subject: Separation Anxiety Or Spoiled? [print this page] The term "separation anxiety" is bandied about a lot by dog owners. They may have a dog that barks and cries when the owner leaves the house. The owner likely feels very guilty about leaving their dog home alone and the dog senses this feeling and learns to play on it. This reaction is quite common. Dogs are very social animals and they often don't like to be alone. They get bored just as people do. However, true separation anxiety is a psychological condition that can exist even when the owner is present in the home. In order to be able to help your dog you will need to assess whether he has true separation anxiety or whether he is merely a little spoiled or bored when left alone.
With genuine separation anxiety a dog can't stand to let you out of his sight when you're together in the home. He probably follows you from room to room. He may chew on things that have your scent, especially when you're gone. Your dog may become so stressed by your absence that he will use the bathroom in the house when you're not there. Your dog will cry, whimper and whine every single time you leave him alone in the house, even if you leave him for periods less than 30 minutes. This can even occur when there are other people in the home. He may ignore them and cry for you. These are signs that your dog may have a genuine psychological problem.
Other behavior is often mistakenly called separation anxiety. When your dog follows you to the door or barks and cries in the house when you first leave, this is sometimes mistaken for separation anxiety. However, this behavior usually subsides almost as soon as the owner is gone. It may be undesirable behavior but it is not true separation anxiety. Your dog may sleep while you're gone or, in some cases, pursue destruction in the house. Most of the time your dog acts out in destructive ways not because you are gone but because he is bored.
There are some things you can do to reduce the drama of leaving the house.
1. Keep things low-key. For example, avoid emotional goodbyes with your dog every morning before you go to work.
2. Reward sitting behavior when you say hello and goodbye to your dog. Give treats for calmness.
3. Stay positive. Your dog takes his cues from you.
4. Practice leaving the house when you're not really going anywhere. Jangle keys, start the car, come back inside. Show your dog that you always return and it's no big deal when you go out the door.
You can address your dog's boredom by giving him things to do while you're gone -- give your dog a hobby. Fill a Kong toy with peanut butter or other treats; get a toy like a Buster Cube which requires your dog to play with it to get the treat from it.
Consider crating your dog while you're gone. Your dog can be safely crated for several hours, but will need to be exercised and played with during the day if you work a full eight hours. Crating is a good solution for some dogs since it offers a restful situation in a stress-free environment. Other people put up baby gates and section off one room of their home for their dog while they're away. In either case make sure you leave something safe for your dog to chew on or play with, along with an article of yours with your scent, as well as water.
Of course dogs don't want us to leave them. Maybe they are a little spoiled in that regard. They don't want to be left alone all day while we go to work or go out without them. But most of us can't take our dogs to work with us and there are many other places where we can't take our dogs. These tips should help your dog handle staying at home without so much drama and guilt.
