Every Monday, I will be sharing with you posts from my favorite canine care author Nicole N S Mackie.  She is the author of a great book entitled “Living in Harmony with Your Puppy”.  She runs a website about canine care at www.shalvaholistics.com .  Check it out!  I really enjoyed reading her book, filled with wisdom and just the right information for every canine owner.

Continued from a previous post here. 

What might cause stress:

This is a difficult question to answer, as what might course stress to one puppy may not cause stress to another. This list below is not a comprehensive list but  lists just some of the issues that may cause your puppy stress.

 Hunger, thirst
 Too hot, too cold
 Health problems, pain, skeletal
 Female in season
 New environment
 New owner, partner or baby
 lose of friend, grief
 Family conflict
 Dog/dog conflict
 Meeting strange dogs or people
 Given too many commands
 Being shouted at
 To much training, aversives used in training
 Training Centres, dog clubs, do shows, sport events
 Too much exercise, activity, agility, racing, hunting
 Not enough exercise
 Lack of shelter
 Being trapped
 Left in crate for long periods
 Lack of relationship with owners
 Being left alone for long periods
 Lack of toilet opportunity
 New home, country
 Weather, Thunder, lightening, storms, rain, wind, heat
 Fireworks
 Busy traffic, busy streets
 Too many people or animals
 Visitors, postman, window cleaner
 Visits to veterinarian, Vet nurse, therapist
 Too much noise
 Smells, air freshers, incense, oils, perfume, DAP
 Children playing, running, screaming
 Playing active games, frisbee, balls, chase, rough & tumble
 Poor diet, incorrect diet
Don’t be frightened by these lists. It may appear that everything in the puppies life may cause him stress. However only some of things listed may affect your puppy, just as only some of these things may also affect us humans. It depends on the puppy, breed and lifestyle, and it depends how you as the owner can help your puppy learn to cope with our lifetsyles.

There are many ways in which you can help your puppy to live a lifestyle that keeps your puppies stress levels down and maintained at a low level in order to help your puppy cope better with life and help avoid any health issues which may arise from a stressful lifestyle.

As your puppy develops more confidence, he will learn to cope better with life. Below is a list (not comprehensive) which may help to reduce or maintain lower stress levels as well as help with confidence building and better coping skills.

Related Articles




Leave a reply