The more scientists study the behavior of dogs, man’s best friend, the more they realize that some of their behavior mimics our own.  One of those conditions is the anxiety, fear and stress that are found in some of our canine friends.  D.A.P dog appeasing pheromone is a team of French scientists’ answer to this common issue that dogs face.

Phobias and Fears

Dogs experience phobias and fears of a variety of things, just as we do as humans.  The fears can be of something simple like a vacuum cleaner or dust cloth, where the dog will bark and run, possibly even try to attach the machine or cloth, in its fear.

Some fears are not quite so harmless or short lived.  There are a vast number of dogs who are tremendously afraid of thunder storms.  When a thunder storm hits, the dog usually finds a place to hide, trembling and shaking until it is over.  During the entirety of the storm, the dog emits signs of stress such as shaking, panting, whining and barking.  Some dogs, if left outside, have been known to run away, racing blindly down the street or through the woods, hoping to leave the terrifying sounds of the storm behind.

How does it work?

It is a terrible phobia such as this that D.A.P. dog appeasing pheromone was created to alleviate.  For the past two years, French scientists have been testing the D.A.P. dog appeasing pheromone that they have created based on their study of the pheromone that female dogs emit when lactating during the first five days after birth.

Female dogs emit this pheromone in order to calm their puppies during the first week of their lives, so that their entrance into a strange new world full of new sights and sounds is not quite as taxing.  The D.A.P. dog appeasing pheromone is designed to mimic this pheromone.  By emitting the pheromone around anxious dogs, it tells the dogs that everything is going to be alright, triggering memories of their puppyhood with their mothers.

There are various ways that the D.A.P. dog appeasing pheromone is released in the household for the benefit of the anxious dog.  One way is a dog pheromone diffuser which can be plugged into the wall and diffuses the spray into the air.  Another way is a dog collar that emits the pheromone, which ensures that the dog will always be in close proximity of the pheromone.

Dog pheromones are chemicals that are secreted by the dog’s body and are transmitted via various means, such as urination.  Dogs are not the only animal that emits these chemicals.  In fact, insects as well as other mammals emit these chemicals as a means of spreading information to the immediate vicinity.  These chemicals are what cause dogs to seek out places where other dogs have urinated as a way of finding out what other dogs have been in the area and whether they are known or strangers.

A wealth of information

Dog pheromones as well as the pheromones of related species, such as wolves, hold a variety of information that is important to the animals.  When a dog smells another dogs urine, which is filled with pheromones, it can tell whether it is supposed to be in that territory or not.  Dog pheromones act like a public message board for dogs, letting the entire community know who they are and what they are about.

Besides territory, dog pheromones let other dogs know what gender they are.  This is especially important to dogs that are not spayed or neutered.  A male dog can smell whether a female dog is in heat from miles away.  It is always said that a male dog goes crazy when there is a female in heat around it, and that, just when the owners thought there weren’t any other dogs in the neighborhood, all of a sudden there are five on their back porch, all wanting to ‘get acquainted’ with the female dog.

Peace and Security

In addition to information, dog pheromones also provide a sense of security, not only through knowing who the other dogs in the community are, but they can also provide a leap back in time to when the dog was a puppy at its mother’s side.  The pheromones created by a female dog that is lactating serve to calm her puppies down so that they are even more likely to stay at her side.   This is why puppies will tend to show anxiety when they are taken from their mothers.

Scientists have been studying dog pheromones to discover ways that they can be used to help train dogs and possibly help to alleviate problem behavior when nothing else seems to be working.  The pheromones created by lactating female dogs have been reproduced to create D.A.P dog appeasing pheromones which reportedly help to calm anxious or fearful dogs.