Don’t think for one minute that your dog doesn’t have a connection with everything that goes on in your life and with the members of your family. Anxiety and stress play such an important part in not only our own lives but also in our pet’s lives. It is no wonder that high anxiety and stressful situations may sometimes result in physical medical issues.
Over the years I have had many different breeds of dogs, many of which brought with them stressful and anxious situations of their own.
We had a dog that was hit by a car and yet lived to a ripe old age. We have experienced the destructive puppy stage, the lost puppy stage, the “eat the furniture and dad’s favorite shoe” stage, and of course the difficult potty training resistance stage. We have had the emotional battle with having to put down our animals when they were not able to function properly anymore. We have even experienced the trauma of one of our dogs giving a nasty dog bite to our neighbor.
My point here is that by adopting a dog you will undoubtedly experience stress and anxiety from time to time. Just remember that our pets are not immune to trauma and anxiety either and to consider how they will react when faced with these types of stresses.
On a side note, I would gladly endure these experiences because of the pleasure that each and every one of our companion dogs has brought to our lives. Each dog has become a member of the family and deserves to be treated as such.
That is why I always stress the importance of proper nutrition for our canines by feeding a biologically appropriate raw diet (BARF diet). Feeding your dog what he is designed to eat will reduce unnecessary stress on his digestive and immune system and result in a happier and healthier dog!
