Aromatherapy Info | Overview: Using Aromatherapy For Your Dog

Dog Aromatherapy | Using Essential Oils on Your Dog

Essential Oils for Your Dog's Well-Being

Plants are not very mobile organisms, of course. Grass can not pull up roots and run when you head their way with a lawnmower, just as pine trees can’t slap woodpeckers away. So plants of all sizes and types developed other means of defense, such as a bitter taste, a noxious smell, a rough texture or any of the other hosts of defense mechanisms plants evolved to have. These various substances are what we now use as essential oils to treat an endless variety of physical, emotional and mental illnesses and issues.

Alchemists in the Far East and Middle East were the first to work with essential oils as we know them today. Ancient Egyptians were probably the first to use essential oils, at least they were among the first to document that usage. They created distillation techniques and used essential oils for medical, spiritual, and practical usages (embalming, etc.). Ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese and native cultures all utilized aromatherapy distillation processes in their medical explorations, paving the way for our modern usage of essential oils.

Oils have been shown to reduce anxiety and inflammation, fight infections by inhibiting bacteria, fungi and viruses from growing and soothe muscular aches and pains. Aromatherapy oils are also used to affect emotional changes, lessen stress, activate memory and much more…in people and their pets. Aromatherapy oils are powerful and must be used with caution. Dogs especially have such heightened senses of smell, we must use discretion when using essential oils on them.

Aromatherapy is now fully mainstream for people and their pets. While essential oils may be natural and made from plants, herbs and trees, that doesn’t mean there are no cautions. After all, opium is made from a lovely poppy and ricin (the poison on Breaking Bad) comes from the same plant as castor oil. While we believe in the benefits of aromatherapy, we also make sure we only offer blends that have been tested, on us, and proven to be as safe as possible within the normal ranges of sensitivity. What that means is we cannot control an individual (human or dog) having an individual reaction to an individual ingredient (or blend).

Using Essential Oils on Dogs

The best way for your dog to achieve maximum benefits is through a combination of breathing in the oils and the oils being absorbed through the skin. This is done by rolling the diluted oils onto your dog and allowing them to sniff as desired and misting the diluted oils in the air over them.

Since our dogs have such a powerful sense of smell, we do not want to overpower them with too strong of a fragrance or harm their delicate skin with pet-safe aromatherapy oils that are too strong or "hot" as they are called. We greatly dilute The Blissful Dog blends with jojoba oil, almond oil and grapeseed oil which also allows for quick absorption. We use only enough pet-safe aromatherapy oils to achieve results, not assault our dog’s sense of smell.

Aromatherapy oils and essential oils are essentially the same (bad pun, I know). The overuse of pet-safe aromatherapy verbiage in advertising has caused confusion and misinformation. For our purposes, we are referring to real essential oils, that are of a very high quality NOT the scent-only oils or fragrance oils you find in most consumer products such as room fresheners, etc. Fragrance oils are perfectly fine for household usage and to create a scent, but not for topical usage on people or animals.

Essential oils are steam-distilled pure plant extracts used for aromatherapy. Fragrance oils are chemical scent compounds that are laboratory or synthetically made.

Your Dog’s Emotional Needs 

Most of the emotional balancing our dogs need stems from these core basic needs; our dogs need to feel grounded, relaxed and present to feel safe

Our three essential oil blends build upon this cornerstone for our dog's emotional well-being. First RELAX, which obviously relaxes and calms our dogs. This allows them to then FOCUS, when needed, and be involved in the activity at hand. AGE WELL relaxes your dog, focuses them on the present moment and brings your senior dog's wandering mind peacefully back to the present.

Making the Initial Connection With Relax and Age Well Dog Pet-Safe Aromatherapy

This next exercise can be done when you first begin using Relax and Age Well Dog Essential Oils. You are creating a connection for your dog between a feeling of safety and security and the smell of the Dog Aromatherapy. The smell of the Relax/Age Well Dog Aromatherapy then becomes a “shortcut” that calms your dog more quickly.

Creating The Scent Shortcut

How to create the initial shortcut to calm for your dog

• Find a quiet spot where your dog feels safe and secure
• Set the intention that this is time for you and your dog (phone off)
• Roll/spray some Relax/Age Well Dog Aromatherapy on your hands and gently pet your dog
• Then roll/spray the Relax/Age Well Dog Aromatherapy on your dog’s belly or inside ears
• Continue to sit with them and allow the connection to grow
• If you are comfortable with this, visualize them feeling safe and secure

These few minutes begin to create a connection between the scent of the Relax/Age Well and a safe and secure feeling for your dog.

This same exercise can be done with Focus Dog Aromatherapy by substituting a training session for the quiet spot. You are still creating a shortcut, but the Focus shortcut is to shift the frame of mind to paying attention at an event.