Why Is My Dog Shaking?
A dog shakes because of cold, pain or illness, or because of an emotion: fear, stress or too much arousal. You rule out the physical causes with your veterinarian first. If the body is fine, the rest of his body tells you which emotion it is: the ears, the tail, the posture, the breathing and the situation. A dog who shakes with his tail tucked between his legs is afraid; a dog who shakes and jumps while the ball comes out is over-aroused; a dog who shakes after a long, busy day has simply had too much. In all three cases the first step is the same: rest, distance and support.
In short
Physical causes first: cold, pain, illness, poisoning, medication. When in doubt, or when the shaking is sudden or ongoing: veterinarian.
Shaking belongs to the fear signals, together with a low posture, the tail tucked between the legs, crawling and freezing.
Stress and arousal produce the same hormonal tension. A dog can also shake out of “happiness”.
Support a frightened dog. Fear is an emotion, and you cannot reward an emotion.
Short-lived stress resolves itself. Ongoing shaking means the cause has to be taken away.
Do you want to learn to see what comes before the shaking? Watch the free webinar.
The body first
Dogs hide pain by nature, and a sudden change in behavior is often the first sign that something is wrong. If your dog shakes while nothing exciting is happening, if he suddenly shakes much more than usual, or if you also see that he eats poorly, moves stiffly, is lethargic or drools a lot, go to your veterinarian and keep asking: a short check does not rule out pain, and in the review by Mills and colleagues (2020), pain played a part in 28 to 82 percent of behavior cases. Medication or anesthesia can also cause temporary shaking and restlessness. Small dogs and dogs with a thin coat get cold more easily; that is the easiest cause to rule out.
Only once the body is fine do you look at the behavior.
Shaking as a fear signal
In our courses, shaking sits with the fear signals, alongside the tail tucked between the legs, a hunched back with a low head, crawling, leaking urine, dilated pupils, whale eye at the side, and freezing. A frightened dog often also has his ears flat against his neck, a lowered posture and tightly tensed muscles, and a worried frown above the eyes. You rarely see all of the signals at once.
The classic situations: thunderstorms, fireworks, loud noises, the veterinarian, a stranger leaning over him, a place where something unpleasant happened before. With fireworks there is more to it than sound alone: there are also vibrations through the floor, the smell of sulfur and flashes of light. That is why a dog who stays calm at home when bangs come out of a speaker can still shake during real fireworks.
What you do with a frightened dog:
Take him out of the situation or increase the distance. A dog cannot behave and cannot learn anything if he does not feel safe, and space is how you create safety.
Support him. Fear is an emotion, not a behavior. You cannot reward fear by supporting a frightened dog; support actually brings the stress hormones down faster. Sit down with him, stay calm, let him choose whether he wants contact.
Do not force anything. Do not lure him toward the scary thing, and do not wait for him to “get through it”. A dog who sits in fear for too long can go into panic.
Conscious touching can be a bit of support: soft, slow strokes along the direction of the muscles, always with one hand resting on the dog as contact, and regularly taking your hands off to see whether he stays or leaves. Do not expect automatic relaxation; having to relax does not exist.
Shaking from stress or arousal
Inside the body, arousal produces the same stress hormones as fear. That is why a dog sometimes shakes before the ball is thrown, at the sight of the leash, or when visitors come in. That is not happiness but tension looking for a way out, and it belongs in the same list as panting, lunging and shrill barking.
Short-lived stress resolves itself: a fright from a slamming door, followed by yawning, lip licking and shaking off, is over within a minute. At most, you offer calm support. Ongoing shaking means there is too much in the stress bucket, and then you take the cause away in practical terms: curtains closed, a quiet spot, fewer triggers, more sleep, and no chasing games that feed the arousal.
If your dog shakes together with panting when it is not hot, you can read more in Why is my dog panting when it is not hot?
Read the rest of the body
Shaking on its own says little. Look at the whole picture:
What else you see | What it means | What you do |
|---|---|---|
Low, tail tucked between the legs, ears flat, creeping away | Fear | Distance and support |
High, wagging, bouncy, shrill barking | Arousal rising too far | Rest, and remove the trigger |
Frozen, fixed stare, leaning forward | Tension heading toward a lunge | Distance, now |
Shaking off after the trembling | He is letting the tension go | Nothing, this is a good sign |
Moving stiffly, eating less, no longer tolerating touch | Probably pain | Veterinarian, and keep asking |
Shaking at rest, with no trigger, small dog or thin coat | Cold, or the body | Warmth, and if it continues, the veterinarian |
In summary: shaking with a low posture, the tail tucked between the legs and ears flat is fear (distance and support); high, wagging and barking shrilly is arousal rising too far (rest, remove the trigger); frozen with a fixed stare is tension heading toward a lunge (create distance now); shaking off afterwards is a good sign; moving stiffly, eating less and no longer tolerating touch points to pain (veterinarian); and shaking at rest in a small dog or a dog with a thin coat is cold or the body (warmth, and if it continues, the veterinarian).
The small signals that come before the shaking (lip licking, yawning, looking away, slowing down) are worked out in detail in Signs of stress in dogs
From our practice
Daisy, who also uses the approach in her own lessons, wrote on Trustpilot (March 16, 2026, 5 stars): “Excellent tips for dealing with a frightened, stressed dog and for building up his confidence and yours. I use the tools in my own lessons when I notice that the traditional methods do not work for certain dogs. And often with good results and a lot (sometimes even a whole lot) of patience.”
That patience is not a side note. Getting past fear happens in small steps, and the first step is always that the dog feels safe with you.
When to get help
With sudden, ongoing or unexplained shaking: the veterinarian, even if the first check turns up nothing. With fear that turns into panic (fleeing, injuring himself, stopping eating) and with fear that gets worse week by week: a professional, and no experimenting on your own. The wrong approach can lead to apathy or fear aggression. Calming supplements or medication can support the process, always in consultation with your veterinarian and never as the whole solution.
Frequently asked questions
My dog shakes during thunderstorms and fireworks. Should I ignore him so I do not reward the fear?
No. You cannot reward fear. Support him, stay calmly nearby and provide a safe spot. Ignoring him only leaves him alone in his fear.
He shakes and pants when visitors arrive. Is that happiness?
Often it is tension. Arousal and stress are hormonally the same. Let your visitors sit down and let your dog decide whether he wants contact, and give him rest afterwards.
He only shakes at the veterinarian. What can I do?
Let him get used to it step by step: first the waiting room, then the exam room, short visits with something tasty, and choose a practice with knowledge of dog language where you are allowed to stay with him.
He shakes and I see nothing else. Is it fear then?
Then you start with the body: cold, pain, illness. A ten-minute vet check does not rule out pain, so keep asking.
Sources
Mills, D.S. et al. (2020). Pain and Problem Behavior in Cats and Dogs. Animals, 10(2), 318.
Read next
Shaking is the end of a row of signals
Before a dog shakes, he has usually already shown all kinds of things: a lip lick, a yawn, a head turning away, a body slowing down. If you read those first signals, you can create distance before the fear gets that big. In the free webinar you see those first signals on video and you learn how to give your dog rest without using words.
Does your dog shake mostly during fireworks, thunderstorms and loud noises? Then start where every fear plan starts: lowering the overall stress and learning to read what he shows you before the panic. That is what the Stressless Communication Course is for.
Thank you for reading, on behalf of me and all the dogs.
Dog Behavior Consultant & Natural Dog Trainer