Symptoms and Causes of Anxiety in Dogs

It is not uncommon that dogs also experience anxiety bouts like human beings. If you have a pet dog, it is essential to know about dog anxiety symptoms and the reasons of the same. Dogs normally express their anxiety in various ways, like subtle ones include shaking or panting or excessive barking. If these symptoms occur in the absence of owners or when there is a thunderstorm, then it indicates that the dog may be suffering anxiety.

symptoms and causes of anxiety in dogsListed below are some symptoms of dog anxiety and the reasons:

Hiding and Seeking Comfort

Some dogs show the symptom of hiding away from owners and other pets when they experience anxiety. Some other dogs show the opposite symptom of seeking more attention and affection as part of anxiety.

Shaking, Panting and Excessive Licking

Panting under otherwise normal situations or shaking too much could be some signs of anxiety or fear in dogs. Anxious pet dogs may have a compulsive licking tendency or chewing their fur.

Excessive Barking and Howling

Due to any loud noise if the dog starts barking or howling and can’t be stopped or calmed easily, it could be due to anxiety. Some dogs under these conditions show aggression as well, like they suddenly growl, snap or express other indications of aggression.

Hyperactive and Destruction

While some dogs appear hyperactive due to anxiety, some others show destructive tendency towards your furniture or other things.

Panic Attacks

Dogs that suffer from fear or anxiety may experience panic attacks, which may include any of the above symptoms or a combination of them.

Reasons for Anxiety

If your dog is not socialised well right from a very young age, it may show anxiety symptoms under any new situation. Hence it is paramount that you need to introduce your pet to a wide array of diverse experiences and to make it interact with a lot of other people as well as other dogs. Besides, some specific breads of dogs are seen to be more prone to anxiety symptoms, like the shelties, collies and German shepherds.

Some severe symptoms of anxiety in dogs like ruining objects or hyper activity may lead to self-injury. Especially when a dog is separated from its owners suddenly, it may show some unexpected symptoms of fear and anxiety. Hence it is significant that owners need to be vigilant about these symptoms in their pet dogs, so that they can be trained and treated to be normal.

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