6 Ways to Calm Your Dog

Do you ever feel like your dog doesn’t calm down? This can have multiple reasons.

Dogs have needs that need to be met and some dogs are just more high energy than others.
This can be breed related or even due to age. Make sure you adjust to your dogs energy level.

A dog needs to get a certain amount of rest to be able to fully function and keep his body healthy

You know what you are like when you don’t enough sleep. Eventually the man with the hammer will come.

To resolve the issue, you need to make sure all their needs are met. The five necessities when it comes to canine care are called the five freedoms.

- Freedom of hunger and thirst

- Freedom of illness

- Freedom of pain or injury

- Freedom of discomfort

- Freedom to be themselves. This includes expressing behaviors that is not always convenient for humans e.g. barking.

When these freedoms are met, you can start your way to calm your dog.

 

Walks

 

Walks are very important to our dogs. It keeps their bodies in good shape and it will also give them the time to explore the world by sniffing.  Through their nose is how dogs get their information about the world. Their pee-mail is a way for them to gather information about previous dogs. Who was there and what their state of health is. Walks don’t need to be off lead exercise where you tire the dog out to the max. A calm walk sniffing everywhere will calm their internal state of mind.

 

Enrichment

 

Besides psychical exercise, a dog also needs mental stimulation. This can be partially done by letting your dog sniff on walks, but it can also be through puzzle toys, snuffle mats or food toys. Always make sure to start easy, otherwise your dog will become stressed and this will have an opposite effect on the body. There are different toys available or you can even make your own by using empty toilet rolls with treats in. Fold the sides and let them rip them apart. Another easy way is to use a muffin tin. Put treats in the holes and cover them up with tennis balls. For starters, you can even leave some holes uncovered so your dog gets the idea.

You can make this is as easy or difficult as you want, but make sure your dog is able to complete the task and will not get stressed.

Dogs love to sniff out treats. Just scatter some treats around and they will be having fun in finding them.

 

Chewing

 

Chewing is a necessity for dogs. They love it and with providing them with something suited for them, your furniture will love that too.

Chewing is calming for dogs. It is important to not just give them a simple treat, but actually something that they can be engaged in for a while. Always watch your dog in case of choking hazards when you have dogs who gulp down their food. You don’t want to end up at the vet with a piece of chew stuck in their throat.

Another extra benefit chewing has is that it will help clean their teeth.

 

Licking

 

Licking is self-soothing for dogs and it has finally brought out more to our attention. There are now mats on the markets that you can put pate like substances on that your dog will need to lick off. Due to the structure of the mat, their tongue will also get a massage when they are licking. The mats are available at most pet shops and online. They even have developed more varieties in shapes and sizes.

 

Music

 

Music is an excellent form to calm down your dog. Not every genre is suitable though. Studies have shown that dogs respond to classical music and delta wave music. The music used for meditation purposes.  Dogs are very sensitive creatures so playing heavy metal music will not help them calm down at all. The vibrations and the sound waves all have the synchronize with the energy of their bodies. Dogs can hear a lot better than we do, so they can become overloaded by all the sounds they hear during the day. Having them listen to music that will sooth them, is an excellent idea. Most dogs will fall asleep instantly. Worth playing when you leave the house to run an errand. It will help keep your dog in a calm state.  It will also work on yourself.

 

Calm down!

 

This is for you! Dogs are sensitive to our energy and this means that if we are stressed, they can pick up on that. If you are always running around and hardly having any time for yourself to unwind, how do you think your dog will be able to? Schedule a moment for yourself to do something you enjoy and find relaxing. Engage with your dog. Take a long walk to the beach together. Take a bath, light some candles and use some calming scents to calm yourself down. Keep in mind that dogs have sensitive noses. Not all scents you like, your dog will too. Once you are less stressed, your dog will become less stressed and will settle more easily. 

 

If you want to learn more about dog behavior, check out my other blogs on https://muddydogpaws.blogspot.com/