17 Steps to a Calm & Relaxed Dog

May 18

There are ways to help a dog who is over-aroused, stressed, worried or panicked, to calm down and relax. This post is packed with many different ideas, products, and training that will help your dog calm during fireworks, thunderstorms, and any stressful event.

1. Attitude

First and foremost, you must remain calm.

How can you expect your dog to be calm when you are anxious?

When you hear the thunder or fireworks starting, don’t anticipate problems and start worrying. Your dog will pick up on that and worry more. Whenever thunder starts, does your dog looks at you as if to say “Did you hear that? Is everything ok?” If so, ignore the thunder and share your calm with your dog. You don’t need to reassure her. Thunder is a non-event, not even worth your notice.

It may help to picture yourself as a superhero! In charge, calm, cool, and collected. Take a deep, cleansing breath and relax.

Your dog may relax quicker if you laugh out loud when the thunder starts. That silly thunder!

2. Crate

Many dogs want to “hole up” and wait for the storm to pass. If your dog wants in his crate, or in a closet, or under your bed, let him hide out. Remember to stay calm. Be there if he needs you. This may be a good time for Through A Dog’s Ear music or T-Touch. You can also play the radio softly, to help drown out the noises. Rooms without windows work the best, because your dog won’t see the flashes of light outside.

3. Physical Exercise

A well-exercised dog will be a tired dog who may sleep through the fireworks or thunderstorms.

On days when you know there will be fireworks (such as July 4th), exercise your dog. Take him on a structured walk or jog, where your dog is walking on a loose leash, not dragging you all over the place. You can also play fetch or go for a swim. Tire your dog so he doesn’t have the energy to pace and whine later that night.

4. Mental Exercise

Don’t forget to mentally exercise your dog, to tire him out as much as possible. Many people underestimate the benefits of mental exercise.

Don’t be one of those people.

You want to make your dog as tired as he can be, so he will (hopefully) sleep through the thunderstorm.

To provide mental exercise for your dog, you can give him a job to do. Having him work for his food the easiest (for us) – and the most fulfilling (for them) – job you can give your dog. Don’t use a food bowl to feed your dog. Instead, use his breakfast and dinner as training time.

You can use food-dispensing toys, such as Kong Wobbler, to have your dog work for his dinner. You can also stuff a Kong with canned dog food and freeze it, one can will fill multiple toys. Once it is frozen, give it to your dog for a yummy snack that will keep him busy for 45 minutes to an hour.

Another way your dog can work for his meals is to Incorporate a few training sessions into your day. You can teach your dog the basics, tricks, agility, anything goes. Make walks extra tiring by incorporating training into them, every few houses, have your dog sit, down, or stay.

5. DOGA (dog yoga)

Partner yoga with your dog! Combining gentle yoga with your dog, massage, and stretching, doga will help you and your dog relax and put both of you in a calm state of mind. It may take a few times before your dog catches on and relaxes. Remember to keep it slow, relaxed, and calm.

6. Body Work/TTouch

Linda Tellington-Jones created TTouch, according to www.TTouch.com:

TTouch is a method based on circular movements of the fingers and hands all over the body. The intent of the TTouch is to activate the function of the cells and awaken cellular intelligence—a little like “turning on the electric lights of the body.”

Check out www.TTouch.com for more information.

7. Body Wrap

A body wrap helps your dog remain relaxed in difficult situations. It gives your dog a sense of security and increases their confidence.

You can use an ace bandage as a body wrap for your dog. This is good if you need something now, but not good if you need something now and you are going to be away from your dog all day. Do not leave your dog wrapped while unattended.

Start with the center of the wrap at your dogs chest, below his chin. Take each side and wrap around to your dogs shoulders, cross at the shoulder blades. Take each side and wrap around to your dogs tummy, cross at the tummy. Take each side and meet above the tail, tie the ends together.

8. Thundershirt

Like the squeeze chute for cattle, and the squeeze machine for people with autism (invented by Temple Grandin), everyone feels better with a hug. Gentle pressure has a calming effect on the nervous system, which is why using pressure to relieve anxiety has been a common practice for years.

Thundershirt is an excellent treatment for most types of dog anxiety and fear issues. Once you introduce your dog to the Thundershirt, all you have to do is put it on your dog and observe the results (no training needed). You may see significant improvement for noise and crate anxiety, travel, barking and other problems quickly and easily. This is also a wonderful tool for managing excitability or hyperactivity with strangers, on the leash, or in a training environment.

Thundershirt is my first recommendation to help anxious dogs, and I have had many clients whose dog will chill out while wearing their Thundershirt. This is not the same as doggy clothes. Try the Thundershirt. The key is introducing the Thundershirt while your dog is calm, so they have a chance to relax while wearing it.

Check out www.Thundershirt.com for more information.

9. Anti-Static Dryer Sheet

Rub an anti-static dryer sheet on your dog’s fur. This will help eliminate the electrical static in the air. Do this for every storm, as soon as possible.

10. Adaptil (Dog Appeasing Pheromones)

Female dogs secrete pheromones that comfort and reassure their nursing puppies. These “appeasement” pheromones have the same calming effect on adult dogs. DAP mimics these appeasement pheromones to reduce or eliminate stress in dogs of all ages.

Available as a plug-in diffuser, spray, or collar.

Check out www.ceva-us.com for more information.

11. Essential Oils & Flower Essence

Young Living Essential Oils are an amazing, fast, and easy way to calm your dog. We only use Young Living because of their purity, and do not recommend any other essential oil brands. Some of our favorite oils for calming include: Peace & Calming, Valor, AromaEase, Chamomile, Lavender, Release, & Acceptance.

Flower essences are the diluted essences of various types of flowers and plants. Rescue Remedy Pet is a blend of five flower remedies, in an alcohol free formula. This can be used for a calming effect in stressful situations. It is available in dropper format, allowing you to easily administer it to your pet. Place directly into the mouth, add to a food or water bowl, or on a treat, or rub directly on the animal’s nose, ear, or paw.

Check out www.bachflower.com/pets.htm for more information.

12. Composure Treats

Used to calm pets that exhibit nervousness, hyperactivity, anxiety, or are responding to environmentally-induced stress. Composure is available as bite-sized chews, mini bite-sized chews, and liquid.

Check out www.vetriscience.com for more information.

13. Through A Dog’s Ear Music

Play this classical music, which is psychoacoustically designed to soothe and relax your dog.

Check out www.ThroughADogsEar.com for more information.

14. Diet

What food does your dog eat? If you feed your dog dry food (kibble), read the ingredient list. The ingredients are listed in order of the amount used. We have seen improvements just by changing the dog’s diet.

Check out www.DogFoodAdvisor.com for information about the contents of more than 1500 dry dog foods, along with ratings and reviews.

15. Counter Conditioning

By pairing something the dog fears (thunder, noises) with a something the dog enjoys (treats, play, petting) the dog will come to associate the bad thing with the good. The key is keeping the fear low and the enjoyment high.

How to Counter-Condition:

Step 1. Start with an exercised dog.

Step 2. Find a sound or video recording of a thunderstorm, or fireworks display (complete with the big bangs and shrill swirls). YouTube is a great place to search. Start the recording softly.

Step 3. As soon as it starts, its happy-fun time! Reward your dog by raining super yummy treats down on your dog, giving praise, and staying calm and happy. Do this for only a couple of minutes.

You want to use the filet mignon of dog treats, such as cooked and diced chicken or beef liver. Use something special that your dog LOVES.

If your dog is a player, not an eater, play with your dog using his favorite toy , and show him that you are having the time of your life.

Step 4. When you are done training, turn off the recording first, then quietly tell your dog that the fun is over and put away the treats or toy.

Step 5. If your dog didn’t whine, shake, or pant, and he ignored the recording, then for the next training session you can try to turn the volume up a little. If your dog does show signs of stress, turn the volume a little softer.

Do not rush this.

Work on this daily, or a couple times a day. Your dog should come to associate thunderstorms with treats and fun.

16. Thunder Party

Have a thunder party for your dog!

When the thunder starts rumbling, make a big plate of yummy treats for your dog—canned food, peanut butter, cheese cubes, etc.

You can also make this ahead of time and have it in your freezer, ready for the next storm. “Oh, it’s that silly thunder, here’s your yummy treat!” It’s happy-fun time again!

17. Spectra Therapy CANINE Wearable LASERwrap®

We have seen great results with our LaserWrap, both for physical and behavioral behaviors.

Reduces Anxiety – treatments curb nervous anxiety that some pets experience when separated from their pet owners
Improves Temperament – prolonged treatments produce a lasting calming effect, making them more receptive to instruction
Relieves Pain & Hasten Recovery – Laser therapy has been proven to effectively treat many acute and chronic conditions, and reduce recovery times from serious injury and surgery

Training Tip: If it helps your dog, give him some comforting reassurance during these stressful times. Remain calm and confident, sit with him on the floor, or call him up with you, then pet and massage him. This would be a great time for his Thundershirt, body wrap, T-Touch, or Through A Dog’s Ear music.

There are a lot of techniques, products, and ideas in this post to help your dog stay calm and relaxed. Pick the ones you think will help your dog and start with those first.

I also recommend combining these techniques. Exercise your dog, then play Through A Dog’s Ear music while you are giving him a massage. Finish up with a frozen stuffed Kong and Thundershirt. Really drive it home that this is calm time.

Victoria Warfel https://hopeservicedogs.org