Physical and mental characteristics of Stress in dogs

If your dog behaves a little unusually once, it is usually not a cause for concern. However, when this happens more often or when your dog shows really strange behaviour, it is of course different. Aberrant behaviour in dogs is often caused by feelings of stress or fear. It has been shown that dogs, like humans, are sensitive to stress. Feelings of stress are probably more common in dogs than you think. Stress not only affects a dog's mental health, but also its physical well-being. Read here how dogs can get stressed, and in this article we will discuss the physical and mental changes caused by stress.

When your dog shows abnormal mental or physical behaviour, when is this stress?

Digestive problems such as constipation, vomiting, or diarrhoea

Your dog suddenly poops in the house, suffers from diarrhoea, vomits with or without food, or is suddenly very gassy. Pooh those are all complaints that can be caused by a lot of different conditions. Complaints of the gastrointestinal tract are often very noticeable, but the cause is often more difficult to determine. This can range from a food allergy to worms to just having eaten something wrong to stress. Stress? Yes, dogs can have digestive complaints in addition to altered behaviour. A brief moment of stress will rarely manifest itself with digestive complaints, but when there is chronic stress or regularly recurring, short stressful periods, it is a different story. These persistent stress experiences can cause a variety of negative reactions, thus including digestive disorders.

Seclusion or flight behaviour

Most Dogs enjoy playing with other dogs and people. Dogs are also traditionally flight animals. This means if playing is no longer enjoyable or perhaps even unpleasant, the normal reaction will be to run away. Normally, this will mean that the dog runs from the situation and then goes back to doing its own thing. However, there are some dogs that will need just a little more time to themselves afterwards and remain aloof a little longer. This is just like with people, some people need just a bit more time for themselves than others. This is perfectly normal. It only becomes a problem when the dog starts spending too much time alone or really literally runs away in certain situations. Then it becomes problematic behaviour and can even become dangerous for the dog. For example, dogs that run outside after a loud bang from fireworks or thunderstorms and run somewhere completely in panic, without paying attention to their surroundings. Or dogs that get scared in the house and run upstairs in full panic without paying attention to the stairs. A dog that keeps isolating itself or shows uncontrolled escape behaviour can definitely have stress or anxiety problems. It is then wise to work with your vet to see what is possible with medication and behavioural training.

Decrease in appetite

Dogs suffering from stress can completely stop eating from one moment to the next. People often notice that the dog starts eating less when they go out for a sleepover, for example. Or when there are major changes at home, for example, the birth of a child or a death in the family. Dogs that feel uncomfortable will usually start eating less temporarily. When the dog stops eating, try after a while (they can generally do fine for a day without eating) if they still don't want to eat with some play or distraction. You often see during such moments of stress that the dog no longer wants to accept the nice reward. They then turn completely into their own world. Of course, it is important to make a distinction between not wanting to eat because of stress or not wanting to eat because of being sick or food that is no longer tasty.

Increased level of aggression

Dogs that come under stress more often than is good for them unfortunately also sometimes show behaviour that is highly undesirable. This is aggressive behaviour. When an animal feels threatened or stressed by a certain situation, it may choose to flee or attack. Very few dogs want to fight for fun, much more often they will choose to flee from the situation. This fleeing is not always possible and then the dog will have to choose to attack to keep the stress stimulus at bay. You see this for example in dogs that are leashed and then want to fight with peers more often than when they are off leash. You also see it at times when the dog feels cornered, for example in the corner of a room, and then starts growling and showing teeth. Did the dog show aggression during these stress moments and does this seem to have worked? Then the dog has a positive experience of aggressive behaviour and is more likely to repeat this behaviour. After all, the attack was successful because the stress stimulus was gone after attack.

Stress or other conditions, consult your vet.

If you recognise the above examples or suspect that your dog also suffers from chronic or repetitive moments of stress, it is a good idea to contact your vet. She can help distinguish between stress or other conditions as the basis of the symptoms.

In the meantime, try to create a safe stress-free environment for your dog. Rest and stress-free moments help many dogs relax again. Once the vet has ruled out physical conditions, behavioural therapy, medication or changes in daily activities such as walks in a different environment, leaving your dog home alone less, always having music on etc can be started to support dogs in the quest for a stress-free dog life.

-This is an automated translation-