7 Signs Your Dog is Stressed or Sad and Solutions

Dogs are said to be the man’s best friend. These pets are lovable, loyal, trainable, sweet, and usually protective of their owners.

As pet owners, perhaps you already have a strong connection with your dogs, no matter what types of dogs they are.

Moreover, dog breeds are not a factor for you to normally love them because if you love your pets, you will love them as you considered them to be your best buddy or companion at home. 

If you have dogs at home, then you should give them their needs and proper attention.

In this way, they will feel that they are being loved and continuously love by their dog parents.

You also need to learn how to properly take care of them, especially providing the ideal food types.

As part of taking care of your pets, proper procedures in grooming are also needed.

To exactly feel how they feel once you are there in your house, it would be better to learn the meaning of their mood swings and attitudes.

Sometimes, dogs do some unusual things because they are hungry, sad, stressed, nervous, and scared.

They also do some things which may catch your attention because they want some cuddle and attention from you. 

If you are strongly attached to your pets, you give them some extra time to feed, taking care of their needs, right?

You also explore your dogs’ different personalities and attitudes to know exactly how they feel when you are at home.

It is also crucial to know the different emotions of your pets to recognize whether they are sad or stressed.

You should learn the various signs associated with the sadness or stressfulness of your dogs.

Once you learn that your dogs are experiencing these negative emotions, you should also make some ways to properly address these concerns. 

If your dogs are stressed out, then these provide physical manifestations or symptoms, which you may sometimes misinterpret.

If you don’t have any idea about these manifestations or signs, then you may take a glimpse at the following that were listed below to say that your dogs are sad or stressed.

Furthermore, you may learn how to cope up or address your dogs’ negative emotions by simply acknowledging the useful tips below.

1. Your dogs started to have more sheds than usual – Shedding more than usual is one of the common signs of stress out in your dogs.

This problem may sometimes be triggered by some stressful changes in their environment, such as moving houses, adding a new baby to your family, adopting a new pet for your household, and many more.

If you have observed that your pets get more shedding than usual, then it would be better to bring them to the vet’s clinic for some treatment.

Your vet will advise you on what to do for your dogs. They may also recommend some products to be used while bathing to reduce the shedding.

Your vet will also recommend some things that you need to do to reduce your pets’ stress at home. 

2. Your dogs have diarrhea or sometimes constipated–If your pets have diarrhea and are experiencing constipation for a longer period, they may be suffering from gastrointestinal issues.

Sometimes, this problem is that they have eaten some foods that don’t agree with their stomach. But there are times that they have this kind of issue because they are stressed.

If your dogs are anxious, then their entire body is also negatively affected. If you notice that your dogs are experiencing constipation or diarrhea, it would be advisable if you will consult your veterinarian at once.

Your professional vet will give you some probiotics or products that could enhance their feeling.

Your vet may also determine if these physical manifestations are possible causes of stress.

If these are caused by stress, your veterinarian will recommend other ways to improve their conditions. 

3. Your dogs are now aggressive to other people and animals–Stress could be a cause of being aggressive and a sudden change of mood or behavior by your dogs.

Being aggressive is sometimes a sign of scared in animals. Your dogs need immediate treatment for them to cope or manage their fear of certain things or situations.

If you think that your dogs’ behavior is not normal than before, then consultation with your veterinarian would help.

Your vet knows how to lessen your dogs’ aggressiveness and removes fear from your dog’s mind.

Perhaps your vet will recommend some products like synthetic hormones, which are commonly designed to lessen your pets’ anxiety. 

4. Your dogs started to destroy some things in your house like shoes and furniture–If you noticed that your pets became destructive, which is not their usual behavior, they might be suffering from too much stress.

You may observe the sudden change in their behavior at home. Dogs that have high-energy sometimes redirect their bad moods and stress into destruction.

If you have extraordinarily observed this kind of behavior, you may give them more exercises and daily routines.

Help them to get rid of their anxiety problems. Try to provide them with a longer walk than their usual routines, or you can play with them until they became energetic.

If they are already done doing their daily routines or exercises, they will opt to lay down and take a rest rather than destroying your things at home. 

5. Your dogs’ body language implies that they are not happy – Dogs usually communicate with you through body language.

You will know if they are relaxed, sad, or stressed out based on their movements and behaviors.

Stressed dogs sometimes lick or scratch their nose, and their body became more alert than usual.

These are common signs of being stressed out. You can help them reduce their stress by giving them more space.

In some instances, you also need to give more attention to them by cuddling and hugging them every time you are just at your home.

In this way, they can eventually feel that they are not alone, reducing loneliness and stress. 

6. Your dogs have no interest in engaging with activities, and they only want to sleep more than usual – It would not be a good sign if your dogs started to sleep more than the usual times.

Dogs are fond of doing hyperactive activities, which makes them livelier.

Suppose your dogs don’t have an interest in engaging in activities, and they would usually like to take a nap.

In that case, there’s a possibility that they are suffering from conditions like sickness, dehydration, or injured.

However, if your pets don’t suffer from any of those problems, they might suffer from sadness, trauma, or stress.

It would be advisable to consult your veterinarian to have a checkup on your dogs.

If there are no major problems other than stress or trauma, you will be advised by your vet to perform such activities to capture their interest.

In this way, you will help your dogs to reduce their stress and sadness and bring back their liveliness at home.

7. Your dogs started to evade contact–You may notice this behavior when your dogs are very affectionate and loving.

When there’s a sudden change in their moods and behavior, then there might be a problem with your pets.

They started to avoid eye-to-eye contact with you whenever you want to talk to them.

It would be better to give them more space and let them handle their stress.

Once they already coped with this emotion, then the time comes that they will eventually get back on their normal behaviors and attitudes.

You may try to speak to them gently and offer some treats for them to become more comfortable with you. 

Other Things to Do in Reducing Stress and Making Your Dogs Happy All the Time

If you already know the different signs of dogs’ stress and loneliness, it’s now time to properly and effectively address these concerns.

But how can you help your dogs reduce their stress and make them livelier again at home?

If you want to see your dogs happier than ever, then you may refer to the following tips and considerations below.

You may also do these things to alleviate their suffering from stress, sadness, or negative emotions while at home. 

• Always perform regular routines with your dogs. Doing similar routines every day would help your pets become happier, livelier, and free from stress.

If you always do morning walks, you should not skip this routine because this is one way to make them active.

They also feel secured and safe once you gave them the proper attention that they need. 

• Avoid some crowded places or situations which make your dogs stressed. Some dogs don’t want to stay in crowded places because they feel scared and stressed out.

If you think that your dogs are not fond of these places, don’t let them come to these areas to trigger their negative emotions and behaviors. 

• Provide your dogs with a comfortable place where they can sleep, eat, and relax.

This is one thing you can do to help your dog get rid of their stress and make them happy all the time.

If they are comfortable and happy with their environment, then they will not manifest such negative emotions and behaviors to other animals and anyone. 

• Provide your dogs with lots of exercises. High-energy dogs need a lot of daily routines and exercises than those with the other dog breeds.

Giving exercises to your dogs may also depend on the dog types that you have at home.

If your dogs are fond of moving around to become active, then much better if you will give them regular walking or playing with them in your yard.

In this way, you can help them maintain their good mood and active response to every situation.

If you give them the attention that they need, they will always become happy and dynamic.

These things are the most common things you can do for your dogs to alleviate their suffering from stress and sadness.

However, the best thing that you can do is to give them more time than usual times.

As much as possible, cuddle them and hug them once you come back home from your work.

Then, provide them some treats once you ask for some commands or requests to them.

Your dogs greatly appreciate these simple things since they are also attached to their dog parents. 

Reference:-

• 28 Signs Your Dog Is Stressed or Anxious (and What to Do About It)
• 10 Signs Your Dog is Stressed
• How To Tell If Your Dog Is Stressed