With up to fourteen percent of dogs experiencing separation anxiety at some point in their lives, it’s not surprising that owners are turning to CBD for a source of natural support.
Cannabis supplementation has a long history of soothing nervous dogs, making them more receptive to new routines and behavioral training.
We’ve chosen this selection of CBD products for their ability to target anxiety through carefully extracted ratios of non-intoxicating cannabis compounds.
Take a look at the summary below, or scroll down for our full product analysis.
What makes a CBD oil right for anxiety in dogs?
When they’re properly made, all CBD oils help reduce inflammation and anxiety in dogs. But there are some products with more potential to fight anxiety than others.
CBD extracts containing safe, additional cannabis compounds have been shown to produce a stronger anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) effect than pure CBD alone.
Among those secondary compounds, CBC and CBN stand out as particularly important.
Like CBD, both these cannabinoids stimulate dogs’ endocannabinoid system, lowering inflammation across the brain, digestive system, and central nervous system.
Studies on mice show that CBC can help maintain behavior when animals are exposed to stressful situations, while CBN is known to be a mild sedative.
When consumed together with CBD and trace amounts of THC, all four cannabinoids work synergistically to help fight off anxiousness.
As a result, we score oils for anxiety more highly when they contain greater amounts of CBD and CBC, with extra points for CBN.
Anything else?
In addition to cannabinoids, we also look at our wider scoring factors used to judge the best overall CBD oils for dogs.
These include aspects that are important for both owners and dogs, such as:
- label accuracy
- a safe and balanced amount of THC
- the type of carrier oil
- number of positive owner reviews, and
- overall shopping experience.
These factors are weighted according to their importance. For the full details on scoring, take a look at how we calculate our CBD scores.
Label Accuracy
100% percent accurateCannabinoids
7/7 beneficial cannabinoidsSafe, balanced THC
Safe for dogsCarrier Oil
MCT/Coconut oilOwner Reviews
Minimal independent reviewsShopping experience
Free shipping on orders over $74
Subscribe and save 10%
Charlotte’s Web also features in our Best Overall rankings, thanks to the brand’s impressive hemp farming credentials and quality production processes.
Their CBD oil is made from their own strain of hemp, and contains high amounts of CBC, alongside CBN, and CBD-A (another cannabinoid linked with anti-anxiety effects.)
In fact, Charlotte’s Web is one of the only CBD producers that includes each of the seven main cannabinoids. This means dogs get to benefit from the entourage effect—an enhanced potency when cannabis compounds are extracted and consumed together.
Charlotte’s Web scores just a C for owner reviews, but this is more due to a lack of reviews for the brand’s size, rather than their content.
Searching owner feedback for anxiety-related posts, there are some great indications that their oils fulfill their potential over the long term:
What are customers saying?
Betty T.
“I have been using drops because of hyperactivity that my dog displays when my grandchildren come to visit. It works perfectly calming her down, she will actually let my grandchildren pet her now.”
Anita M.
“This really works to calm my 85lb 4-year-old bulldog mix.”
Jennifer C.
“[We] can tell our dog is enjoying the ‘juice’. He is 10 and seems to be more relaxed.”
Learn more about these factors in our full review of Charlotte’s Web.
Honest Paws
Label Accuracy
97.1% AccurateCannabinoids
6/7 beneficial cannabinoidsSafe, balanced THC
Safe for dogsCarrier Oil
Organic hemp seed oilOwner Reviews
4.9/5.0 from 485 reviewsShopping experience
Free shipping on orders over $48
Subscribe and save 15%
We gave Honest Paws the number one spot in our overall list of the best CBD oils for dogs because of its awesome organic, non-GMO hemp extraction.
Like Charlotte’s Web, Honest Paws regularly submits their products for testing by independent labs and is highly accurate in terms of labeling.
Honest Paws products are full of secondary cannabis compounds, including terpenes. These natural aromatic oils have their own calming effects on dogs and help create a more reliable, well-rounded product.
Beyond terpenes and a good amount of CBD, three additional medicinal cannabis compounds make this a truly full spectrum oil.
Honest Paws also includes an organic hemp oil carrier and additional natural supplements in its oils.
This ‘calm’ oil contains chamomile extract, known for its sedative effect in herbal teas and remedies. Other options include turmeric to aid mobility and ginger to soothe digestion.
Read our full review of Honest Paws.
4 Corners Cannabis
Cannabis Cup winners Four Corners Cannabis are one of a select few CBD brands to be promoted on the American Veterinary Association website.
Their extract comes from premium colorado hemp and includes high amounts of CBC along with CBG, which is another compound gaining an impressive reputation for its ability to lower internal inflammation.
These ingredients are carried in organic golden hemp oil that has high amounts of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Using such a high-quality oil gives CBD the best possible chance of full absorption into dogs’ bodies.
Despite all these attractive features, Four Corners Cannabis doesn’t score quite as well in our cannabinoid category, and a slightly lower label accuracy means it gets a runner-up pick from us.
Get 25% off your next order using the code COFD at checkout.
HempMy Pet
HempMy Pet gets a middle-of-the-road score in our overall ratings, but there’s a lot going for this CBD company.
Thanks to close working relationships with organic Colorado Hemp farms, HempMy Pet’s extraction is made from their own strain-specific hemp plants, chosen for high levels of CBD as well as secondary terpenes and cannabinoids.
Found in this oil are:
- CBDV, which can treat nausea and reduce the frequency of seizures,
- CBG, which is highly effective at reducing pain and gut inflammation,
- CBN, which can aid sleep and appetite, and
- Terpenes, which are the aromatic elements of cannabis that may have soothing anti-inflammatory effects.
Label accuracy was a slight concern with this brand, as we found variances of up to 5 percent between the label and actual content. However—where there was a difference—CBD content was always above labeled amounts, not below.
Like Charlotte’s Web, this brand only scored a C for owner feedback, due to having fewer than 100 reviews on Google and Facebook and a rating of less than 4.0. But the vast majority of recent posts are positive, with several owners specifically mentioning HempMy Pet’s effect on anxiety.
HempMy Pet also gives owners a flexible array of product options. Their extract comes in several concentrations, with a choice of coconut oil, olive oil, or organic hemp seed oil carrier—meaning that dogs with taste preferences or food sensitivities needn’t miss out.
What are customers saying?
Cheryl J.
“My 4-year-old German Shepard has been having major anxiety with the nightly fireworks being used during this lockdown. She is now able to sit with me and not on me. She is still a bit anxious, but not nearly where she was. I would say she went from a ‘9’ to a manageable ‘3 or 4’.”
Georgia P.
“We have 2 big dogs, both with moderate anxiety during fireworks. Every night for weeks, our neighbors have been lighting fireworks…we fed dinner with a dose of tincture for each…the pup’s energy was remarkably relaxed (+happy) all night!”
Read our full review of HempMy Pet CBD.
Buying guide: CBD and canine anxiety
Treating anxiety issues in dogs is about having knowledge, patience, and the right tools.
How does CBD help with anxiety?
CBD works differently depending on the seriousness of the anxiety condition and other solutions owners are putting in place.
There are three main types of anxiety in dogs:
Separation anxiety. An obsession or hyper-attachment with owners (usually one person), resulting in panic and destructive behavior when separated for any length of time. Separation anxiety is thought to affect about 14 percent of all dogs.
Phobia and trauma. It’s common for dogs to form negative associations with people, places, and events. However, some develop frequent and exaggerated reactions to triggers that affect their daily wellbeing (for example, to loud noises). Phobias and trauma are more common in dogs who have had multiple owners throughout their life.
General anxiety. As dogs age, they become more likely to experience cognitive decline, which may result in increased stress due to memory loss and confusion.
There’s mounting evidence from owners and researchers that CBD can play a key role in treating separation anxiety, by relaxing dogs so that they become less affected by triggers and more receptive to new routines or training techniques.
While this doesn’t make CBD a cure-all, it does suggest that owners are more likely to have success with crate training and similar methods when their dog is supplementing with CBD.
In cases of phobia and general anxiety, CBD may directly contribute to dogs becoming calmer and more relaxed.
A 2015 review found that CBD has the potential to treat a wide range of disorders, including social anxiety, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Evidence from a study on rats also indicates that CBD increases available serotonin in the brain.
(There are currently no studies performed directly on anxious dogs, but CBD is thought to work in similar ways across mammals.)
Read our full page on CBD and anxiety in dogs for more on the current state of research.
Why does CBD spectrum matter for anxiety?
While CBD plays the biggest role in all of the products listed above, several other cannabis compounds have their own anti-anxiety properties and can enhance CBD’s effect.
As mentioned, CBC and CBN are two important cannabinoids, but there’s a bunch more, including CBG, CBD-A, small traces of THC, and aromatic terpenoid oils.
When a CBD oil includes a large variety of these compounds, it produces something called the entourage effect. This is where cannabinoids and terpenes work together, creating a wide-ranging, more reliable impact on dogs.
CBD brands advertise the variety of cannabis compounds in their products using the term spectrum:
- Full spectrum CBD contains the widest variety of cannabis compounds.
- Broad spectrum CBD contains zero THC and some other cannabis compounds.
- Pure isolate CBD contains CBD and no other cannabis compounds.
For dogs with anxiety, we always recommend full spectrum oils. However, owners looking for zero-THC may feel more comfortable with broad spectrum or isolate products.
A small number of brands use spectrum labels misleadingly, with not every full spectrum CBD containing a rich mix of cannabinoids. The only way to know for sure is to read each product’s certificate of analysis.
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