Have you asked yourself is my dog happy? Or, how do I make my dog happy?
Dogs seem like they are born to be happy and keeping them happy should not be a secret. However, if your dog is suffering, in pain, experiencing anxiety and bored he may have his natural born happiness derailed.
Five tips to ensure your dog is happy
In short: you can make your dog happy by providing plenty of exercise, great dog nutrition, dog supplements and support, by fending off boredom and with plenty of love and affection.
Keeping Your Dog Happy Tip #1 Plenty of Exercise with You
Granted some dogs like to lie around and enjoy life’s pleasures from a couch or bed and certainly most appreciate that at some point in their day, but the majority of dogs appreciate a little excitement and a walk each day (Even the laziest of dogs!)
Take Dozer, a Rat Terrier, and a Popular Pet. He loves a lie in with his family but patiently waits for his morning and afternoon walks with them as well even though he could go outside and chase squirrels anytime he wants by himself.
Taking the time to interact with your dog and get him some well needed exercise with you will keep him healthy and happy. Exercise in the form of a walk or learning a new sport is healthy but also great bonding time.
Not to mention that mobility is incredibly important to keeping senior dogs healthy!
Keeping Your Dog Happy Tip #2 Nutrition and Diet
There is no getting around that when you provide your dog with a balanced clean diet and take care of calorie intake the risk of obesity-related disease will be reduced and general well being and health will be advanced.
See More Dog Nutrition Articles:
What Dog Treats Not to Give Your Dog: Four Dog Treats to Avoid
Your Guide to Sardines and Answer Can My Dog Eat Sardines?
What Are the Benefits of Yucca For Dogs?
Choosing a pet food can be very hard and complicated. Susan Thixson an amazing pet food advocate has made this job easier with her wonderful content on her Truth About Pet Food site.
Nutrition and a healthy weight keep dogs happy. Weight and quality pet foods support your dogs overall wellbeing in many ways, including, help with digestive issues, reducing allergies, increasing mobility and helping with joint pain.
Check out one of Susan Thixson’s guides on pet food labels. The healthiest well supported dog is the happiest dog.
Learn more about Nutrition in an entire Chapter of Motherpuppin’ Adorable: What to do when your dog is better than everyone else’s a tongue and cheek guide to navigating life with your dog and packed with nutrition information.
Keeping Your Dog Happy Tip #3 Supplements and Support
Supporting your pet with vitamins and certain supplements as they age as we discuss in our article on managing pets with arthritis is important.
Of course, we support our pets with Calm and Relieve – Plus CBD hemp spray all of the time.
If pets have anxiety it is reduced with Calm and we discuss how important reducing anxiety is for pets happiness and health here in our article on how to manage separation anxiety for the happiest pal.
We also use Relieve Plus to fend off pain and inflammation to keep our pets happy as well as it does for pets like our senior dog Zooey as we describe here. Your dog may need additional support to maintain its health and happiness and it is important to pay attention to your pet’s cues as to what supplements your pet may need.
Your dog may need supplements that help with dog separation anxiety, dog stress, dog joint pain, skin issues like itching or dog mobility. Being in tune with your dog’s needs and providing supplements to address those needs is an important way to support your dog and keep him happy.
Some supplements we talk about in our articles include Turmeric for dogs, MSM for dogs, and Yucca for dogs.
Keeping Your Dog Happy Tip #4 Love and Affection
We love our dogs in part due to their ability to provide us with emotional support and our dog’s ability to support our mental health and make us happy . In return, our dogs need emotional support from us to stay happy and stress free.
As pack animals our dogs appreciate our love, care and attention. We may get busy and leave out certain bonding activities but our dog still waits for us to be with them and needs our love to be the happiest dog ever.
Keeping Your Dog Happy Tip #5 Fend off Boredom
Boredom typically leads to chewing and destruction which can be frustrating for you and your dogs.
A pet left at home too long may let you know by chewing a best loved shoe or just be unhappy. There are so many ways to fend off boredom here are some of our favorites:
- Teach a new trick. Check out this book by Sassafras Lowrey with so many ideas for doing tricks with your dogs.
- Start a new sport. We have compiled a list of Find fun top water sports to share with your dog or try and teach your dog something as simple as how to play Frisbee.
- Try a new game. New dog feeders like this tricky one on Chewy that are designed to have the dog search for the food to get a reward are perfect for this. Or simply lay three cups and place a treat under one and see if your pet can find it or a muffin tin filled with tennis balls.
- Check out a new dog park or beach. See our list of top dog parks in the US for some ideas and our list of beaches to top your bucket list.
- Go for a drive. If your dog enjoys the car he will love a simple drive with new sights and sounds and the wind in his face.
- If you still need ideas learn some new things dogs are capable of in our Amazing Dog Series where we discuss dogs that are scent dogs, cadaver dogs, medical detection dogs and conservation dogs saving Koalas and more. Your dog could do all of these things with proper training and time!
Conclusion
Try some of these top tips today to keep your dog happy and healthy so you can both enjoy many more milestones together. Have so me ideas? Let us know in the comments below!
Happy Dog FAQs
Your dog may show he is happy many ways including:
-Ears are relaxed and rest naturally against their head.
-Soft happy and relaxed gaze.
-Relaxed body with hair smoothly lying against body.
-Balanced energy ready for walks but can be calm as well.
Dogs have an uncanny sense of awareness. If you show love and kindness they will know that you love them very much.
You can show your dog you love which in dog world is telling him. Spending quality time bonding, trips to the park or cuddling. Dogs want and need attention due to their being pack animals so any kindness is telling them you love them.
