If you've found your dog to be misbehaving more than normal or more-so than other dogs, there's a chance your assumption that they're just "bad" might be incorrect. Anxiety in dogs is as common as it is in humans and can come about as a response to a dog's natural instincts and their surrounding environment.

Common Causes of Dog Anxiety

Common causes of anxiety in dogs are fear, separation, and aging. Fear-related anxiety is caused by loud noises, strange people or animals, visual stimuli such as hats or umbrellas, strange places, or awkward surfaces like grass and hard wood. A dog's repeated reactions to the stimuli is what leads to chronic anxiety.

Age related anxiety is caused by the symptoms of cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CDS), a disease similar to Alzheimers. The resulting loss of memory, learning, perception, causes anxiety in the dog with this condition.

Separation Anxiety in Dogs

Separation is the most common cause of anxiety in dogs. Separation anxiety is when a dog is uncomfortable being left home alone. Dogs are social animals, so it's unnatural for them to be away from their social group (you) for long periods of time.

Common Signs of Dog Anxiety

Many of the common signs of dog anxiety can be associated with "bad behavior." Those signs include:

Aggression
Urinating or defecating in the house
Drooling
Panting
Destructive behavior
Depression
Excessive barking
Pacing
Restlessness
Repetitive or compulsive behaviors

Remember - your dog is not being bad out of spite, personality, or simply for the sake of it; they are being bad because they are anxious! So please don't punish them for misbehavior because it will only make them more anxious.

Treatments for Dog Anxiety

The most common treatments for dogs with anxiety are thunder shirts, lavender collars, Adaptil, probiotics, drugs, and behavioral treatment. We're not going to cover behavioral treatment in this blog. Please visit MSPCA for details on how you can train your dog to be less reactive to separation anxiety at home.

CBS2 New York studies the Thundershirt for multiple dogs frightened by loud noises or past traumas and finds it works wonders.

Thunder Shirts

Thunder shirts are specially designed garments that give an animal a sensation that they are being swaddled like a baby. Do they work? They're not a sure-fire success all the time nor with every pet. The news snippet below will give you a sense of how thunder shirts work.

You can find Thunder Shirts starting at 39.99 on Amazon.

Probiotics

A study presented at the 2016 veterinary nutrition conference addressed the emotional and behavioral changes in dogs receiving a probiotic supplement. 24 anxious Labrador Retrievers were fed the same balanced diet for 15 weeks; 12 dogs were given a probiotic supplement and 12 were given a placebo. Upon completion of the study, results showed that 90% of the supplemented dogs were less anxious overall; 83% had lower salivary cortisol measures and 75% had lower average heart rates.

Dr. Becker from Mercola Healthy Pets explains how to find the best pet probiotics supplements in this video.

Adaptil

Adaptil is a synthetic pheromone for dogs that is non-toxic and calms dogs who are stressed. They work for stressful situations, such as car rides, new people, separation anxiety, kennel confinement, and busy holidays.

Drugs

Drugs are a last resort option for treating anxiety in dogs. Fluoexetine, lorazopam, and alprozolone (xanax) are the most popular options. Learn more about the specifics of these options with PetMD.

Is my dog "bad" or are they just Anxious?