We tend to think of joy, fear, or sadness as emotions that are unique to humans, but science is gradually revealing to us that this statement is completely wrong. I mean yes your dog may be suffering from anxiety.
On July 7, 2012, an international group of neuroscientists gathered in the English city of Cambridge and prepared the famous Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness. In short, experts have established that it is not only our species that has a neurological basis that generates consciousness. That is, non-human animals have the ability to feel and therefore can behave intentionally.
It also refers to the ability to experience the feeling that disturbs us here: anxiety. In both dogs and humans, it is simply a way of responding to certain problematic situations. But when it exceeds a certain intensity or exceeds the ability to adapt, it becomes pathological.
Warning signs of anxiety in your dog
And how can we detect that our dog is in a state of anxiety? Various behaviors indicate their willingness to run away from feelings of anxiety, nervousness, insecurity and discomfort.
Anxiety begins when the dog expects something bad to happen. This causes the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s response to dangerous or stressful situations, as well as for the intense behavior of the animal.
When anxiety is pathological, we may find the following symptoms: persistent state of alertness, hyperactivity, excessive licking, hair loss, digestive problems, howling, tremors, moaning, excessive barking, exaggerated fear, aggressiveness, and destructive behavior, which may be exacerbated when they remain alone.
As for situations that can cause this pathological anxiety, there are also many: fear of being alone, noises such as fireworks, storms or traffic … Any failure that exceeds their ability to adapt or is often repeated can provoke it.
In many cases, these are problems caused by people not understanding their needs as a species and as an individual.
Diagnosis and treatment
Pathological anxiety sustained over time can cause diseases such as gastrointestinal disorders, an increase in the number of tumors, or changes in the immune system, to which should be added a deterioration in coexistence between species. Not to mention the sadness and frustration caused by watching a pet suffer and not knowing how to help it.
The first step to addressing this problem after diagnosis by a veterinarian is behavioral therapy by a behavioral specialist or ethologist. Only if a specific case requires it, we resort to prescribing drugs, also under the supervision of a veterinarian. This can be compared to the intervention of a psychologist and a psychiatrist in a person: if the former is an expert in understanding behavior, then the psychiatrist deals with mental illness and their pharmacological treatment.
Although each case is different, behavioral therapy should include the following tasks:
- Reduce your dog’s stress levels.
- Learn to deal with problem situations.
- Give calm resources.
- Desensitize it to anxiety precursor signals. For example, the fact that we take the keys or put on a jacket or shoes can be interpreted as a step before being left alone. We need to make him understand that this does not necessarily mean that we are going to leave.
- Assign a clear role in the family. We should do things with him to make him feel integrated, like going for walks or playing games that both the dog and caretaker enjoy.
- Provide social independence. That is, we cannot be with him all the time or solve all his problems.
If the learning process is difficult due to too high levels of anxiety or due to the special circumstances of the animal, it should be supplemented with drugs. For example, it may be convenient to go to them when the dog is anxious about being left alone, and due to the work of caregivers, he must be unaccompanied for at least eight hours. You cannot be in a constant state of suffering.
It should also be understood that, like our species, there are circumstances that cause long-term stress that leads to “state anxiety” and profiles or ways of being more inherently anxious – so-called “trait anxiety”.
The search for the causes of pathological distress and its elimination should not be devoted solely to combating the consequences with the help of drugs, but also to improving the attention we give them as sensitive, social beings and in need of appropriate activities for each person.
Source: Hiper Textual
