Did you know more than 70% of dogs display anxiety? That's what researchers found in a study appearing in the Scientific Reports journal.

The types of anxiety pet owners expressed were noise sensitivity like fireworks, which accounted for over 25% of the answers.

The most common answer was general fearfulness: Fear of other dogs, fear of strangers, and fear of new situations affected almost 30% of dogs.

Another thing this survey found was anxiety-like behaviors related to noise sensitivity, like thunder, were more pronounced as dogs age.

Essential oils and hydrosols are really good at lessening feelings of anxiety by calming the nervous system through inhalation.

I'll share a recipe with substitution options shortly, as well as the wrong way to use essential oils that can cause more harm than help. 

But before we get to that, I want to share with you how some of the members inside Using Essential Oils Safely COMMUNITY are using essential oils and hydrosols to help their pet's anxiety...

• Kim left a comment sharing how she uses Lavender on her noise-anxious dog. "After a while he slept through storms, fireworks, etc." 
• Karen shared how she sprays Lavender hydrosol on her dog's blanket, while Helen prefers German Chamomile hydrosol. 
• Amy had a foster that had trauma and was fearful as well as physical issues, and she used Chamomile and Lavender with success.

Lavender and the Chamomiles are included in my list of effective essential oils and hydrosols for Anxiety and Stress or "Nerves" inside my book Using Essential Oils Safely with DOGS [and in the download below].

The first thing you want to do is review the list of effective essential oils [download below] which are chosen based on high amounts of calming and neurotonic therapeutic properties, and see which ones you have - I've provided a print-out for you, but some of the ones on the list are: Bergamot, Cedarwood (Atlas), German Chamomile, Clary Sage, Bulgarian Lavender, and Mandarin.

If you have a hydrosol version, you can use that with cats and other pets. Hydrosols are also great to use with dogs, and you can spritz once in the mouth for effective results (review my last episode for more details on using hydrosols with pets).

Essential oils aren't a safe option for cats, but are safe with dogs. If choosing to use essential oils with your dog you'll want to offer the ones from the safe and effective list to your dog, one at a time, with caps still on. Remember, they can smell really good. Gauge their reaction before deciding which essential oil to use. 

Once you know, dilute, dilute dilute! If you've been following this series, you know we dilute essential oils before offering them to our dog to inhale. Their noses are so sensitive diluting first is still extremely effective.

For anxiety, you want to dilute to a 1% dilution. This means 1 drop essential oil in a teaspoon of carrier oil.

Next I'll share the way you should not use essential oils with your pet (and probably the way you're already doing it). 

So....how are many people using essential oils with their pets unsafely while trying to remedy anxiety?

Rubbing on their fur.

While topical use can be beneficial for injuries on the skin, for emotional issues like anxiety, inhalation is best. It's not only more effective, but it allows the pet to "get away" from the essential oil once they've had enough. If applied to the fur, they may be over-exposed (like when you diffuse too long and start to get a headache or feel nauseas).

And for you, the pet parent, you're increasing your chances of skin irritation and rashes or other skin issues, especially if you don't dilute enough (or at all).

Stick to inhalation for most issues, and remember, dilute dilute dilute, when allowing your pet to inhale as a remedy for the issues they face.