Search Results for: anxiety

Anxiety in dogs and cats is an increasingly common problem that both Veterinarians and animal behaviourists are treating these days, and can significantly impact their well-being if left unaddressed. That's why understanding the signs of anxiety in dogs and cats is essential for providing them with the care and support they need. It’s been estimated that over 40% of dogs and cats are now suffering...

Dogs with anxiety can suffer from chronic stress, which decreases their quality of life and leads to many common dog behaviour problems, so understanding anxiety in dogs, its causes and treatments is critical. Anxiety traits can include noise sensitivity and phobias, separation related behaviour, commonly known as separation anxiety, fear of different surfaces and heights, a lack of impulse control, compulsive disorders, car travel anxiety...

Independence training is important at all stages of a dog’s life to help build their confidence and comfort in being left alone. As a dog behaviourist, I am seeing many owners that are having problems with their puppies and even older dogs due to anxiety and a lack of proper socialisation, or even too much and inappropriate socialisation. Unfortunately, many puppies missed out on puppy...

Anxiety in dogs is very complex topic to both understand and address and is recognised as a cause of many behaviour and physical problems. It is a major mental health issue, just as it is for us humans and is not to be dismissed as something "they will just have to get over." From fear-based aggression to Separation Related Behaviours (also commonly known as Separation...

Anxiety is VERY common in our beloved dogs yet many people miss many signs of anxiety in dogs and truly don't understand why or how it occurs. In fact, according to a recent large-scale study, up to 70% of dogs are showing signs of anxiety. Anxiety happens when your dog experiences fearful thoughts and feelings which then trigger or cause a state of physiological arousal...

Separation anxiety in dogs can be a very tough issue to deal with and, unfortunately, there is often no one simple solution to help. It is becoming even more common since the pandemic, where many dogs got used to having their family at home all the time.  Even for dogs that have not shown any pre-existing signs of anxiety, going from having someone at home...

Thunderstorm anxiety is common in many dogs, causing them to be come extremely stressed and fearful long before us humans can even hear a rumble thunder. Dogs have much an acute sense of sound and can hear far better than we do. They hear nearly twice as many frequencies than we do, so they can hear sounds much farther away and higher than we do....

When treating a dog with separation anxiety, different circumstances call for different treatments - what is applicable and acceptable for one household, may not be suitable for others. The type and intensity of the separation anxiety, the available space, household routine and the carer’s attitude are all factors that affect the decision on how to treat the problem. Although separation anxiety doesn’t have a single...

There are many ways that owners encourage bad or unwanted behaviour with their dogs without realising it, including reinforcing anxiety in their dogs as well many other common dog behaviours. Known as Inadvertent Reinforcement, this is commonly seen when an owner is trying to stop a dog from jumping up on them or barking at the back door by pushing them down or yelling out...

There’s little doubt that pets add much value to many people’s lives. By giving and receiving love; providing reasons to get up each day and to get out and exercise; and by just being there as a friend and companion, providing an antidote to the loneliness and isolation many of us feel on a regular basis. But even the most loving and caring and dedicated...