This Study Reveals That More Than 72 Of Dogs Have Anxiety

Do you think that anxiety and fear is only human thing? This study reveals that no: more than 72% of dogs suffer from anxiety or behavior disorders.

All living things are afraid of something. Of course, the anxiety that the environment can produce is not something that exclusively affects humans: the study that we show you this time reveals that more than 72% of dogs have anxiety and other fears.

Understanding these events is important to them and to us. Knowing how to recognize the signs that the house dog may be suffering from anxiety or any form of psychological discomfort will help, first, to give it a better life and, second, to prevent all the problems derived from it.

How this study was conducted

The study was conducted in Finland, with a sample of 13,700 dogs. The way to evaluate the state of canine anxiety was through a questionnaire in which the tutors had to answer about the 7 most common symptoms of anxiety in dogs, in addition to some problematic behaviors.

Here are the results obtained by the experts:

• Sensitivity to noise is one of the most common symptoms of anxiety: fireworks were the main reason for the most common fears that triggered canine anxiety. In addition, of 36% of fears of loud noises, 26% were of fireworks.
• Specific fear is another of the most common symptoms of anxiety: the most common were neophobia, fear of other dogs and strangers, with an incidence of 11%, 17% and 15%, respectively.
• Young dogs were more prone to shredding and inappropriate stools when there was separation anxiety. They also chased their tails more and were more impulsive and nervous.
• Males tended to be more aggressive and impulsive, while females were more fearful.

• Although fear and anxiety are common to all dog breeds, they found certain trends, such as that Labradors did not tend to channel aggressiveness towards humans or that mixed breeds were more sensitive to noise.
• The fear of loud noises increases with the age of the dog:  storms, fireworks, motorcycles and others affect senior dogs more .

Why more than 72% of dogs have anxiety

One of the reasons for anxiety in dogs is usually the little attention to the appearance of these problems. It often happens that, due to ignorance or other causes, the guardian does not recognize the disorder or lets it escalate until the dog already causes serious damage or discomfort in the home.

How to recognize and prevent anxiety in a dog

You have already seen that anxiety does not know races, locations or species. As always, prevention and early detection are the best tools to avoid having to face anxiety, which is so difficult to cure once it is established in the mind.

Anxiety or fear can be suspected in a dog when it shows one or more of the following clinical and psychological signs:

• Nervousness.
• Tremors
• Muscle tension.
• Palpitations
• Motor tension.
• Apprehensive expectation.

When your dog shows any signs of the above, it is advisable to look for the source of these behaviors. Anyway, in these final lines you can read some tips for the prevention of anxiety and behavior disorders:

• Adapt the environment to the animal: it  is important to find a balance between the dog’s adaptation to a home and its own comfort. Stressors such as loud noises, unpleasant odors or harmful chemicals can be the source of many behavioral disorders in dogs.

• Know the dog: although it is not necessary to be an ethologist, it is at least advisable to know when the dog is acting out of the ordinary.
• Go to a specialist:  either because there may be a veterinary problem or because the behavior problem cannot be solved at home, a professional will always provide the necessary tools to keep the dog healthy in the psychological field.
• Establish a healthy routine for your dog:  not spending too many hours alone, always going out at the same times, good nutrition, environmental enrichment and a thousand other things that will make the environment a protective factor for the mental health of the dog.

As a conclusion, the following could be added: mental health is important for all species, not just for humans. That a study reveals that more than 72% of dogs have anxiety means that this is a pending issue. Ultimately, we need to change our perspective on dogs so that they are happy.