When anxiety rubs off on pets: How cats and dogs communicate their apprehension

Cookie, an eight-year-old German shepherd mix with anxiety, appears at a home in Waitsfield, Vermont in the US. — CAROLYN LESSARD/AP

IN this age of heightened anxiety, many of us turn to our pets for emotional support. But is our behaviour increasing our furry friends’ fears?

The answer isn’t simple, says Frankie Jackson, a veterinary nurse and animal behaviour consultant, and the owner of Canine Counseling in Smyrna, Georgia.