My dog can’t stop stretching. After waking up, the first thing it does is stretching, before going to sleep, it stretches, and in between the day it keeps on stretching. Is everything okay with it?
The number of times I hear people complaining of their dog stretching too much is A LOT! So, why does it stretch that much?
There is nothing wrong with your dog stretching. Stretching is good in many ways to the dogs.
Here Are The Reasons Why Your Dog Keeps Stretching:
1. Your dog is tired
Your dog might be stretching because it’s tired. The same way when you wake up, you stretch because you are tired of sleeping.
Dogs get tired from sleeping and all the playing during the day. Stretching helps it to relax the muscles and the bones.
That way, it will be easy for it to sleep if it is stretching from daily activities. On the other hand, stretching in the morning helps the dog to get ready for the day’s activities.
Stretching also helps the dog connect between the muscles and the brain. It does this by first contracting its muscles and then enlarging them, and by doing that, it can achieve full-body relaxation.
When a tired dog stretches, the sensory nerves in the dog’s muscles stretch and get activated.. This sends a relaxation massage to the brain—this way; the dog achieves mental and physical relaxation.
2. Your Canine Friend is not exercising enough
Has your dog been stretching more lately? How often have you taken it out to exercise? This could be the reason why. Dogs are naturally active animals.
Their natural activities are hunting and other involving activities. With fewer activities, your dog’s muscle becomes sore. A lot of lactic acids accumulate.
To get rid of the acid and to help with the sore muscles, the dog will stretch frequently. To help your dog, take it for a walk once in a while and involve it in exercising activities. Take it for a jog, involve it in a tug of war, and get it some toys. That way, the dog will stretch less.
3. It’s normal for dogs to stretch
Way before dogs were domesticated, they were involved in very aggressive activities. An example is hunting for food. Before they went hunting, the dogs would first stretch.
This way, the dogs get ready to run. The whole process is to make sure the muscles are ready for what is happening next. To date, dogs stretch when they are about to do an activity.
This way, it makes sure its body is ready. So it is possible for a dog to keep stretching for no reason because stretching is in their nature.
4. Old age
Like humans, old age comes with some physical problems, the same case applies to dogs. The muscles become stiff and the joints too, and hence the dog will feel the need to keep stretching.
This stretching is good for your old dog. It will help the muscles become less stiff and help them not get a muscle injury. The stretching will also help the flexibility of the joints.
5. It’s trying to communicate
We can all agree a dog is a very intelligent animal. Pay close attention. That is the only way you will be able to know what your dog is trying to communicate and maybe protect it from possible danger. Don’t give it a tough time; it can’t speak, and this is one in a few ways it can communicate to you.
6. Blockage
Dogs can be very cheeky. We have seen them chew shoes and even more tiny objects like toilet paper. It may swallow an object by mistake.
The object can cause a blockage; due to the obstruction, the dog will keep stretching to see if the blockage will move. For this reason, your dog can be stretching a lot more than usual.
Again it’s only you who can note the stretching is more than usual. If in case this happens, rush it to the vet.
7. It’s friendly
At times when your dog stretches, it’s a form of greeting. The stretching is a way of being sociable and greeting strangers. It can be stretching every time you appear.
This is a way to show respect to you, the owner. This kind of respect is good for your relationship. You can note more stretching when your dog meets other dogs. It’s trying to communicate with other dogs, maybe for mating purposes or friendship.
How can you help your dog to stop stretching a lot
- You can take it swimming. Swimming is a light full-body exercise, and it will help it relax.
- You can try massaging it often. This will help in the elasticity of the muscles and joints, and so the dog will not need much stretching.
- Take it for a walk regularly. This will help it not to get sore muscles
Conclusion on dog stretching a lot
Stretching is good for your dog. It helps a lot in its health. Unless the stretching is more than usual, that’s the only time the stretching can be an issue. And even when the dog is stretching when it has an issue, it helps it ease the pain
Forrest is a lover of dogs, the wild outdoors, deep mysterious conversations… and coffee. He is the owner of several websites, including Canine Weekly. He resides in Austin, Texas.