How to Safely Use Essential Oils with Your Dog!
High quality essential oils can be beneficial to your pet. But oils need to be used selectively with caution.
No matter how big or little, short or tall your dog is, the one thing that all dogs have in common is their amazing sense of smell. No one knows for sure the exact numbers but a dog’s sense of smell is between 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than a human’s sense of smell. For every scent receptor a human has, a dog has 50 for every one of ours.
Therefore, Dogs are extremely sensitive to essential oils so you must always dilute them well before use or in a diffuser with water. Don’t ever put any essential oils directly on the skin of your dog or lock a dog in a space with essential oils present.
My favorite essential oil for dogs and myself is lavender. The calming, soothing, fragrance of lavender can be beneficial in so many ways. My favorite application of lavender essential oil is using it with indirect application. This way I can assure the safety of my pets.
Some behavioral issues can even be improved with lavender. Does your dog have separation anxiety or fear? Try using some lavender essential oil with an indirect application.
How I like to use my lavender oil indirectly with my dogs are when washing their dog bed covers. First, I wash my dog bed covers in the washing machine on a cool water gentle cycle. Then I like to air dry them and fluff them in the dryer. Before I close the dryer door, I put about 4 or 5 drops of lavender essential oil on my wool dryer balls, throw them in the dryer with the dog bed sheets and even a favorite sleeping blanket.
After 5-10 minutes of air fluff (non-heated or low heat), the fabric will absorb just enough of the oil to give them a subtle heavenly scent. Now take them out of the dryer and make your dog’s bed.
When I call my dogs over to their freshly cleaned and scented bedding, they usually sniff the bed for a few seconds, lie down and sigh. (I really should video this some time and share it with you.) It’s great to see them enjoying the calming effects of their lavender scented sheets. Breathing the lavender helps to reduce any anxiety or stress they may have. It’s my treat to my fur babies.
If you’d like to get started today with some oils, click here to get our amazing lavender oil. If you start using the oils on your own sheets, don’t be surprised if your fur babies want to snuggle with you in your bed.