When it comes to anxiety in dogs, holistic treatment is safe, natural, and can be incredibly effective!

One of my sweet spots as a vet is anxiety in dogs. Holistic treatment is my go-to, though I will use prescription medications, because some animals will definitely get better outcomes with them. However, they are NOT my first go-to.

The first thing that is important is to PREVENT anxiety, and I recommend that you do that by selecting a dog with confident, calm genetics and a low coefficient of inbreeding. And then take great care to socialise your new pup as well as you possibly can. That goes a long way towards the prevention of dog anxiety.

Treating anxiety in dogs – holistic treatment is my go-to. But I often have to help people realise just how anxious their pups are before I can truly help them. It’s a real problem that a lot of humans are blind to anxiety symptoms, or specific presentations of anxiety, in their dogs.

There are four faces or presentations of anxiety that you may see in your dogs. when understandign anxiety in dogs, holistic treatment can only work if you can recognise the problem!

Two of these faces are super-easy to spot and understand. There is the fight face. These dogs are reactive – barking, lunging, or attempting to bite or attack the thing that provokes their anxiety. And there is the flight face. These dogs try to run away from the scary things.

The others are not so obvious, and not so well understood. We have the freeze/fawn face. This can be a partial shutdown or can be misinterpreted as a dog being calm. If your dog goes still when the vet examines them, they are probably going into a freeze.

The last face is the fidget. These are the over-excited, out of control, destructive, can’t learn things at training, wild and wonderful ones. Many people think they are just happy and excited when, in reality, this is actually anxiety.

Anxiety in dogs – holistic treatment can only work when you know there is a problem that your dogs need help with. Please be aware that even very small signs of anxiety need attention and treatment ASAP! The longer you delay treatment, the worse the anxiety will become, and the harder it will be to heal.

Anxiety in dogs – holistic treatment plans can be profoundly healing – here is Dr Ed’s approach!

In nearly all anxious dogs whom I work with and heal, there are serious issues in the dynamics between dogs and humans. Most of the time, there is a leadership vacuum on the human end of the leash, with the dogs trying to fill that vacuum as best they can (which makes their anxiety worse).

One of the key things I do is teach their humans how to show up as a strong, kind leader for and with their dogs.

The next thing I do in healing anxiety in dogs, holistic treatment as a priority, is to teach their humans how to give their dogs Whole Energy Body Balance™ relaxing touch. This specialised loving, healing touch triggers a profound body-level relaxation response, and when repeated regularly, teaches your anxious pup how to relax and builds self-regulatory capacity. We usually see good reductions in anxiety symptoms after 2-4 weeks of this alone (5 minutes 1-2 times daily, and in the face of triggers).

Then I teach the humans a range of WEBB kind training games that are designed to increase self-regulation capacity, build impulse control, foster independence, and help dogs naturally respect their humans as benevolent leaders. And there is a range of natural supplements and herbs like CBD that can help a lot in healing anxiety in dogs, holistic treatment

In addition to this, I take a history, and we address any and all other health issues. A lot of anxious dogs have co-existing chronic diseases such as allergies, IBD, etc, and these need holistic support too.

All in all, anxiety in dogs, holistic treatment, is a powerful way to heal anxiety at the root cause. I have had a good number of anxious dogs who ‘nothing else has worked for’ come to me and show the greatest improvements they have seen within weeks.

And… Prescription drugs have their place and can be incredibly helpful and give the best outcomes for some anxious dogs, when given at the right dose rates, as part of a holistic treatment plan. Sometimes these drugs bring everything down a notch, so the holistic interventions work a whole lot quicker and better!

Want holistic help with your anxious dog? Pop into my services page – you can book an appointment straight away, or you can book a free meet and greet call with me to discuss your animal’s case. Click here to learn more. I have a great system for helping anxious dogs heal, naturally and holistically. We will usually need to have three sessions to begin with; sometimes, more will be needed for more chronic, difficult cases. Some dogs, only one session does the trick!

Check out my YouTube video about this topic by clicking here.

And here’s another blog about treating itchy dogs holistically.

And here’s Giddy, who had massive improvements in his anxiety with only two sessions with me!