Essential Oils: Helping De-stress Dogs and Humans

Dog anxiety is no joke. Dogs can exhibit anxious behavior over what humans think are the “silliest” things. When we first adopted Bayla, our Rhodesian Ridgeback / Shepherd/ Lab mix, she would shake uncontrollably whenever she saw a white panel van. Since, we didn’t know any of her “back story”, other than she was rescued as a stray, we could only imagine the reasons why she became so upset when she saw white trucks. Bayla also would be scared of certain noises, other dogs that approached her without warning and so on and so on.

Her fears soon abated with much expertise from various dog trainers and our beloved dog babysitter who takes her to be socialized with her other “charges” in what we refer to as Doggy Camp. But, from time to time their remains residual anxiousness and stress.

Was there something else we could do to help her be calmer during stressful situations?

Not long ago, I had a series of guests to visit for a birthday celebration. Our Bayla can be a bit “over the top” when fun humans arrive and in typical “lab” fashion, wants to be the life of the party. One of our guests was wearing a lavender scent that I later found out was via Young Living Essential Oils. As Bayla cuddled with our friend, DL, who also rubbed this lavender scent on her, we observed that our “party pup”became calmer and calmer. What was happening!?!

Kayla after being subjected to special scents for calming at her Vet appointment

I decided to do some investigation in to the connection between essential oils and pet behavior. Little did I know that there are volumes on the subject. Here are some of the more notable articles about the how scented oils can help calm a dog, alleviate pain or de-stress your furry family members.

Note: I saw several cautions about keeping these oils out of the hands of children for safety reasons!

Essential Oils for Canine Behavior by Dr. Anthony

Dog Aromatherapy

Plus this post on Facebook:

Dr. Mary Hess and Essential Oils for Pets

A common theme among many of the articles was that chamomile, peppermint and lavender seemed to be the most talked about oils for dogs. That didn’t surprise me, especially from what I saw with DL and the lavender effect on Bayla. Even today during a veterinary visit at the Country Hills Animal Clinic, Bayla was subjected to aromatherapy via a program known as Fear Free. Different scents were used to calm her down in a place that she typically would associate with a bit of poking and prodding. Bravo to the vets and staff who used the Fear Free protocol that consisted of various pheromones and scents. Bayla was “pudding in their hands” and loved her visit!

What if the human in the family is anxious or stressed? Well, apparently oils are good for us, too! I started to really look around at the places that I frequent for any signs that the “scented oil” business was “trending”.

First and foremost, the Young Living Essential Oil and Aromatherapy company (YL) is selling their bottles of precious therapeutic and fun oils like “hotcakes”. Catchy names for their oils, like THIEVES – makes this writer want to learn more. Ah… cloves, cinnamon, lemon, etc. comprise the chemistry behind Thieves. For me this concoction sounded like the makings of a great Bundt cake … until I read about the addition of eucalyptus. Scratch the cake and chime the bubble bath! Ahhhhh

Also, I found out these interesting facts: YL has no synthetics, no fillers, no toxins it in. The essential oils are 100% therapeutic grade.

Most of the EO on the Market, that can buy at Sprouts , Whole Foods and Others places, are diluted with the synthetics.

Sidetone: In the world of social media this company is doing really well. For selling a niche product they are in the top 5K for online presence in the US according to the ALEXA rankings. Their corporate TWITTER account has reached over 40K, which is very respectable.

Given the popularity of Young Living, I wasn’t surprised to see that their Animal Scents Care Collection was “out of stock” (Bummer!). But, I guarantee you that after seeing the positive impact it has made on our Bayla – I will be a customer!

If you are curious about turning your stressed out pup in to a “happy camper” – click here. Note, I am not a distributor for Young Living Essential Oils – simply a very intrigued blogger who is willing to give them a shout-out!

Disclaimer –

This information shared today is intended for education purposes. It has not been evaluated by the FDA and is provided in order to diagnose, prescribe or treat any disease, illness or injured condition of the pet body. Any Pet suffering from any disease, illness or injury consult with a Vet or medical professional. We also highly encouraged as we have done, to become educated Consumers or research all products.