Controlling Separation Anxiety In Dogs

To resolve separation anxiety, your dog needs to learn that you leaving the house is be NO MORE IMPORTANT than you getting a drink of water at the sink. That's our goal.

Separation anxiety in dogs is a common problem and affects most breeds. Almost any active, alert dog can suffer from it.

Your dog has a “pack” instinct and wants her “family” of litter mates (or humans) around so she knows where everybody is. She is a highly social animal. When you leave the house, you are gone and she does not know where you are so she feels alone and stressed. Abandoned. She is suddenly put into a state of nervous anxiety when everyone leaves and she is left alone.

This all seems so unnatural to her.

So, she finds something inappropriate to chew on, barks at nothing, whines, and tears the house apart out of frustration. She literally gets a little “crazy.” These are symptoms of separation anxiety in dogs.

Your dog must to learn to feel that being left alone is an every-day occurrence and IT IS NOTHING to get excited about.

• Walk out of the house and say nothing to the dog. Just leave. Come right back in in a minute or two.

• Repeat this but each time wait a little longer before returning. The dog will get the idea that you are going to return.

• Each time you return, say nothing to your dog; just come in the house and go about your business like you never left.

• Ignore your dog as much as possible during this training process.

• Fuss around the yard several minutes and come right back in.

• When you are ready to leave for a longer period of time, such as running to the store, make sure your dog is in inside the house and out of sight of other dogs that might distract her and cause her to bark. Use tough love. Get ready and walk out the door. Make sure your dog has water.

• Act like leaving is a common occurrence and there is nothing to get excited about. Say nothing to her. Just go out the door.

• Don’t pet your dog or give a big speech about how soon you will be back or how she is to look after the house for you.

• If you are going to the store and the dog will be alone for an hour or so, tire her out with some jogging, fetch or a walk before you leave. A TIRED dog is less likely to care where you are.

• Make sure there is something for your dog to chew on, as this will help reduce the separation anxiety in dogs when they get bored or scared. Be sure the dog has a comfy place to sleep.

• When you return, your dog will jump up and down and bark, but ignore her and go about your business. Do not pet or talk to her. Turn your back on her.

• Walk into the next room and close the door for several minutes. In time, she will understand that being left alone is just part of her day. (Dog-proof the house as best you can before leaving, picking up all the shoes, socks and slippers, etc and putting them away.)

Remember, when you return from a long day away, she will be excessively excited and will be in a frenzy. This extended greeting signifies the source of a psychological disorder and it must NOT be encouraged by paying attention to the dog. Separation anxiety in dogs builds the longer you're away. If you do give your dog the nod, she will get all the more excited and worked up, thereby adding to the problem!

I know it is hard to ignore your dog and pretend she is not there, but there are times you must do it to get a point across to her.

Some simple advice:

• Exercise the dickens out of your dog before leaving. The longer you’re going to be gone, the harder the exercise.

• Distract her. Use baked marrow bones to chew on, for example + chew toys like Kongs stuffed with food like peanut butter.

• Turn the radio or TV on, low to calm the dogs — talk shows are good.

• If possible, give her a view of the outdoors. It’s next best to being out there.

• Get the dogs used to your “leaving.” Jingle your keys. Put your coat on. Walk to the door and then sit down. Repeat. Do all this again so she/they think you are leaving, and then don’t… sit down again.

• Do this until they get bored and your “leaving” is no longer of interest to them.

DO NOT

Soothe and comfort your dogs when they are crying and whining. Don’t EVER say “it’s OK,” or “good girl” when she’s upset. Do not be sympathetic in your voice. That’s the worst thing you can do in cases of separation anxiety in dogs.

Anxiety Notes:

After you’ve been gone a half hour or so, the dog’s anxiety will worsen. She will bark and scratch and dig at windows, trying to escape. She may urinate and/or defecate in the house, no matter how well house-trained she is. In extreme cases she might lick and chew her skin until it’s raw, or pull out fur or even engage in spinning and tail chasing. Separation anxiety in dogs is a powerful emotion.

There tends to be some percentage of dog separation anxiety resulting from from stays in shelters. Many shelter dogs have undergone significant trauma in their lives. They’ve been abandoned by their previous owners and so have little trust that their new owner (you) won’t do the same thing.

Remember too, puppies up to about one year old may LOOK grown up, but actually are still puppies and are not ready to be left alone. This is when you need the CRATE to confine the puppy and make it feel safe in it's own den. Don’t give your puppy a chance to destroy the house. Separation anxiety in dogs knows no age limits.

Also, dogs that were separated from their mothers and siblings too soon have been identified as being especially prone to dog separation anxiety.

Puppies from pet stores are a perfect example of this: they are usually taken from their mothers way too soon and confined to small glass cages or boxes in the pet store for two months or more. This early confinement is psychologically traumatic to the puppies resulting in strong separation anxiety in the dog.


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