No Brainer Day works for pets too!
No Brainer Day is all about encouraging us to do lots of things in a low-key and calm way without having to think too hard. How about extending this concept for your pets too?
Here are a five ideas to help you celebrate with your fur babies:
- Take your dog for a decompression walk in a quiet, green space and let them dictate the pace and direction for some of the walk
- Encourage sniffing because it helps to lower the pulse rate and floods the system with lots of feel good endorphins. As well as dog, cats like to use their keen sense of smell too – so scatter feed some dried kibble and leave food trails of their favourite treats for them to follow.
- Have a look at some ttouch techniques. These work particularly well for dogs and horses but with the right approach can suit almost any other animal.
- Pheromones and herbal aromas can induce calmness. Pet Remedy contains herbs that are known for their calming and relaxing properties. Adaptil has a synthetic analogue of the dog appeasing pheromone. That is the one that the mother emits from around her mammary glands when feeding her puppies which is one of the reasons why suckling has such a calming effect for puppies. Feliway Classic contains the pheromone that is emitted from around a cat’s face and helps them feel secure and safe.
- Play some calm classical music and sit in a quiet, comfortable place where you and your pets can relax together. Favourites tend to be relaxing piano instrumentals.
Enjoy your switch off day!
For more information to help relax stressed pets check out my other free resources. Or Sign up for newsletters And for helping dogs that are already stressed and fearful take a look at my book: Fear and Anxiety in Dogs
