Hi Jane,

Thanks for your question.

I’m not surprised you’re asking this question about a Dalmatian. They fall into the ‘working’ dog breeds and therefore some of them can have a propensity for being high strung and anxious. Let me first say that there are a few things you can consider for reducing anxiety. You can exercise your dog as much as possible, which can wear them out and reduce their stress. Buying a product that you can fill with a small amount of tasty treat that takes a while to get out, such as putting some peanut butter in a Kong and freezing it, will certainly engage your dog for a while and similarly wear her out. Using a pressure vest for anxiety that you wrap around her can help. I also would highly recommend that you discuss this with your veterinarian and perform some routine diagnostics to make sure there isn’t a medical issue contributing to this problem.

To answer your specific question, here is a list of natural anxiety remedies for dogs, but please check with your veterinarian before you decide to use any of these:

1. A product that uses a milk protein called casein to reduce anxiety.
2. Specific blends of flower essences have been used for people and pets to reduce anxiety.
3. There are medical diets known to reduce anxiety.
4. St John’s wort for dogs has been used to reduce anxiety.
5. There are many individual extracts known to reduce anxiety, such as ginger root, l-theanine, l-tryptophan, chamomile, gaba and passion flower for dogs.

Keep in mind that if she is experiencing a high level of anxiety, this could be causing a real reduction in her quality of life. If you believe this is happening, please speak to your veterinarian about medications that can reliably reduce anxiety. It’s ideal to accomplish this without moving on to stronger medications that may have side effects, but in some cases, it may be necessary.

I hope this helps.

Dr. Clayton Greenway