Sunday, September 11, 2011

Panic Attacks in Dogs

Panic attacks are sudden, brief periods of intense fear, nervousness or anxiety. It is a natural reaction to threat, a signal to prepare our body to respond to what we perceive to be a harmful situation or an uncomfortable condition. Those of us who feel panic may show symptoms of shaking or trembling, our heart beats irregularly, we sweat and gasp for air.

Similarly, when experiencing panic attacks Dogs may react in such a way that it protects itself when they are subjected to a threatening condition or situation. It is either they fight what causes their fear, or they flee from it. Many Dogs would show signs of panic by aggresive barking or growling, and positioning themselves in a fighting stance. But in some panic attacks Dogs may flee from the cause of fear, shaking and trembling. But instead of barking, they whimper and hide. Most Dogs rarely develop an avoidance behavior, although there are some who may be affected by this frightening condition they would rarely go out of the house or from their hiding places. Case in point would be when there are firecracker explosions.

Nurturing from their owners and reassuring touches sometimes would do the trick to make dogs bounce back from their panic attacks. Sometimes, the owners have to apply exposure therapy method to their pet dogs. By regularly exposing them to the cause of their panic, in this case, firecracker festivities, then with reassurance, the dogs will learn that there is nothing to fear about firecrackers. Behavior training is also effective as it teaches the dog to react in a way that it is not disruptive to his owners or to the people around him. It will take a lot of patience and effort on the owner's part to discipline his dog but it will relieve them both of undue stress and suffering.

But just like human beings, it may be high time to seek the help of a professional animal psychotherapist when, after panic attacks dogs become a threat themselves. The dog may need some serious medical attention to determine of their attacks are caused by some other underlying causes.




After 7 years of constant anxiety and panic attacks Ryan Rivera has finally managed to overcome his anxiety problem without any help of drugs or expensive doctors. Now he is helping other people to change their life the way he did in minimum of time.

You can read more about anxiety violent thoughts on his regularly updated website.

Or take anxiety quiz to receive a report with detail information on your anxiety level, graphs and a personalized interpretation for your test scores.

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