Dogs can lose interest in food when stressed or anxious. If your once-food-motivated dog isn't eating, pay heed. Stress and anxiety can produce a diminished or absent appetite, but so can physical complications. Before presuming stress is the cause, have your dog checked by a professional to rule out medical concerns.

Absent Or Reduced Appetite

When they are feeling frightened or stressed, your dog may pull their ears back or pin them back. This fact is not often readily apparent in breeds with floppy ears.

Pinched or pulled back ears

Nose and lip licking, yawning, and drooling are mild stress and anxiety signals. This sign needs context. A relaxed dog that drools and licks its lips when handed a nice reward is unlikely to be agitated. However, lip licking accompanied by body posture alterations, pinned-back ears, or panting suggests tension and anxiety.

Licking The Nose Or Lips, Yawning, Or Drooling

When a dog is nervous or scared, it may tuck its tail under its body and crouch down. A dog may stiffen up and turn away from the source of the stress or the imagined threat when it feels threatened.

Body Position Or Posture Changes

Dogs bark when they are nervous, excited, too hot, or out of breath from working out hard. Panting is a common way to deal with stress, and it often happens with other signs of stress and worry.

Panting

When a dog feels fear or stress, it may shiver and shake. If your dog's trembling and shaking remain after he or she has been removed from the stressful situation or has calmed down, take him or her to the vet to rule out pain or illness.

Shaking and trembling

It is natural for dogs to make noise, but when anxious or stressed, they may increase their whining, howling, and barking. Before attributing your dog's increased vocalisations to stress, you should investigate whether there could be a medical explanation.

Higher Vocalization

Stress can cause a housetrained dog to urinate and defecate indoors. Anxious dogs may urinate at home. House soiling could signal a medical problem such a urinary tract infection or faecal or urine incontinence, therefore it's crucial to have your dog checked by a professional.

Inappropriate Elimination

Sad or depressed dogs may lose their appetite. When anxious, your dog's appetite may fluctuate. Sadness and depression present differently than stress and anxiety, therefore context is key. A change in appetite can signal a medical problem.

Decreased Appetite

Changes in behaviour, such as a lack of interest in its typical activities or an increase in the amount of time spent resting, may be signs of depression in a dog. Painful conditions like osteoarthritis in senior dogs are another possible explanation.

Low Activity Levels

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