Most dogs will experience stress or anxiety at some point, just like us. Stress occurs on a spectrum from mild through to moderate and extreme. It can impact both health and behavior—especially if the stress becomes chronic—and it can have a negative effect on a dog’s quality of life. But knowing the signs that indicate a dog is stressed, identifying stress triggers, and understanding how to help relieve the stress can help reduce its impact on your dog. In this article, we’ll take a look at the signs a dog is a stressed, common causes of canine stress, and what you can do to help relieve it.
Signs Your Dog is Stressed
Stress can be difficult to spot sometimes, especially when the signs are subtle. However, once you know what to look for, you’ll get better at detecting dog stress symptoms. Dogs often show both physical and behavioral signs of stress and anxiety. Physical signs of dog stress include:
- Drooling
- Sweaty paws
- Loose stools or vomiting
- Shaking
- Panting when there isn’t another identifiable reason (such as temperature or recent exercise)
- Lack of appetite
- Dilated pupils
- Whale eye
- Yawning when not tired
- Feeling unwell or in pain
Behavioral signs of stress in a dog may include:
- Licking lips
- Restlessness
- Lifting a paw
- Low body posture
- Tail tucked or held low
- Hiding or moving away
- Hypervigilance
- Whining, barking, or growling
- Aggression or reactivity
Common Causes of Stress in Dogs
Stress and anxiety are normal responses to challenging situations. However, it’s important we recognize when our dog is feeling stressed and help them to calm down to avoid chronic stress. While there are many different causes of stress in dogs, some common examples include:
- Car travel
- Vet visits
- Going to the groomer
- Staying in a boarding kennel
- Being left home alone (separation)
- Unfamiliar people
- Young children
- Seeing other dogs during a walk
- Loud noises (e.g. thunder or fireworks)
- Inadequate early socialization and habituation
It’s important to understand that not all dogs will find the above situations stressful or anxiety provoking. Indeed, many dogs love car rides and some even enjoy going to the vet. Whether a dog will feel stressed in a given situation or in response to a specific stimuli depends on a number of factors. These include their past experiences, early socialization, genetic makeup, their physical and emotional health, and the current environment.
For example, a dog who has had very limited life experience with car travel except to go to vet appointments is much more likely to fear car travel as an adult. This is because of a lack of positive associations and experiences with riding in the car. Compare this to a dog who was gradually and well socialized to the car as a young puppy, given treats in the car, and taken for regular short car rides to the park and family or friends homes as well as the vet. This dog is much more likely to enjoy car rides due to their past frequent exposure, positive experiences, and positive association with car travel.
How To Help Your Dog Feel Calmer
You can help relieve stress in your dog by identifying their stress triggers, managing the environment to avoid triggers where possible, and implementing training and behavior modification practices to help your dog feel calm and more relaxed in situations they find stressful.
Positive reinforcement, systematic desensitization, and counter-conditioning are fundamental in the effective treatment of stress in dogs (Lukianenko et. al., 2025). These methods, when applied correctly, help to change a dog’s underlying emotional response to their stress trigger from a negative association to a neutral or positive one.
Let’s use a dog who is stressed at the vet as an example. This is how we might implement positive reinforcement, systematic desensitization, and counter-conditioning to help ease their stress:
Positive Reinforcement
Reward your dog for calm and compliant behavior whenever they’re at the vet. Practice handling at home (in a calm environment) that mimics a vet exam and reward your dog with high value treats.
Systematic Desensitization
The aim of systematic desensitization is very gradual exposure to a fear or stress-provoking situation, progressing from low intensity to higher intensity as your dog succeeds at the previous level. In this context, you want to gradually expose your dog to the clinic environment starting at a level your dog tolerates well. This might be the parking lot outside the clinic or inside in the waiting room. Work on building a positive association at this level using counter-condition (see below). Once your dog is comfortable at this level, gradually increase the intensity (move to the next step) and continue to build a positive association. Only move through the stages (increase the intensity) if your dog is coping well at the previous level. If your dog shows signs of stress, go back to the previous stage they did well with and continue from there.
Counter-Conditioning
Pair the vet clinic with high value treats to help change your dog’s underlying emotion from a negative association to a positive one. This can be done as you approach the clinic, when you enter the waiting room, while you’re waiting to see the vet, when you weigh your dog, and when you’re in the consult room. The more you pair all aspects of the vet clinic environment and veterinary exam with lots of high value treats and other things your dog values (e.g. attention, play, or pats), the more positive the association will be. The aim is to tip the balance in favor of positive experiences outweighing any negative experiences.
When To Seek Professional Help
If your dog is experiencing chronic stress or their stress is negatively impacting their quality of life, it’s time to seek professional help. A Veterinary Behaviorist or Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist are good places to start for up-to-date and accurate advice.
A check up with the vet is also important to help identify and treat, or to rule out, whether the dog is in pain or has a health issue which may be contributing to elevated levels of stress or anxiety.
Many clinics now offer fear free, stress free, or low stress options to help pets who find vet visits stressful. Adaptations to the environment, patient interactions, and owner education about how to prepare pets for their visit help make visits calmer for everyone (Main, 2022).
References
Lukianenko, K., Poroshinska, O., Kozii, N., Shmayun, S., Piddubnyak, O., Bilyk, B., & Koziy, V. (2025). Integrative approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of canine post-traumatic stress disorder. Regulatory Mechanisms in Biosystems, 16(4), e25220-e25220.
Main, K. (2022). Canine stress in the veterinary environment. Companion Animal, 27(11), 2-6.
