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Recognising and alleviating anxiety
 Our
canine partners usually do their best to please us humans, their owners, but always remember
that they are not machines or tools. Dogs are living breathing individuals and they, like
us, feel differently day by day. They experience emotion and they can suffer from stress just
like us. But how do you know when your dog is feeling stressed?
Stress is cumulative. It can be communicated from handler to dog, one dog to another, one human
to another, dog to handler and so on, round and round. It can become an obstacle to optimum
performance by either side of the partnership. If you have had a tough day, time spent with
your dog may be the perfect release of tension. Sometimes though it can be easy – inadvertently
- to take out your pent-up emotions and frustrations on the dog.
Our expectations when training for agility may increase stress. We expect our dogs to learn to
jump over poles. Then we sometimes shout at them when they jump the 'wrong' one. We want them
to stop on contacts except when we don’t want them to stop on contacts. No wonder the poor dogs
are confused! We take them to a venue where there may be thousands of dogs in a fever pitch of
excitement and then we leave them in a confined space for periods of time but within sound,
sight and smell of their fellows which can be a recipe for mass hysteria!
How
do you know when your dog is feeling stressed?
Dogs communicate through body language and they give off a variety of signals to
indicate their state of mind. Similarly, if they recognise that you are stressed then they are
quite capable of trying to signal you to calm down. Try to observe your dog in daily life to
learn the signals of stress that are specific to him and what has triggered the stress on any
particular occasion. We cannot totally prevent stress. Neither is it necessarily a bad thing
unless your dog's stress level exceeds the point at which it is no longer capable of paying you
attention which then, in itself, can become a source of further stress to both handler and dog.
 There
are many stress indicators to watch out for in the dog’s body language ranging from:
-
Change
of posture – hugging or dropping to the ground
-
Stretching
-
Change
of pace
-
Abnormal
tail movement
-
Shaking and trembling
-
Ceaseless
pacing or simply lack of movement
-
Shutting
down - becoming 'flat' in posture and mentality
-
Vocalisation
– squeaking, whining, barking
-
Facial
expression – squinty or shifty eyes, dilated pupils, glazed expression, showing the whites of
the eye
-
Avoidance
of eye contact
-
Excessive
panting, licking, yawning or drooling
-
Frowning,
has ears held back, corners of mouth may be held rigidly
-
Any
attention-seeking or irrational behaviours – digging, self-mutilation, persistent scratching,
sniffing, spinning, circling, hiding, destruction of environment, etc
Obviously many of these activities may be perfectly normal at the appropriate time. What we
really need to identify is 'out of context' behaviours. Once you learn your dog's triggers and
stress indicators, you may be able to address the problem before the behaviour becomes
excessive. However, there will always be situations beyond our control such as the weather
(change of atmospheric pressure), the season (associated with un-neutered animals), gunfire or
fireworks, proximity of other animals et.c when we may need to look for alternative coping
strategies.
 In the
domestic situation our dogs are no longer able to cope in the manner that nature intended. When
they detect a threat or difficulty they can no longer chose 'fight/flight/freeze' and so
tensions build up, resulting in the symptoms we identify as 'stress.' Scientists explain
adverse stress as being due to an animal’s inability to deal satisfactorily with perceived
threat through the normal fight or flight response.
In
these circumstances adrenaline and cortisol are kept at artificially high levels in the body,
resulting in an imbalance of minerals in the bloodstream, muscles and nerves. Primary amongst
these effects is the depletion of the body’s reserves of magnesium, the most important of the
minerals, involved in over 300 metabolic processes.
How
to reduce stress?
Humans may choose to take 'time out,' stop for a coffee - or something stronger -
confide in a friend, have a soak in the bath.
Dogs do not have the same freedom of choice but you can still stop the activity, give them a
break and maybe a change of scene. You could try showing the dog a few well-known canine
calming signals – a deep sigh or yawn, a big stretch. Also avoid direct eye contact and an
overbearing manner. In other words, show the dog by your own relaxed behaviour that there is
nothing to fear.
Try to keep the tone of voice low, soothing and reassuring without 'babying' or shouting or the
dog may not be convinced! Maybe even adopt a new command, one that comes to mean to the dog
that everything is ok; use it to begin with when the dog is calm and at rest then gradually
introduce the command in stressful situations to condition him into relaxation.
Finally let’s address the problem of the body’s imbalance of magnesium versus calcium. If you
have already put all the best advice into practice and your dog is still OTT and unable to
focus in training or competition, then you may wish to seek a means of supplementing his
magnesium levels.
I had never
thought of using a supplement for my dogs before until the company from which I bought an
equine product introduced a similar range for dogs. I subsequently tried their magnesium calmer
to see if it would help with firework phobia and was delighted to have my animals resting
quietly as if it were any other night.
I then wondered
if the same product would help my youngest dog who is highly sensitive to the point where
he can be difficult to train. He is now able to remain focused when working, has grown in
confidence and his speed has increased as a result. Because of the problems I have with this
dog I have become very interested in the whole subject of canine stress and hope to continue
learning more.
I
was so impressed with the results from the product that I found and have recently become a
distributor for the company!
About the author...
Sheila Szegota is a distributor of Nupafeed products for dogs and recommends
Stress-less, a unique magnesium calmer for nervous, anxious or tense working dogs available
from www.ace-canine.com
It was always
her ambition to have a dog and her favourite breed is the Border Collie. She has owned them now
for over 20 years, tried a little showing and obedience, then discovered agility. Ten years
later, she owns three BCs who all compete at agility. One of them, handled and trained by her
husband, even qualified for the Novice Final at Olympia! The dogs and the sport have given us a
shared hobby, lots of pleasure and many good friends.
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