Treating Separation Anxiety In Dogs

Separation Anxiety is understood as a condition of excessive panic ignited by the pet’s separation from it’s master. Certainly one of the most common disorders concerning dogs that new owners are presented with. A large number of dogs suffer from this kind of problem to some extent yet , some may have a substantially tougher time with it than others.

Possible Causes

A dog’sseparation anxiety could be brought on by various factors. Dogs from a pet store or a shelter are more vulnerable to this because they have been through major trauma by being separated from their mother at too young an age or getting separated from their prior owner for whatever reason. Other reasons that could possibly be contributing issues are that they haven’t been adequately socialized with other people or animals. Dogs are social animals that need interaction, attention and affection to keep them content and if you are separated from them and they are alone for prolonged periods they tend to have issues.

Signs and Symptoms

You can tell if your dog has separation anxiety by the signs he displays when you are out of his eyesight or if you are getting ready to leave. Our dog has learned by which shoes I put on that I am going out and she is not going along. Daisy actually just goes into her crate when we start putting on shoes. But some dogs start to become anxious, sticking to you from room to room, maybe whimpering and becoming anxious or beginning to tremble. Some dogs will try to stop you from leaving, barking incessantly or jumping on you. When you get home they are excessively excited about seeing you and will almost turn themselves inside out in a frenzy of attempting to let you know how happy they are that you are home. Don’t encourage them, it only shows them that you approve of what they are doing when the fact is they have an issue that ought to be fixed.

Things You Can Do

The first thing to remember is that a tired dog is a good dog. Give her ample amounts of exercise before you leave. The more time you exercise, the more tired they get, the better. Make a distraction by giving them a bone or a Kong packed with peanut butter about 15 minutes before you leave. For puppies when you first bring them home and have acclimated them to their new home, I hope you say crate, you can put a ticking clock near their bed. It will mimic their mother’s heartbeat. You should preferably also be training them to be by themselves by leaving their eyesight for short intervals of time. So they get used to not seeing you but realizing that you will come back. You can leave a radio or tv on when you go out. You can also do things that indicate you are leaving but then don’t leave. You can act as if you’re getting ready to leave like jingling your keys, putting on your shoes and jacket, then sit back down. Or leave the room and come back in. This will help them to get over the feeling of being abandoned if they know you will be back. If you prepare them early on when they first come home with you, you can successfully eliminate this very familiar dog behavior problem of separation anxiety before it gets unreasonably out of control.

Filed under: Dog Training

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