try an Adaptil Dog Appeasing Pheromone collar.* This collar has the synthetic pheromones from nursing dogs and may help some dogs relax.
We hope these suggestions are useful strategies for creating a canine self care plan. Feel free to ask your dog’s veterinarian if these stress mitigators are appropriate for your dog. Need more advanced behavior help? Make an appointment with a Veterinary Behaviorist. Looking to bolster your dog’s confidence? Check out Finding Your Brave, a group class to improve canine confidence this January 2020!
*The Through a Dog’s Ear, Thundershirt, and Adaptil DAP collar links are from our Amazon Affiliate links. If these items are purchased through these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. We've recommended these products prior to becoming an Amazon Associate. We are not sponsored by any products.
Colleague Jen Boyd-Morin’s living room window.