Dog separation anxiety is the most common behavior referred by veterinarians to dog behaviorists.
Discover the difference betwen minor and extreme forms of dog separation anxiety, and some things you can do for each of those levels.
In this episode, learn how to change your leaving-the-house routine to learn your dog’s triggers and help her stay calm.
Show Highlights
- Medication is not always the best answer for dog separation anxiety
- There are different levels of separation anxiety
- Today’s podcast is gong to be about the general idea of dog separation anxiety and different ways to take care of it
- This is one of the two main behavior issues
- More often than not, owners are reinforcing the anxiety behaviors from their dogs
- Typically this is a behavior that happens early on
- Naturally, when they are puppies we want to nurture them when they are upset or whining
- Puppies do not have analytical thinking like children do
- Puppies learn by receiving attention. When they are upset, they know that is how they get attention and what they need to do everytime they leave the house
- Ep 073 Crate Training Your Dog – how to respond when crate training your dog. Also listen to Ep 074 The Freaked-Out, Insecure, Neurotic Dog for more tips and tricks
- Bennie Copeland’s style of training: Praise is the framework, use Motivation and Correction to create opportunities to Praise
- Whenever your dog is doing what you want, you give that positive attention.
- Can correction be used for your dog’s anxiety?
- One of the best ways to work on the behavior is to ignore the behavior
- If your dog has anxiety do not make a big deal when you come home
- Some signs you may look for with your dog
- Whining
- Chewing on items
- Mass destruction in their crates
- Barking for extended periods of time
- Extreme behaviors—e.g. if your dog is potty trained and she suddenly pees or poops in the house
- If your dog destroys all the wood around the door, or a window frame from where the dog can see you leaving
- Other things that may cause anxiety for your dog
- Moving to a new place
- A new family member or person comes into the home
- A family member close to your dog moves away or dies
- A dog that was never boarded as a puppy being boarded as an adult
- Your dog is accustomed to being home with someone regularly, and then a schedule changes
- When you go to your vet for severe cases of anxiety, they will more than likely prescribe medication
- Bennie agrees that the medication can be very helpful and can help build your dog’s confidence, but after a certain amount of time you should ween your dog off the medication
- Medication is more of a mask that hides the ultimate cause of the anxiety – it will not correct the problems
Non-medicinal ways to help dog separation anxiety:
- Minor dog separation anxiety
- When you leave, make it a positive experience and maybe give your dog a treat
- Use a phrase or a word everytime when you leave
- Leave clothes on the floor you recently wore so they can lay on them while you are gone
- Severe dog separation anxiety
- See a behaviorist
- Create a safe plpace for your dog
- Leave toys that will challenge your dog or really occupy their time
- Have your dog do some of these things while you are home
- It is mportant to teach your dogs that it is imporatant to have alone time while you are both in the house as well
Homework
Changing your routine when you are leaving the house:
- Put your items like a wallet or a purse in different places when you get home
- Put your keys in your pockets before you leave as this is a general trigger for dogs
- Go out a different door than you usually do
- Return through a different door than you used to leave the house
- Leave for very short periods of time and see how your dog responds in that moment
- No big attention when you get back into the house—only when you are leaving—positive affection
- The more you can change up your routine and give positive attention when you leave, it will help your dog’s anxiety
- When you get home, allow your dog to calm down before you give her attention
Call to Action
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