Best Way to De-Stress Your Dog

Do you run, go to a gym, practice t’ai chi, do yoga? If so, you know that constructive use of the mind and body helps you to shed stress and tension.

Dogs become stressed, too. In fact, dogs not only become tense and edgy from things that stress them directly—being left alone, the presence of an aggressive dog, a huge upset in their rou­tine—but they also absorb our stress. When you are nervous, tense, overtired, unhappy, angry or blue, your dog will soak up those bad feelings as if he were a sponge. The best way to help him get rid of stress and feel good again is to take him to the park, where he can play with other friendly dogs or just run around and enjoy being a dog.

You can also help yourself and your dog de-stress at home, in quiet ways. One way is to brush him, sitting on the floor, perhaps with your favorite music playing or even something you like on television. Brush your dog head to tail, pulling the energy from one end to the other in long, smooth strokes. You can even alternate the brush and your hand, brush, stroke, brush, stroke, until your hand gets warm and you and your dog feel mellow. It won’t take more than ten minutes of your time.

If you feel tense or your dog feels tense and you don’t have a brush with you, do the above “brushing” with your hands, one after the other, long strokes from the top of your dog’s head right to the tip of his tail.

You can get fancier if you like, adding massage to your relaxation session. In between those long strokes down your dog’s back, stop and knead the muscles of his neck, working your fingers in small cir­cles behind each ear, down the back of the neck, then along each side of the spine.

If your dog is injured, if he’s pulled a muscle or if he has bad hips or elbows, you can gently massage the area that hurts him, bringing warmth via your hands to his injured spot. The massage will increase blood flow and help your dog to heal. But it will also calm him and make you feel kind and useful.

Work can help your dog de-stress. When stress causes him to lose his focus and feel confused, a lively session of heeling with a couple of “Sit/stays” and recalls added in, accompanied by lots of praise, can bring him back to his mellow self. This is not the time to teach something new. That adds stress. Instead, use work your dog has already mastered to remind him that you are in charge and that there is order in his world, a mes­sage that will help to diminish his stress.

The premier relaxer may be swimming, which can wash the stress right out of your dog in nearly no time. If you live near a pond, river, lake or ocean, take your dog for a swim whenever weath­er permits and you have the time. Or if, like me, you are an admitted and practicing dogaholic, you might even take your dog along on a vacation where you can swim together.

Studies have shown that the presence of a pet lowers the owner’s blood pressure and deepens respiration. Your pulse rate goes down. You stop hyperventilating. Your self-esteem becomes elevated, but not enough to make you act like a fool. And, miraculously, the very same physiological occurrences happen to your dog. Simply being together, hanging out, helps you and your dog both to shed the stress we all accumulate just by living.