Dog Yelping in Pain When Touched On Side or Back for No Apparent Reason
You might find it a bit frustrating that if you touch your dog and it yelps for just no reason. Pain is something that no one wants to see and thus it is the harsh fact of life that indicates that something is wrong. If you have a question about ” why does my dog yelps when touched?” you need to understand the main cause by looking at the body reactions and body language.
Why Does My Dog Yelp When Touched?
There may be numerous things that might be the reasons for your dog’s yelps when you touch them. It might be that your dog is suffering from some stress or physical wound on his body. Although, a dog’s yelp is related to pain mostly sometimes your dog does this to show that they are too excited or want attention.
Whatever may be the reason, you would not know about it as you have just touched your dog. So, the first thing which you need to do is to find out the reason for the pain and eliminate the potential cause.
- Back & Neck Pain: Now, suppose you see that your dog is resting or has his head down which is not usually the case when you are around then the reason for the yelp might be the back or the neck pain. Sometimes there might be muscle pain in their abdomen. You would find your dog yelping when you touch a particular part of the body that is injured.
- Muscle or Joint Problems: Dogs who have aged are prone to muscles or joint problems. You might see that when your dog moves his body he would start to yelp and the pain might worsen. These symptoms can also be seen in dogs who are young and this may result in twitching or limping of the legs. You might see that your dog can’t run and has difficulty even while he is sitting and then it started to yelp. It means that the dog is getting a muscle cramp or spasm. Then in this condition, you need to consult a veterinarian.
- Infection: After investigating if you find that it is not a muscle spasm, the other reason would be an infection which might be the reason for your dog yelping in pain. Many dogs have been suffering from ear infections and hence they cry when you touch their ears. You might see other symptoms such as a change in stool appearance, diarrhea, sluggish movements, and vomiting.
- Excitement: Well, most people connect yelping with physical pain but this always is not the reason; sometimes it’s their dog’s way to express that they are happy to see you come after work. They get super excited and at times may yelp because of this reason. It generally happens if they know that they are going to go to a park when you return from work.
- Fear: Sometimes your dog may have been in a traumatic situation and may, start to yelp due to fear. Let’s say that your dog was in a shelter before and was maltreated by the owners earlier. It might also be that they were previously fighting dogs who can’t forget the pain of the past injuries. The wound might have healed but the pain had remained with them.
- Stress/Anxiety: Dogs do feel anxiety & stress because of many environmental conditions around them. Some dogs don’t like a stranger to be close to them and they start to yelp. The other reason could be is he is suffering from separation anxiety. Suppose you go out on a vacation and come back to him after a week, they might be so stressed & anxious all week long that they start to yelp when they see you. These yelps should be considered as a mixture of both emotions- happiness and sadness.
How to Deal with Dog Yelping?
The most important aspect when you find your dog yelping is to find the root cause. Try to find the following information:
- The thing which is causing the pain.
- How much time is your dog continuing to yelp after you touch the body?
- How could have they got hurt?
This particular investigation would help you and the veterinarian to provide the appropriate treatment. Never give pain medication, especially if you don’t know the reason behind the pain. It totally case-specific on how you would deal with the pain of your dog.
Yelping Because Of Pain
If you want to prevent your dog from getting hurt because of joint and muscle problems, you need to give them a lot of water all day long and even throughout their exercise & play session. If you are not in a position to take your dog to the vet you need to avoid harsh physical exercises and movement for your dog.
Apart from just looking at the condition of the dog they might even want to do a examine the physical and neurological condition of the pet. This is how they will be able to determine the problem and provide an appropriate solution.
The medicine the veterinarian will give your dog is opiates which control the pain and anti-inflammatory. You can restrict your dog’s movement during this time, this is another way of treating the pain. If your veterinarian finds nerve damage then it would be something that needs a lot of attention.
Anxious Yelping
If your dog is yelping because it is suffering from anxiety then you need to eliminate the concern. During these times the dog can control excessive licking, pacing, breaking things, and lastly chewing. Some dogs suffer from anxiety separation, so keep your dog in a habit of being alone. Everyone loves to be with the pet but this leads to circumstances that are not good for the dog.
Attention-Seeking Yelping
There are several dogs that like to get their owner’s attention. They do several things just to catch the attention of their favorite humans. This may either be running away with your shoes or even yelping. Yes, some dogs do yelp because they like to gain the attention of their human. So that they can play with them or get a treat. It seems that this behavior of them is encouraged by you and thus this yelping is caused. Well, you can always teach your dog to stop yelping due to this reason.
