People are becoming more aware of all the benefits that come with having a dog these days. These cute, cuddly pets could make people’s lives better, and having one can be good for you, both physically and mentally. However, there are some situations in which keeping a dog could be hard for a person.
Suddenly, a lot of dogs may act in ways that are hard to deal with, like being too hyperactive, too aggressive, having destructive separation anxiety, or other similar problems. This can happen without any clear cause, but each of them has its reasons for acting in this way. People say things like “my dog stresses me out” for many different reasons, such as because their dog barks, greets them too much, pulls on their leash, or breaks things.
In this post, we’ll share our insights about owning a dog, the reasons why our dogs stress us out, and what we can do about it so keep reading.
Does Owning a Dog Give You Stress?
Dogs provide their owners with many advantages, including being a useful, entertaining, dependable, and wonderful friend. Although love brings quite a great deal of suffering, dog owners see their canine companions as devoted members of their families.
You might find that owning a dog comes with a lot of stressful responsibilities, such as getting used to a new dog, training it, getting to know it, making sure it gets its food and medicine on time, going to the vet for regular checkups, getting it to exercise regularly, finding a solution for dog sitting, and a lot of other things.
In addition to this, the behavior of your dog can be contributing to your feelings of unease. With anxiety, physical discomfort, or a mix of the two, every dog will experience periods of insanity at some point in their lives. It doesn’t matter whether the sky is clear or the sun is shining; it might be a dog owner’s worst nightmare.
7 Reasons Why Your Dog Keeps Stressing You Out
There are many reasons why your dog might be stressing you out but here are some of the most common ones:
Your dog’s all-day cravings
If your dog gets hungry at certain times of the day, it might eat all of its favorite food. Your refusal of giving them food might make you feel even more stressed. So it’s best to just give them food if they get hungry.
Irregularity
You have to make a feeding schedule, walk, and play with your dog. If you don’t stick to this schedule, your dog may feel anxious because of the change.
Your dog has no idea what’s going on, and it may never get used to the fact that you act strangely. If you do that to your dog, he could become angry and hard to control.
Getting bored
When you leave your dog alone at home while you go do something else, your dog may feel alone and isolated. Your dog may have destructive separation anxiety because he is bored and sad. If you are left on your own, your stress response could be set off.
Loud noises
Some dogs are easily scared or feel threatened by very loud sounds, like yelling, sirens or music played at a very high volume. Due to these things, you and your dog will both feel more stressed out.
Other dogs, and stranger people
Your dog might be scared of other animals and people, especially if he hasn’t met them before. Some dogs might be afraid of people they don’t know just because they don’t like them. If your dog doesn’t get along well with other dogs, it’s not a good idea to put him in this situation, because “dogs and dogs” fighting could happen.
Not giving too much attention
If you ignore your dog, it might act aggressively toward you to get your attention. Once you feel that your dog is acting this way, it won’t be pleasant for both of you and may cause severe stress.
Lastly, you
Like people, dogs do best when they are part of a group of other people. If you are nervous and upset, your dog will feel the same way and become nervous because of how you act. Things in your dog’s environment that seem to have nothing to do with each other at first glance could be the real cause of their bad behavior.
Now that you’re aware of why your dog stresses you out, let’s go find out what we can do about it.
8 Ways how You Can Alleviate Your Stress in Dogs
Your dog has been putting a lot of stress on you for a long time, and it’s way past time to break free. Check out the following list below and learn how you can alleviate your stress on dogs.
1. Keep a regular feeding schedule and make sure your dog gets healthy meals on time. Do give them good food that is not only healthy and good for them but also the right amount. Don’t let your dog go without food for a long time. Your dog’s behavior might get worse as a result of this.
2. Dogs might get cranky if they don’t get enough sleep, so it’s important to give them their naps. If they are really tired, they might do weird things. Prioritize putting your dog to sleep on time for his nap. Make sure Your dog is getting adequate sleep.
You can’t predict what small things will make a dog act up, but you know your dog well enough to avoid situations that might stress him out. Do not put your dog in any situation that even has a small chance of making it nervous.
If your dog is sensitive to loud sounds, for example, you shouldn’t bring them to concerts or other places with loud music. Instead, you should play music at a normal level, even in your own home.
3. If your dog isn’t used to being around other dogs, don’t force it to. If your dog doesn’t like being around other people or animals, don’t bring it to events. You will have to let go of some things to deal with your dog.
4. Toys are a great way to keep your dog’s mind active, so be sure to get him or her some. Keeping children busy with toys is another good way to lower stress levels. Your dog may not destroy your books and other things when he is teething if you give him a chewing toy.
