Pandemic Puppies and Beyond: Tackling Stress in a Changing World

Stress. Unfortunately, life is full of stressful moments. There’s no way around it. Hopefully, the stressors that you cross paths with are just minor inconveniences that you are able to bounce back from quickly. Now, not all stress is bad. Some stress, like the stress of having your family visit, or the stress involved with visiting Disney World, could be considered happy stress. There’s a lot to do and a lot to see, but they are things you WANT to do and once the activities get underway, the stress usually dissipates. Then, there’s negative stress. The stress of missing work due to illness, or the stress that comes with losing a loved one. This stress can weigh heavy on us and make navigating everyday life difficult. But, hopefully, you’ve learned coping mechanisms to help you deal with this kind of stress. 

So, what does ANY of this have to do with dogs? Well, quite a lot actually. Dogs experience stress, just like humans. But, coping with the stress? This is where they need our help. There are a small percentage of dogs, like humans, who act like nothing bothers them. These dogs have a high threshold of tolerance and are a dream. Most dogs, however, fall into the category of ‘needs help in the coping department’. How do dogs exhibit their stress? Every dog is different. Benign dog coping mechanisms are jumping, excessive barking, and pacing. More severe forms of coping are lunging, growling, and biting. And the things that stress dogs out vary from dog to dog. This is why it’s SO IMPORTANT to get to know your four legged companion! But more importantly, this is why it’s imperative that your lifestyle with your dog isn’t monotonous. Routine’s are great, but adding variety to your routine is a great way to build confidence in your dog, thus building positive stress coping mechanisms. The more ‘hard things’ your dog accomplishes with you, the stronger your relationship and you’ve given your dog more memories in the ‘I Did It’ department. An example of variety is something as simple as changing your walking route. You’d be surprised how conditioned dogs become to their everyday stroll. But, throw a left turn in instead of a right turn, and watch your dog’s brain start firing! New sights, new smells, new potential people and dogs to pass on the sidewalk. This sense of ‘newness’ will stress your dog out, but it’s not a bad stress. It’s the stress that comes with learning or doing something new. Dog’s love a good mental challenge and adding variety to their walk is one of the many ways you can stimulate them and enhance their ability to cope with stress.

I think a great example that showed the negative impact of not adding variety to a dog’s life, was the pandemic. For two years, dogs lived as one with their people. No visitors came to the house, their humans didn’t leave the house, and there were practically no out of the ordinary distractions happening outside. Once the pandemic was over, life for people returned back to normal. But for dogs? They lived two years more or less stress free and now all of a sudden they have to deal with a new way of life! Separation anxiety skyrocketed, stranger danger was no joke, and going to new places for some of these dogs seemed like an insurmountable feat. Whether it’s learning how to exist with the vacuum cleaner, or not following you around from room to room, or learning an array of complex tricks, there are many ways you can challenge your dog in a stressful way, in which they learn how to accomplish a task they thought they couldn’t do and at the same time, work through stress! These memories carry over to bigger moments in life and have a lasting impact on how they process their world.

On a personal note, I realized that I was not challenging my dog Daisy enough. She is a sensitive dog, and sensitive dogs tend to have a lower threshold of tolerance for stress. Meeting new people or people coming into her home or personal space are the  areas that she struggles with and can have a pretty intense opinion if I am not helping her navigate the situation appropriately. She loves her routine, and has learned to excel within its limits. Now, we are challenging ourselves to perform different tasks daily to continue to build up our stress threshold. We take extra time on our morning walk to perform sits and downs in the busier parts of our neighborhood and we are learning how to climb up and slide down my son’s jungle gym! 

Trying new things is a part of life! If we subject our dogs to a life of sameness, we are preventing them from really living life to the fullest. Think of how good it feels to accomplish a task you didn’t think you could, and the confidence it gave you to try another new endeavour. With each success, your confidence rises, and your ability to handle stress gets stronger too. So go try this method on your dog. You have nothing to lose, and SO much to gain!