Living With an Anxious Dog During Quarantine

A client called this morning about her anxious dog.  He's 2 years old and always been nervous and reactive, particularly with sounds and strange noises.  Now that they are home together all day every day, she says he's driving her nuts and making her anxious too!  Anytime someone walks past their house, he goes ballistic, barking and running from window to window until whoever has walked by is out of his sight line.  She is also now noticing that the dishwasher and refrigerator noises seem to upset him as well.  She says she's gotten to the point now where she thinks she needs anti-anxiety medication too!

I love that she still has her sense of humor intact.  This client used to work 8-10 hour days, leaving her dog at home alone with a dog walker coming by once daily for a midday stroll since he can't do daycare (he isn't a fan of dogs he doesn't know).  She normally ran the dishwasher as she was leaving the house in the morning, so she literally had no idea that it made her dog anxious!  She'd seen him react to the refrigerator noises when she was home, on occasion, but never this much.  And the number of people walking past her house now?  She had no idea there were that many people in her neighborhood! The bottom line is this: her dog has always been anxious about these things, she just wasn't home to observe them. So, what should she do to relieve the tension?

First off, she needs to get her dog back on his schedule. Normally, he would be crated when she leaves for work and come out for his midday stroll with the dog walker.  He is crated in a back bedroom, away from the noises at the front of the house, so that's one reason he's so amped up now.  She thought she was doing her dog a favor by keeping him loose in the house since they are home all day. Now, she sees that her upending his usual routine has only exacerbated his problems.  She felt horrible; she admitted that she was keeping him out of his crate because she likes the company. I told her this doesn't have to be all or nothing, but again, getting her dog back to his normal routine is the first step.

When he isn't in his crate, she needs to have him occupied.  When he's chewing on a bone, working on his basic behaviors, or distracted by the TV or music playing, he is less agitated by what he hears outside. He will still bark, but can be quickly redirected.  Running the dishwasher while he is crated in her bedroom will easily solve that problem.  She can also move her computer back to her bedroom and work back there part of the day.  That way, they can both be in the quiet part of her house together and he can lay on the bed with her and stretch out rather than be in his crate. Finally, she has to resume that midday walk that he's used to.  She had been trying to walk him randomly at other times when she didn't see other dogs out in the neighborhood. I told her that people are walking at all times of day now, so avoiding other people walking their dogs isn't really feasible. Plus, her dog is really used to that midday walk since the dog walker has been coming and doing that his whole life!  It's fine if she wants to add a second walk during their day, but that predictable midday walk needs to resume.  I reminded her that social distancing means that people will be moving across the street from her and vice versa, so her dog's tension with unfamiliar dogs approaching him will be less of an issue. She can again use redirection to sniffing to get his attention off of other dogs and onto the whole reason he's out for the walk!

Sheltering in place is creating anxiety for a lot of people and their pets.  Cut yourself and your pets a little bit of slack.  These are uncertain times for sure.  Keeping to a schedule that includes exercise, both mental and physical, is good for everyone.  For anxious pets, keeping to their regular routines is critical for their well-being.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Westley doesn't like garbage day at all. The truck noises make him anxious.  When he is home, he will retreat to my daughter's bed, and make himself a little pillow fort to ease his own tension. This way, his anxiety doesn't create more stress for my daughter, and Westley has learned how to modulate his own anxiety without her intervention. When she is gone, Westley is in his crate with a white noise machine  and fan on to blot out some of the ambient, scary noises that are outside of their control living in a large apartment complex.