Beautiful summer is upon us! Along with the sunshine, warmth, outside hikes and celebrations, come… fireworks. Remember, your four-legged friend’s hearing is four times better than yours. Loud noises like fireworks or thunder can induce anxiety,
Dr. Laurel Davis, Asheville’s Natural Veterinarian, offers Stories from a Holistic Vet, the blog of a holistic vet and “animal interpreter”. With a clinic in downtown Asheville, NC. Dr. Laurel also offers animal health, lifestyle and vaccination advice for cats, dogs and their human friends across the country.
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Chill your Canine- Soothe Firework Fears
Beautiful summer is upon us! Along with the sunshine, warmth, outside hikes and celebrations, come… fireworks. Remember, your four-legged friend’s hearing is four times better than yours. Loud noises like fireworks or thunder can induce anxiety, especially for our canine companions. If your dog (or cat!) gets crazy nervous at this time of year, here are some ideas to help them chill out and get through it.
(These tips also work for nervous animals at any time of year!)
Tips to Chill your Canine:
- Chill out. I am a big believer in the animal caretaker first chilling out himself. Take a good look at how you are behaving. What sort of energy or tone do you ‘bring to the table’? The energy we see in our life, and our dog’s life, is a good way to look in the mirror. We should embrace any anxious behavior with compassion and look inward as well.
- TRAINING!!! Does this appear emphatic??? It should! I believe working with a trainer and having a game plan is key to creating a win-win situation for your pup. Training builds self-esteem and enhances your companion’s relationship with you. Give Fido a shot at creating her own calm cosmic destiny. A trainer can help you with specific desensitization protocols. This may take some effort on your part, but it’s certainly worth the time and energy. Apply any of the listed ideas below with your amazing training.
Methods to Chill your Canine:
- TTouch or the Tellington Touch is a method based on circular movements of the fingers and hands all over the body. The intent of TTouch is to activate the function of the cells and awaken cellular intelligence- a little like “turning on the electric lights of the body.” This easily learned touch method has been successful in speeding up the healing of injuries and ailments or changing undesirable habits or behavior.
- Pranic Healing Psychotherapy “All beings have an energy field around them, often known as the aura, that looks like a luminous ball of light. The aura works as the battery of a cell phone; it keeps the body healthy and alive. Anything in life that disturbs (your furry companion), such as stress at home, fear, sadness, loneliness (strife), and frustrations, makes this luminous energy field dimmer, imbalanced, full of holes, and greyish energies. This, in the long run, appears as pain, discomfort, and physical or psychological problems. With Pranic Healing, we are able to detect the problems and imbalances in the aura and carefully remove them using a fairly simple technique that involves no touching and no drugs. Once the aura is balanced and bright, (your four-legged friend’s) physical and psychological health is guaranteed.” Pranic Healing is one of the modalities practiced at Sunvet Animal Wellness Clinic. The beauty is that it even has a healing effect over long distances.
- Massage. We all know massage and touch can calm the wild beast within. Take a course from a local masseuse, or check out a Youtube dog massage demonstration like this one.
Supplements to Chill your Canine:
- Calming supplements such as Rescue Remedy, herbal mixes, our Stress Away chews, melatonin, homeopathic mixes, CBD oil (a cannabidiol oil, minus the hallucinogenic THC compound). It is known to stop spasms, calm anxiety, and soothe animals in chronic pain.
Sunvet Animal Wellness Clinic has a variety of each of these types of supplement soothers in our Critter’s Choice store, online and in our Asheville NC clinic.
When your dog is relaxed, you can see it in his face. His eyes will be soft and rounded or possibly slightly squinted. The coloring of his eyes will be easily seen. He will hold his ears semi-erect and forward (unless he has floppy ears). His mouth will be relaxed — in fact, it may look like he’s smiling.
This is the way it should be; so be it!
Wish you all, and your animal buddies, a happy and safe 4th!
Shine on,
Dr. Laurel Davis is Asheville’s Natural Veterinarian offering phone and Skype consultations for animal lovers everywhere. Call 828-254-2221 or order an Ask Dr. Laurel™ phone or Skype session or bring your dog or cat to her downtown Asheville, NC clinic. Read more patient stories.
Get to know Dr. Laurel by reading her blog.
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