Depression in dogs is very real. Dogs are very emotional creatures. You may notice that your dog is lethargic, not excited to go for walks, or they’re just giving you the grumpy vibe. All dogs get down once in a while, but if this behavior continues for weeks at a time, you may want to visit your vet for guidance. Fortunately there are a few things that you can do to boost your dogs mood.
Take Your Dog For Extra Walks
Dogs have a lot of pent up energy. All of that energy can cause mental stress. This stress can cause your dog become solemn. Have you ever noticed that calm energy you get after you’ve been at the gym or come back from a hike? This mental clarity is felt because you’re expending a lot of energy while you exercise and releasing stress and tension in your body. Dogs need exercise too. Taking them on a walk is a great way for them to release this energy.
Taking Them To See Doggy Friends
Most dogs love to be around other dogs. If you have a dog park nearby, bring your dog to socialize and play. If you don’t have a dog park nearby, you can setup a play date with friends that have dogs.
Spoil Them With Positive Attention
Dogs love attention. Shower them with extra affection. Make sure you show them calm positive attention. You could scratch all their favorite places. Play fetch with their favorite toy or even get down on the ground and roll around with them.
Buy Them New Toys
You can fight your dogs doldrums by buying new toys for them. We recommend only giving them one new toy at a time. Think about buying more than one toy if your budget permits it. Dogs can get bored, and sometimes they just don’t like the toy you’ve bought them.
Start A New Routine
Dog love a routine. They like knowing that when you wake up in the morning it means it’s time for a walk. Life gets in the way and breaks these routines so form a new one. One of the best mini-routines you can get into with your dog is to start giving them treats when they are behaving correctly. We let Napa out in the backyard to do his business. After about 5-10 minutes, we’ll call him to come inside. He usually comes barreling through the door at high speed. We always give him a treat for coming in the house. The first couple times we tried this Napa didn’t know that he would be receiving a treat. It didn’t take him long to figure out that if he came in when we called, there would be reward for it.
If something seems wrong with your dog. Trust your instincts and bring them to a veterinary clinic or animal hospital.
Have you tried another method to cure depression in your dog? Let us know by leaving a comment.
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I see this is over a year old, but.. my dog got seriously depressed after surgery. We got something called Nutri-plus gel from Virbac, from the vet, and it really helped! It’s prescription free!
Great info. Lucky me I discovered your blog by chance (stumbleupon). I’ve saved as a favorite for later!