The list includes the following but is not limited to:
-Loud noises such as: vacuum cleaner, loud music/tv can cause a dog to stress out
because the loud noise can be threatening to them. Fear can cause stress.
-Kids. Picture a child running around on the grass,arms swinging and screaming even,
moving around in circles. A dog sees shapes, so the dog will see something moving
rapidly and in circles and associate it with prey or a predator. Accompanied by the
noises the child makes it can scare the dog and cause him to stress out and even lash
out at the child instinctively.
-Cars passing by the yard. Much like the child situation, cars can resemble predators or prey. Not being able to fully ‘chase’ or defend itself against this strange object the dog
can become frustrated and stressed out by every car passing by his yard.
-House guests are people whom the dog does not know, entering the house, new and
strange smells and they might even try to approach the dog in a way that he is not used
to or does not like which can cause stress.
-The gardener always walking around with some tool changing the shape the dog sees
him as, and always involved in new movements while using the tools. This can be scary
changes to a dog.
-Moving furniture around. Because dogs see only shapes, if we move a room’s furniture,
they can become confused as to where these “shapes” are now that they were used to.
This confusion can become stress.
-Changes in every day routine. With covid most people worked from home and their
dogs got used to them not leaving, now with the restrictions being lifted, dogs suffer from
separation anxiety which is stressful for them because they got so used to having their
owners around all the time that when that owner just ‘disappeared’ again for long hours
at a time, it caused confusion, disruption in routine and cause stress.
- new arrival/departure of a family member. The dog sees his family as his ‘pack’ and
whenever one of his ‘pack’ members go away they get stressed. The same with a baby
arriving in the family, new noises and smells and routines the dog isn’t used to.
References:
www.mypetsies.com (Oct 6,2017) “What causes stress in dogs and how to ease it”
24 Sept 2020
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