March is Pet Anxiety Month so I though the topic of this months blog can be showing you products and services that can help when you have an anxious dog.

When Bracken joined our family as an 8 week old puppy I never thought she would be an anxious dog, however as she grew older we noticed that she does have a natural fearful nature. Whilst we are able to help her feel braver, such as the first time she saw the washing machine in action, there are still elements of her life that she can find a bit scary.

Other dogs may be reactive due to their fears and this is why Sarah Jones created My Anxious Dog. My Anxious Dog has products designed in yellow to highlight needs of the dog wearing the item. Sarah however realised that many people didn’t realise what a dog in yellow meant. She therefore founded the Dogs in Yellow national day which is on 20^th March to raise awareness of dogs wearing yellow. You can find out more details on Dogs in Yellow here.

At Handmade by Hayley B I have created a range of yellow warning bandanas to help give owners confidence when they are out on a walk – check out our range here. 

I have also made bespoke products such as lead slips to assist with warning other dog owners. I also do not make any other products in predominantly yellow colouring as I want to show support for the dogs in yellow movement.

Fireworks can be a big source of anxiety in dogs and because fireworks can come at different times of the year and different durations they can be difficult to plan for. There are a lot of tools you can use to help with your dogs anxiety relating to fireworks such as music (Teiko Drums is a popular one in our house), clothing such as thunder shirt wraps and covering their ears to help muffle the noise – such as using one of our Doggy Snoods.

Did you know that Sniffing can reduce anxiety in your dog? By giving them something to do, they do not think about the thing that was making them anxious. Sniffing has so many benefits for dogs such as calming them, reducing their anxiety levels, slowing down fast eaters, burn off mental energy (which can be helpful if you are unable to exercise due to injury or even due to the fireworks in your area). This is why I have a range of Sniffer Enrichment toys in our shop. Our Sniffer Enrichment Balls are designed to move with your dog, which means they can be used in a small area such as a crate or a larger area such as a living room. Unlike mats, our balls are tightly bound to hold the kibble or treats and your dog will need to use their nose to get the treats out.

Launching in April 2023 we have our range of Sniffer Shapes, starting with the Triangle Treatster, the Heart-felt-Treatster and the Circle Treatster, these are also designed to hold small kibble or treats, can be looped and tied into the side of a crate and are less mobile that the sniffer enrichment ball, this makes them great for dogs on restricted movement. If you’d like to learn more about our enrichment range please give us a follow on our social media pages where we will be sharing teasers and information on our enrichment range!

I hope this blog post has shared some positive resources and tools available to the anxious dog in your life.