Ways to Calm Your Cockapoo

Cockapoos and other dog breeds are great companions. They enhance our lives with a lot of fun, happiness, and love. If you are prone to suffering from a lot of stress, you’ve probably experienced the calmness that comes from cuddling up to your furry friend and feeling those anxieties go.

Like humans, cockapoos also suffer from anxiety from time to time and as a loving owner, you probably want to help your dog. If you are not sure what to do in those situations, we are going to look at some great ways to calm your dog down.

Use Physical Contact

It may not work with your dog, but as most cockapoos are very sociable and loving, one effective way to calm him or her down is by using physical touch. Simple belly rubs and pats are a great way to show your dog you really care. So, whenever your dog next feels a little worried, overwhelmed or just on edge, try stroking their fur and holding them close.

Positive Reinforcement

Although it may sound like something you’d more commonly use when comforting humans, positive reinforcement can have just as powerful an effect on dogs. Giving your dog lots of praise and their favourite treats will show them you appreciate their obedience when you are training him or her or just rewarding them. They will eventually understand the connection between their calmness, obedience and rewards and work hard to achieve those rewards.

Make Sure They Have a Comforting and Relaxing Space

This next point is particularly important if you are in the process of training your dog not to jump on the sofas. Although this is an understandable boundary to impose, it can leave your dog feeling inferior and not important.

Counter these feelings by creating their own special comforting and relaxing space by investing in a playpen or doggie bed. It’s a good idea to have this near to where you normally sit and have at least one of their favourite toys on it, so they know it is their spot and can go there when they feel a little worried.

Consider Trying Adaptil Plug-in Diffusers

Adaptil Plug-in Diffusers are very discrete devices you can invest in that produce a synthetic form of a dog pheromone that encourages your four-legged pal to calm. We used one for our cockapoo, Luna, and I have to admit I was not sure whether it would work or not. However, we wanted to give it a try, because the worst that would happen would be nothing. Certainly, there are a lot of people out there leaving reviews for these plug-in diffusers that say they are amazing and love them.

Daily Exercise

If you were sure exercise would be mentioned on our list, you were right. One of the best and most effective ways to calm your dog is making sure he or she gets exercise regularly. Really, you should be making sure your dog gets daily exercise anyway, but when you make the effort to take your cockapoo (a breed that’s often very boisterous) you can help ease their stresses and worries.

Massage

Have you ever experienced that soothing feeling when you are stressed out and anxious and someone gives you a massage? For many dogs, this will help to ease their anxiety too. Although this ties in with the tip we made about using physical contact, as this is a special discipline, we wanted to refer to it separately.

There are courses and lots of tutorials on the web you can use for reference to get the technique right. The best way to massage your dog is by starting at their neck and working down their body with lots of long and slow strokes. Keep one hand on your dog, comforting them while you use the other to work on the massage. In time, if you do this regularly enough, you will learn which parts of your dog’s body are most susceptible to pain and stiffness and focus your massages on those areas.

There are probably various other things you can do, you may even have some in mind that we haven’t mentioned, but the above list is a great place to start.