Pups are social, pack animals by nature. This social nature extends to you, their owner. When you leave them in isolation, your dog can suffer from separation anxiety. The good news is it usually isn’t too difficult to overcome.
Symptoms
A dog suffering from separation anxiety does not hide it. When you come home, the signs will be obvious. They may include an
Bad Owner!
Ask yourself a simple question. Do you make a big scene with your dog when you leave or come home? Do you pet them a bunch, give them treats and talk to them in your happy owner voice? This may seem the kind thing to do, but such conduct has the opposite effect.
The problem with this approach is you are emphasizing the separation. You are telling your pup that this is very important. Given this, is it any surprise the pup gets anxious when you walk out the door? It should not be.
Solution
The first step you can take to dampen down your pup’s anxiety is to stop making a big deal out of leaving or coming home. When leaving, make sure your pup has what they need [water, etc.] well before you leave. Then just leave without making a big deal out of it.
Now the hard part. When you come home, don’t make reuniting with your pup a big deal. It will be tough, but you need to actually ignore your dog. Trust me, it is in their best interest in the long run.
Practice Makes Perfect
Your dog is not a machine. It is not immediately going to change its behavior just because you do. To speed things up, try using practice to get your pup used to the idea that your absence for part of the day is not an event to get stressed over.
I have a yellow lab named Maggie. She is a rescue pup and had huge separation anxiety issues when I first got her. Pillows, comforters, table legs – I lost them all to her chewing.
Facing going bankrupt from fixing things, I tried the approach mentioned above and added practice to the process. I started on the weekend. I would get my things together like I was leaving and then pretend to leave. At first, I wouldn’t actually leave. I would just head for the door. After three or four times, my pup stopped getting so fired up. Instead, Maggie would just sort of look at me.
Later in the afternoon, I started taking the next step of going out the door. Maggie went nuts the first time, but I waited for a minute before going back in and ignoring her. 30 minutes later, I went out again for another couple of minutes. She barked a bit, but then calmed down.
I repeated this process throughout the weekend. I stayed outside just a bit longer each time and then ignored her when I came back in. By the end of the weekend, she was much calmer when I left. The following week, she only chewed up one pillow. After practicing again the next weekend, she stopped chewing anything up and we haven’t had any separation anxiety problems since then.
Can you solve your pup’s anxiety issues when you are at work or out and about? Yes. Will it happen this quickly? It depends on the makeup of your furry friend, but what I do know is this two pronged approach definitely works over time. Give it a try and let me know how it goes in the comments section below.
About The Author
Annie Klacks blogs about dogs for Animaroo.com where she discusses issues you need to consider when looking for ethical, responsible dog breeders when finding a pup for your family.
Tags: Dog Behavior, dog training, separation anxiety