What Does Stress Look Like in Our Dogs?
Hello, and welcome back.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the start of April - perhaps time off over Easter, new lighter evenings and hopefully drier walks with your dog/s.
While there’s many positives to be enjoyed - including extra days together if you’re here in the UK with our run of bank holidays - times of change can be stressful for our canines to navigate.
From seeing more people and dogs out on walks, to busier households during school breaks, and visitors over the festivities of long weekends… change can be tough for our dogs.
It might be that your dog finds these changes exciting - a positive form of stress - or it may be that they find them concerning, difficult to handle. As Linda shared last time, what constitutes a stress for one person may not feel like one to someone else - and it’s exactly the same for our dogs.
So how do we know if our dog is feeling stressed? Well, this will again be different for individual dogs but here’s a few common signs to look out for:
A change in body language - moving from a relaxed, loose body stance to one of tension. You may see ears pinned back, jaws tense, furrowed eyebrows, yawning, or lowered tails.
A change in sleep - a stressed dog may well fall asleep easily, but you might notice that your dog is waking more quickly and as aroused after sleep as they were before it.
A change in appetite - either eating less or more!
A change in their general mood state - you may see more pacing, barking, or hyper-vigilance. They might seem unable to rest and relax.
Some of these signs may also be related to something medical - so whenever we see signs of change behaviourally it’s important to first rule out physical concerns with your veterinarian.
But what if there’s nothing physical going on? How do we then support our dogs to navigate stress during times of change? In my next email to you, I’ll share just a few ways you can boost your dog’s mood and their optimism!
Until next time, keep watching your dog and give them some quiet time if you see signs of stress.
Caroline