10 Tips on how to calm down a dog

Your dog may need calming down for many different reasons. He could be overexcited, fearful or anxious. How you go about calming your dog down depends on your own personal preferences. Hopefully these tips on how to calm down a dog will work for your pet.

There are many tried and tested ways that you can calm down your dog and most of them really do work well. Of course our initial reaction is to cuddle our dog to try and calm him down, but there are better ways in which we can handle the situation.

The methods included in this article will teach your dog that there really isn’t a need to be sacred, anxious or stressed. Of course he may be just overly excited about something – maybe he can see you getting his lead, which means you are going for a walk. To calm down your dog you need to understand whether he is anxious, scared or over excited. Once you know that, you will know how to handle the situation better.

10 Tips On How to Calm Down a Dog

1. Understand your dog’s body language

The first thing you need to understand is your dog’s body language. Is he scared, stressed or overexcited? We can often misread our dog’s body language, but it’s the key as to how we can help them calm down. All dogs react to different stimuli in different ways.

One dog may become scared and run away to hide, while another scared dog could become aggressive. Both dogs are scared, but their reactions are totally different. Some common signs of a scared dog include:

• His body being hunched
• He may look away from you or have dilated eyes
• His ears could be down or even going backwards
• He may start to whine
• He may start to shake and shiver
• His paws may become sweaty
• He may lose control of his bladder

2. Find the root cause of your dog’s behavior

Sometimes the root cause is obvious. You dog may hear fireworks or thunder- any loud noise has the potential to trigger a reaction in your dog and make him became stressed or fearful. If he is over excited, well there are many reasons for this, too. He may be so overwhelmed to see you if you’ve been out for the day, or he may know you’re taking him for a walk.

Try and understand things from your dog’s point of view, put yourself in his situation. How would you react? This will give you a better understanding about how he could be feeling.

3. Minimize the cause

Once you have found the cause of your dogs stress or over excitement, try and do all you can to reduce it. If thunder or fireworks are the cause, as soon as you hear them, turn on the television and close all the windows and doors. Closing the curtains or blinds will help as well.

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Of course this method really all depends on the cause of your dog’s distress, but whatever the reason is, try and minimize it as best you can. If your dog gets over excited because he sees his lead coming out of the drawer, then don’t bring out the leash until the very last minute.

4. Try and distract your dog

If you’ve been wondering how to calm down a dog, distracting him is a great idea! The more he is concentrating on something else, the less concerned he’ll be about what’s bothering him. Does your dog have a favorite toy that he loves playing with? If so try and distract him with that.

If you hear thunder or fireworks, turn up the television, bring out his toy and play with him until the noise has gone. Your dog may still be able to hear it, as dogs have excellent hearing, but at least it shouldn’t be bothering him as much. The key is to turn what was a stressful situation into a happy one.

When your dog hears fireworks he is obviously going to be stressed or scared, but by bringing out a toy you are turning the stressful situation into a happy one. Your dog will soon start to understand that a stressful situation could lead to a fun filled activity.

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