Training Senior Dogs to Help Them with Environmental Changes
By the time your dog has reached the age of 6, they have become very set in their lifestyles. They know when it’s feeding time, exercise time, play time and when everybody returns home at the end of their work, or school, days. In fact, dogs thrive on knowing what will happen and when.
Minor changes can disrupt your senior dog’s schedule enough to cause anxiety. Major changes can create even worse issues such as destructive behavior. Visitors who may stay overnight or who make a lot of noise while at your home may also cause anxiety.
There several ways you can help your dog with these situations. Training and Boarding.
Training to Alleviate Stress
Training your dog isn’t just important when they’re young. It’s also helpful when your dog is a senior. Training becomes part of their daily routines; something they look forward to each day. It gives them special time with you that stimulates their bodies and mind.
A trained dog is more relaxed wherever they go and quickly adjusts to commotion around them. They have learned how to tune out distractions so they can focus on cues from their humans. This ability to tune out their surroundings reduces their reactivity to loud noises, new people, new animals or sudden changes.
Trained dogs quickly adjust to moving, having new people living with them or new pets entering their home. They understand their environment and what is expected of them. When they don’t develop anxiety, they happily participate in festivities and enjoy new visitors.
In fact, when changes occur within your household or your dog’s general environment, take some time to do training lessons with your dog. It’s a means of instantly alleviating their anxiety as it redirects them into a positive situation.
Training Games
Teaching your dog the basic commands of come, sit, down and stay are an important foundation for future brain games. Complex behavior training will make your dog very happy while also stimulating them entirely – body and mind.
Find It
Dogs love using their noses. It’s an instinctive behavior where they derive much pleasure when investigating scents. Watching them search for something will also be enjoyable for you. It’s like going on a treasure hunt.
Here is a great way to get started and progress to more challenging treasure hunts:
1. Put some food inside a food dispensing toy.
2. Show it to your dog, then hide it behind some furniture.
3. Alloy your dog to follow you there and eat his treats. As you place the toy at the base of the furniture tell your dog, “Find it.”
4. Next time, have your dog stay in one room as you hide the toy in another room. When you return to your dog tell them to “Find It.”
5. Gradually increase the challenge as your dog completes their hunt.
Ways to Increase the Challenge
You can make it more challenging for your dog to find their reward by hiding it in other rooms, outside behind bushes or trees, or under other objects that are easy for your dog to move.
These same concepts are utilized in treat puzzles. Your dog learns there’s food beneath a tile and figures out how to move the tile to reach the food. This is a great toy for dogs who are not highly mobile, or when the weather isn’t comfortable for your senior dog to be outdoors.
When Environmental Changes are Overwhelming
Senior and geriatric dogs can often become very set in their normal schedules and environments making any changes very stressful. While there are some supplements and prescription medications available that can be helpful, it is often best to remove your dog from the situation entirely, especially if the situation will be prolonged.
Holidays, birthdays, and other special events can trigger stress, causing destructive behavior that can also be dangerous to your sensitive senior dog.
Long holidays, where family gathers, there’s revelry and high activity are certainly situations in which you should consider placing your dog in a quiet boarding facility. There they can rest comfortably in a private area with little, to no, disturbance.
Boarding Facilities
There are many boarding facilities making it challenging to choose which would be best for your dog. Here is a list of items to consider:
· Spacious accommodations
· Windows for natural light
· Raised feeders and waterers
· Professional experience of proprietors
· Amenities
· Exercise opportunities
Dogs can often become stressed within a kennel environment. A high-quality facility, however, will help alleviate the stress through exercise, social time and overall attention throughout the day.
While dogs do feel safer in a closed in environment, such as a crate, it is not a place they would prefer to spend many days, or weeks. A small containment area for a long period of time will become stifling to a dog who normally has the run of your home and yard. Make sure the boarding facility has a roomy area for your dog to move around and lay down without being cramped. Your dog should also have a raised bed where you can place blankets or other bedding from home to keep familiar smells near them.
The kennel should have play areas where dogs can exercise and explore social interactions with each other. A geriatric dog may not enjoy many direct interactions with other dogs but watching other dogs playing or sniffing each other would be sufficient.
Dogs tend to relax more when exercised, so set up your dog with daily walks or other activities such as swimming, or nose work. Many high-quality facilities offer these amenities to keep their canine guests happy.
If your dog is well trained, they can more easily adjust to changes, but not always. Geriatric dogs can have cognitive dysfunction making holidays and other occasions more stressful than not. They often find a short vacation, away from all the festivities, more relaxing. Research your local kennel facilities to find the right fit. Then, everyone, including your dog, can enjoy the holidays.
References:
Cognitive dysfunction syndrome | Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
Choosing the Best Boarding Kennel for Your Dog
🐾 What to Do for Dogs with Anxiety: Top 10 Strategies - Bestie Paws Hospital
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