Some dogs suffer from anxiety. When a dog is anxious, this may lead to nervous pacing, whining, or destructive behavior. Here are some of the best choices for dog anxiety relief, from medications to treats, and even products your dog can wear that help them feel safe and relaxed.
If your dog suffers from anxiety due to thunderstorms, car rides, or even separation anxiety, Bach Rescue Remedy for pets can be the safe alternative you need to help calm them down. Just like Bach products for humans, Bach Rescue Remedy Pets is made with pure herbal extracts and help them clam down almost immediately. This natural remedy is alcohol free and is safe for pets of any size.
This calming dog collar is completely non-invasive and perfect for pets that don’t like to take pills. One of these pleasantly scented dog collars releases pheromones for up to 30 days. It’s a safe and effective treatment for dogs that are suffering anxiety issues, particularly those associated with transition periods like moving into a new home.
As an alternative, Chewy offers the Adaptil collar, which works in a similar way. If you find the Sentry option doesn’t work out, give that one a try.
Pro-Sense Anti-Stress Calming Tablets are made with natural ingredients, and are easy for dogs to chew. When your dog is already stressed out, the last thing you want to do is give him a pill that has to be stuffed down his throat. Instead, pick a chewable tablet. Pro-Sense Anti-Stress Calming Tablets are made with wonderful natural ingredients, including chamomile, ginger, and valerian root, as well as antioxidants to reduce effects of stress on the immune system. Made in the U.S.A. and flavored with brewer’s yeast to make them palatable.
VetriScience offers another option for a chewable dog treat that calms anxious dogs, without drowsiness. Again featuring active ingredients of L-Theanine and Colostrum Calming Complex, a combination which is common non-drowsy choice. The primary draw here is that Composure comes in three flavors – chicken liver, bacon, or peanut butter – and is also available in a flavorless liquid so you can add it to their food. Works in as little as 30 minutes and lasts as long as four hours. Once you know how your dog reacts to this treatment, it’s safe to increase the dosage to deal with acute anxiety attacks.
ThunderShirt is like a big hug for your dog. It works to help keep them feeling safe and content. ThunderShirt has worked for dogs that suffer thunderstorm anxiety and even for those that have problems with traveling anxiety. It’s easy to put on and it’s even machine washable. There are seven sizes to choose from, so you should easily be able to find one that will comfortably fit your dog.
Another strategy for easing anxiety is music, which is great because it doesn’t involve medications at all. The iCalmDog is a portable Bluetooth speaker now on its fifth version, which is based around the Creative Metallix, which has a play time of a staggering 24 hours on a charge. While you can play things from Bluetooth-enabled devices of any kind, the company also makes SD cards pre-recorded with specially-arranged piano music designed to ease your dog’s discomfort. The card that ships with this device includes one and a half hours of music, which automatically repeats at the end. You can use this in the car or leave it playing when you’re out of the house. They offer a variety of recordings, including:
These natural chews rely on Thiamine, otherwise known as vitamin B1, and a proprietary biopeptide called Colostrum Calming Complex. This is formulated from cow’s milk, to help calm your dog naturally. These are rather small soft chews which can be given to any size of dog (or cat!). Flavoring is provided by chicken liver, which should entice most pups.
It may take a combination of treatments to calm your dog, so adding this calming spray to a treat-based anxiety conditioning protocol could help. This spray is formulated from the following calming essential oils: lavender, sweet orange, vetiver, and clary sage. The beauty of this spray is that even if the smell alone doesn’t calm them at first, you’ll eventually be able to train them to react to the scent, which is the strongest sense tied to memory. Once they know to be calm after a certain input (getting a treat, for example), they can associate this smell with that feeling.
Your anxious dog may find relief easier to take if it’s in the form of a treat rather than a pill. These treats, made by Isle of Dogs, are 100% natural and utilize the calming effects of lavender and lemon balm extract to help your dog relax during thunderstorms or other times of great anxiety. Chillout dog treats are also free of gluten. Especially useful for re-training your dog to look forward to car rides.
These pills help reduce stress with none of the drowsy side effects of some anxiety medications.
It is a safe choice for anxious dogs. The active ingredient is L-Theanine, a naturally occurring amino acid found in green tea leaves. This example is the M/L size for dogs over 22 pounds. Choose the Small size for pets under 22 pounds.
HomeoPet Anxiety Relief is safe enough that it can be used not just for dogs, but also for cats, rabbits, birds, ferrets, hamsters and even pot-bellied pigs. It’s a fast acting liquid formula that contains no chemicals. Each bottle contains a minimum of 450 drops which can be administered directly into their mouths or on food.
The liquid in this combines valerian, vetiver, sweet basil and sage and is refillable. Like the spray elsewhere on this list, this diffuser option will likely work best in combination with treats or crate training. Use an essential oil diffuser like this one to create a connection to a given area of the home, such as your dog’s crate or bed.
A similar option to consider is the Adaptil diffuser, which utilizes synthetic DAP, a pheromone mother dogs release after giving birth to puppies.
This aromatherapy option combines essential oils with the calming action of being stroked. If your dog responds well to your soothing him with pets, add in these wipes that are infused with lavender, vitamin E and cucumber extract, which both work directly to calm and help your dog associate a smell with being relaxed. Again, this is most likely to be effective when combined with other treatments, but has the advantage of being pleasant to administer and inexpensive.
These are soft, duck-flavored treats that use hemp seed oil, tryptophan, and chamomile to calm your dog.
Sometimes you need your dog treats to pull double duty. Not only do you want to reward your dog, you might also want them to chill out a little bit. I have a hyper husky mix who can get a little out of control and I’ve been using these recently to relax him a bit. He likes them a lot and it seems to have done the trick.
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If your dog suffers from anxiety issues, consider our choices for the best dog anxiety medication and other products to calm them down.