Anxiety in dogs

My dog is the light of my life. I’ve had him since the day he was born, and almost a year and a half later, I love watching him grow.

I’m not going to lie, though, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Finnegan makes me want to tear my hair out 9 times out of 10. He gets into things, he doesn’t listen, he harasses his sisters to no end. I used to always just say, “oh, it’s because he’s a high energy dog, he just needs to be doing something.” However, as a vet tech, I’ve come to the realization that it’s not necessarily just high energy. Finnegan is a high anxiety dog, with his biggest source of anxiety being separation.

Finnegan is the happiest when is cuddling with me. Since I’ve had him since he was born, I’m a source of comfort for him. I’m the biggest constant in his life, and he always wants to be around me. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. Working around his anxiety while working 2 jobs is a full time job in itself, but I like to think we’re doing a good job at it. And working in a vet clinic, I realized that high anxiety dogs are a lot more common than one would think, so I decided to write up a little bit about how Finnegan and my family make it work.

As I mentioned, Finnegan’s biggest source of anxiety is separation. Ben and I both work full time jobs, and I work a part time job, so Finnegan is alone more often than I (or he) would like. We’ve tried to keep him out of his crate when we’re gone so he can get more exercise, but he started getting destructive to the point that it was dangerous to his health. Finn is crated anytime we’re away for a long period of time, and it’s shown to be the safest thing for him. I think it may help with his anxiety, too, because being in his safe space while he’s alone gives him some comfort. We have the peace of mind knowing that he’s not getting into anything, and Finn has the peace of mind of being able to cuddle up in a spot that is just his own. The idea of being enclosed also gives him the sense of being cuddled, and that helps him stay calm when he doesn’t have his person at home with him.

Another really important thing we do to help with Finn’s anxiety is offer him praise when he does the right thing. Because of his anxiety, one of the biggest rewards we can give him for portraying actions and responses we like is love and praise. When he’s being an especially good dog, we let him on the couch to snuggle, or we let him sleep in the bed with us. He’s highly food motivated, too, so redirecting his anxiety to training with treats helps calm him down a lot, too. Instead of punishing the bad behavior (which can make the anxiety worse), we try to redirect it to behaviors we want to see in him. Sometimes it doesn’t work (let’s be real here), but when it does, it’s crazy to see the difference. It shows us that Finn really is a good dog, he just gets confused or worked up quickly sometimes and doesn’t know how to respond to it.

Finn also had a lot of toys around the house. He’s always got something to chew on, and giving him strong toys are a good way to distract him. His favorite toys are his marrow bones that I feel with frozen snacks, and having that can distract him from himself for hours. Instead of harassing either us or his fur siblings, Finn focuses on the toy and getting the most of the snack that he can. I guess it’s another way of just redirecting his attention, but it redirects him mentally instead of physically, and that’s a big key to helping dogs with their anxiety. Eventually I also plan on getting him a snuffle mat that I can his treats in, and mental games like are some of the best ways to help an anxious dog overcome their anxiety.

When all else failed, we did decide to put Finnegan on an anti-anxiety supplement. Right now, he gets Purina Calming Care supplement with his dinner every night. It took a long time to make a difference, but it definitely helps calm him down. I admittedly don’t know the science behind it, but I can tell a difference when we forget a night of his supplement. We also were putting CBD oil (just a couple drops) on his food every night, and that helped wonders! We’ve since run out, and I haven’t gone out to get him more yet, but the first week without it was one of our worse weeks yet. He ate a brand new retainer and a plethora of other things during that week, which is what prompted us to crate him again when we weren’t home. On particularly stressful or high anxiety days, Finnegan also gets trazadone, which is a prescription mild sedative. Finn gets especially anxious with noises and bad weather, so he gets his trazadone whenever those are happening.

Overall, learning how to live with a high anxiety dog has been stressful. I want to make sure Finnegan is living his best quality of life while not diminishing our quality of life. Some days are tough, and I want to throw him outside, but then he gets some love, and he’s a completely different dog. The most important thing to help your high anxiety dog is to understand their language. Do what you can to minimize their anxiety, and speak their language whenever you can. Find out what means the most to them, and build on that. I found out that affection meant the most to Finnegan, and working off of that has helped us help his anxiety so much. Whatever you do, don’t give up on them. They need you, and even if you don’t know it, you need them just as much, if not more.