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Dog anxiety is when your dog exhibits extreme emotional stress when you leave him alone at home. But with the right training and socialization, you can prevent this by learning how to prevent dog anxiety.
There are many ways to prevent dog anxiety, and one of which is with the help of pressure wraps such as thunder shirts.
What are thunder shirts?
A thunder shirt is a type of pressure wrap that provides a gentle, constant pressure over the dog’s body. This uses gentle hugging to calm your dog. And it has a dramatic calming effect on most dogs if they are anxious, fearful or over-excited.
This is a perfect tool to help you while you’re learning how to prevent dog anxiety.
The goal of these pressure wraps is to distribute pressure, whether moderate or deep, throughout the whole body to help relieve stress.
Thunder shirts help relieve anxiety for the following problems:
- Fear of thunder/fireworks
- Separation anxiety
- Travel anxiety
- Crate training problem
- Barking
- Hyperactivity
- Leash pulling
How to prevent dog anxiety with thunder shirts
Learning how to prevent dog anxiety requires a lot of patience, dog training and socialization. And with pressure wraps,
And the use of pressure to help relieve anxiety in humans and animals has been common practice for some time. And with pressure wraps such as the thunder shirt, it is believed that a constant pressure over the body has a calming effect on the nervous system. It is not fully understood, but it may trigger the release of calming hormones such as endorphins.
Many parents have discovered the almost magical calming effect of swaddling their babies. And wrapping a baby snugly in a blanket calms the baby. This has a similar concept with pressure wraps relieving anxiety in dogs.
Dogs with fear of thunder storms
Many dogs suffer from an irrational fear of thunder. And thunder shirts have proved to be very beneficial in treating a dog’s thunderstorm phobia.
Signs of this fear can manifest in many ways. Some of which are:
- Trembling and shaking
- Hiding in areas (such as under beds or under the furniture)
- Trying to get close to you
- Howling
- Barking
- Panting and drooling
Dogs have been known to flee in storms. They will break out of yards and run not knowing where they are going. They can destroy walls, gates, doors and furniture and fittings in their fear to escape the noise of the storm (or fireworks). During a storm, their anxiety and stress levels are very high and it is difficult to calm them down.
Conclusion
Understanding and recognizing your dog’s anxiety is the first step in preventing this condition. And knowing how to prevent dog anxiety with the right attitude, you’ll be able to help your dog live his/her best life.
