Why is my dog shaking?

A whole-body shake after a bath or a roll in the grass is normal. The same shake-off after a stressful moment, such as being lifted off the vet’s table, is likely a stress release (VCA). Shaking and trembling are also common signs of fear, alongside panting, pacing and hiding, and some dogs tremble with excitement when you come home.

Cold is the cause owners most often overlook indoors. Older dogs, smaller dogs, dogs with short coats and puppies are more at risk, and wet fur makes it worse (RSPCA).

• Cold: warm your dog gradually, with a blanket rather than anything hot against the skin (RSPCA).
• Fear: take them away from the trigger to a safe spot, and do not punish the fear (VCA).
• Recovery time matters. How long your dog takes to settle after a loud noise shows whether the fear is ordinary or a problem worth raising with your vet (VCA).

To read fear in the ears, tail and posture, see our dog body language chart.

Yes, and it is more common than many owners expect. In a study of 198 dogs referred with whole-body tremors, poisoning was the cause in 46%. Among the poisoned dogs, the most common known cause was mycotoxins from mouldy food (31.9%), followed by metaldehyde slug bait (12.1%) (J Vet Intern Med).

These tremor-causing toxins grow in mouldy walnuts, peanuts, dairy foods, food waste and compost. Signs, often vomiting and tremors, can start within 1 to 2 hours of eating, and can take a few days with treatment, or several weeks, to clear (Merck).

• Chocolate, coffee and caffeine: vomiting, hyperactivity, tremors and seizures (ASPCA).
• Macadamia nuts: weakness, vomiting and tremors in dogs (ASPCA).
• Xylitol in sugar-free products: low blood sugar, starting with vomiting and wobbliness (ASPCA).

If you think your dog has eaten something toxic, call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435. It is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and a consultation fee may apply (ASPCA).

Shaker syndrome, also called idiopathic generalised tremor syndrome or steroid-responsive tremor syndrome, causes tremors of the head and whole body. It got the nickname little white shaker syndrome because it is most common in small white breeds such as the Maltese, West Highland White Terrier and Bichon Frise, but any colour and size of dog can get it (VCA).

• Dogs usually develop it in early adulthood, at one to two years of age (VCA).
• Tremors get worse with excitement and exercise and may ease or stop during rest or sleep (VCA).
• It was the second most common cause of whole-body tremors in the study of 198 dogs, at 24.7% (J Vet Intern Med).

There is no single test. The vet rules out other causes first, and the outlook is excellent: most dogs improve within one to two weeks of treatment (VCA). In the same study, only poisoned dogs got better within 48 hours without steroid treatment (J Vet Intern Med).

Toy-breed puppies can develop low blood sugar in the first 6 months of life. It seems to come from an immature liver, and it can usually be managed by feeding frequent meals of a commercial puppy food (Merck).

The signs of low blood sugar include weakness, collapse, disorientation, tremors and sometimes seizures. Other causes include severe liver disease, Addison’s disease and serious infection (VCA), and xylitol poisoning (ASPCA).

• A trembling puppy who is also weak, wobbly or dazed needs a vet now (VCA).
• Keep a small puppy warm, because cold also makes them shiver (RSPCA).
• Track your puppy’s growth with our puppy weight calculator; a puppy who is not gaining weight should see a vet.

A tremor is an involuntary, rhythmic, back-and-forth movement of part of the body (J Vet Intern Med). A seizure is different: a generalised seizure causes loss of consciousness (VCA).

A seizure lasting more than five minutes needs urgent treatment (VCA). During any episode, move furniture away, keep your hands out of the mouth (dogs do not swallow their tongues), and film it if you can.

It is tempting to put an older dog’s trembling down to age. The sources point to more specific causes worth checking. Trembling in the legs, particularly the back legs, is a recognised sign of pain (VCA), and older dogs feel the cold more than young adults (RSPCA).

• Pain signs to look for: groaning on getting up, reluctance on stairs, restlessness, panting at rest (VCA).
• Whole-body tremors in older dogs can also come from metabolic or brain disease, which only a vet can sort out (J Vet Intern Med).

A senior dog with new trembling deserves a vet check rather than waiting. Our dog age calculator shows how old your dog is in human terms.

We found no veterinary source that names shaking as a sign of nausea on its own. What the sources do link is vomiting together with tremors, which is a poisoning pattern (ASPCA). Shaking in a dog who is also flat, weak or disoriented points to low blood sugar (VCA).

• Distemper can cause stumbling and head tilt, and survivors can be left with lasting muscle twitches. Vaccines protect against it, starting at 8 weeks of age (VCA).
• Keep up your puppy’s vaccinations, set out in our puppy vaccination schedule.

Panting that goes with shaking is covered in more depth in why does my dog pant so much.

Go today if the shaking comes with any red flag above, if your dog may have eaten something toxic, or if you think it was a seizure. Book a routine appointment if the shaking keeps coming back without an obvious cause, if an older dog has new trembling, or if your dog is frightened often. No source gives a fixed number of days to wait, so there is no fixed cut-off: if you are unsure, call your vet to be safe.

Your vet will want to know when it started, what your dog could have eaten, and whether the shaking stops at rest. A video is the single most useful thing you can bring. For other behaviours, start from the dog behaviour checker.

Every figure and threshold on this page comes from the veterinary sources below, and each one is linked where it is used. Where no source gives a cut-off, we say call your vet rather than invent one.