Thunder, fireworks, loud noises, groomers, veterinarians, staying home alone, encountering strangers, car rides, and unexpected events are among the many things that can cause enough stress to interfere with a dog’s health and happiness. Because so many dogs are adversely affected by stress, anxiety relief products like gummies, chews, tinctures, and other calming remedies have become an industry that in 2025 generated over $18 billion in worldwide sales. Would your dog benefit from a non-prescription anti-anxiety product?
First-Use Recommendations for Dog Anxiety Supplements
Before we look at specific anxiety supplements for dogs, it’s important to note that when using any calming supplement for the first time, you should start with less than the amount listed on the product’s label. One-half the recommended dose for your dog’s weight is often a good starting place. Responses vary, and it’s easier to gradually increase a dose than repair the damage of a too-large dose.
Give the first dose on a quiet day at home, noting the date, time, and amount given. Pay close attention to your dog’s behavior before and after the dose, including any panting, pacing, barking, or hiding, and physical symptoms such as loose stool, diarrhea, lack of coordination, agitation, or urinary accidents.
When anticipating fireworks, thunderstorms, or other predictable loud sounds, plan ahead by having a strategy in place that’s easy to follow. Don’t wait until the 4th of July to introduce your dog to a product appropriate for use with fireworks. The more familiar you, your family, and your dog are with calming products and their use, the easier it will be to help your dog stay relaxed when disruptions occur.
Unless labeled for use with puppies, canine calming products are meant for use with adult dogs. Puppies differ from mature dogs in development, metabolism, nutritional requirements, and their response to active ingredients. For the purposes of this article, puppies are defined as dogs who are still developing physically and have not yet attained their full adult size and characteristics. Consult your veterinarian before treating your puppy with any behavior-altering drug or supplement.
Melatonin for Dogs With Noise Phobias
How It Works
Despite its reputation as a sleep aid, melatonin is not a sedative. A natural hormone that regulates sleep and circadian rhythms, melatonin binds to receptors in the brain that reduce a dog’s startle responses to thunder, fireworks, gunshots, and other stimuli.
Is Melatonin Effective for Dogs?
The evidence supporting melatonin as a treatment for fear and anxiety is slim, but it helps some dogs relax, can be incorporated into a behavior training program, and remains a popular calming aid.
Availability and Dosage
Melatonin products for dogs include:
Most canine melatonin supplements contain either 3 mg or 6 mg melatonin, so it’s important to select the correct size for your pup. Check label directions for guidance by weight.
Side Effects
Offer melatonin an hour or more before expected loud sounds. Possible side effects include an upset stomach and, in case of overdoses, extreme lethargy, drowsiness, vomiting, diarrhea, an elevated heart rate, or confusion.
Behavioral training isn’t a proven cure for thunder phobia, but simple strategies for managing your dog’s reactions to loud noises and other anxiety stressors are easy to incorporate into your training schedule. Creating a safe place, like a sound-protected den in your home, and techniques like gradual desensitization can be combined with the use of calming supplements to help your dog remain relaxed or at least less affected by fireworks and other loud noises when they occur.
Medicinal Herbs for Canine Anxiety
Several herbs called nervines, which nourish and support the nervous system, are prescribed for anxiety, panic, and hysteria, including thunderstorm phobias. While some calming herbs are sold as single-ingredient products, most are combined with other ingredients in chews or treats.
Common Ingredients in Herbal Calming Supplements for Dogs
Many commercially available products contain valerian root and/or melatonin. Examples include:
- July Third, a fast‑acting, CBD‑free calming chew from Herbsmith designed for short‑term situational stress in dogs, which contains a blend of calming herbs and mood‑supporting nutrients, including chamomile, tryptophan, passionflower, thiamine monohydrate, magnesium, and valerian.
- Zesty Paws Calming Bites, which combine the herbs ashwagandha and chamomile with L-theanine and melatonin.
- NaturVet’s Calming Soft Chews, which contains chamomile, passionflower, and ginger with thiamine, L-tryptophan, and melatonin.
CBD Products for Dogs
CBD or cannabidiol has become one of the most popular ingredients in supplements designed to reduce stress and anxiety. Calming chews, drops, tablets, capsules, and powders feature CBD by itself or in combination with relaxing herbs or other ingredients. Most CBD for pet use is derived from hemp and is free from THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the primary psychoactive compound found in cannabis.
Anti-anxiety CBD products for dogs include:
- Calming Chews from ElleVet Sciences, which contains two types of CBD
- CBD Calming Chews for Dogs from Charlotte’s Web, which combines a full-spectrum hemp extract with valerian, passionflower, and chamomile
- VetCS Advanced Calming Formula, which contains three types of cannabinoids
Does CBD Work for Dogs?
Reactions to CBD products vary widely. Because of this, it’s important to start with a small dose, such as half the label recommendation, and monitor your dog’s reaction over the next four to six hours. Adjust the dose next time by gradually increasing or decreasing the amount given as needed.
L-theanine for Dogs
L-theanine, an amino acid derived from green and black tea as well as mushrooms, has been shown in some studies to reduce stress symptoms without causing drowsiness. It can be found in over-the-counter products such as:
- Solliquiin—dog chews that combine L-theanine with magnolia and philodendron extracts and whey protein.
- Calm & Confident—dog chews from VetriScience that combine L-theanine with thiamine and a colostrum-derived calming complex.
These and other products containing L-theanine are recommended for use during thunderstorms, fireworks, grooming or veterinary visits, and other stressful situations. They are often effective within 30 minutes.
Flower Essences for Anxiety
In the early 20th century, Edward Bach, an English physician and homeopath, placed small glass bowls filled with spring water and freshly picked blossoms in direct sunlight for three hours. He preserved and diluted the resulting flower essences with brandy.
Bach’s most famous preparation is a blend of five of his 38 remedies, now made by several different manufacturers and sold under the brand names Rescue Remedy, Calming Essence, and Five Flower Formula. As its names suggest, this formula is intended for all emergencies; it aims to combat shock, panic, and mental paralysis.
“Flower essences have a subtle but profound effect on pets as well as people,” says Patricia Kaminsky, co-director of the Flower Essence Society. “They work best on behavioral and health problems that have an emotional cause.”
How To Administer Flower Essences for Dogs
Drops can be massaged into the gums with a finger, placed on a small amount of bread or other soft treat, diluted with water and sprayed around the dog, squirted into the mouth, dropped onto the nose, tongue, paw pads, or any bare skin, such as inside the ear flap or on bare abdomen skin, or added to a small amount of water that the dog will drink before the essences evaporate. For best results, try all of these methods. Frequent application rather than dosage size is the key to success with this therapy.
Pheromone Products for Dog Anxiety
Pheromones are chemicals that animals and humans use to communicate through sweat, urine, semen, breast milk, and vaginal fluid. Pheromones are usually sprayed in the air or onto skin, hair, or fabric, or they are released through a diffuser that plugs into a wall outlet. Diffusers like TheraPet, ThunderEase, and Stunick CB1 run continuously while emitting an odorless vapor designed to reduce symptoms of stress and anxiety, such as indoor marking, destructive chewing, pacing, panting, and hiding.
How Effective are Pheromones for Dogs?
Some research has shown a slight reduction in reactions to thunder and other loud noises, but pheromones have not been shown to cure thunder phobias or other significant fears. Some users report improved results from combining pheromones with other treatments such as those mentioned here.
When To Contact Your Veterinarian
Calming supplements for dogs are generally considered safe, though overdoses of CBD products, melatonin supplements, and some other products might require medical attention. If your dog vomits, has diarrhea, seems uncoordinated, is excessively sleepy, or has dilated pupils soon after taking a calming supplement, call your veterinarian for advice, being ready to describe exactly how much of which product your dog consumed and what symptoms are developing.
If your dog is seriously thunder phobic, frequently experiences separation anxiety, or isn’t able to relax, your veterinarian or a canine behaviorist may have suggestions for treatment that go beyond the over-the-counter products mentioned here.
What about Zylkene and Purina Calming Care Probiotics? Also Min Chex? I have veterinarians who have suggested all three. Over the years my dogs have used these products with good results, and no side effects.
For mild, situational distress I suggest these to my dog training clients. They too have often seen good results.
Looking at the above post, was there more content after When to Contact Your Veterinarian?
Still can’t read the rest of the anti-anxiety article even though I’m signed in!