subject: Separation Anxiety In Dogs [print this page] By far the most typical problems that the typical dog owner have is dog separation anxiety. At the low end, stress and anxiety may be frustrating, resulting in your pet to start barking once you leave the house. Nevertheless, if it's permitted to advance, your dog might start destroying your house, making messes, or woofing incessantly for hours after you leave.
The Reasons for Dog Separation Stress and anxiety
Dogs are pack animals. They feel an immediate connection to their masters and after you leave the house, they're going to grow agitated. However, a lot of the stress and anxiety they feel is a result of the connection of specific actions you take to your absence. While a dog does not like when you leave, there is no direct reason they should grow so agitated.
It happens as you let them have attention before and after you walk out or you go through the same process every morning. Their behaviors are reinforced on a daily basis and the result is a dog that cannot control his anxious feelings after you walk out the house.
Reducing Dog Separation Stress and anxiety
There are many ways to reduce the anxiety your dog feels after you leave your house. Here are a few of the easiest methods.
Change Your Routine - Start by changing your morning process. If your dog starts acting weird the second your alarm clock goes off, they have tagged that sound to the entire process of you going out of your house. Get up at different times, get dressed earlier, take your keys down before you leave and wait for a while. Little variations will reduce pre-leaving stress and anxiety.
Never Reinforce It - After you pet your pet dog before you leave or lavish them with attention after you get home, you're only reinforcing the behaviour. The easiest way to reduce dog separation stress and anxiety is to remove the association between you're comings and goings and their attention. Ignore your pet for 10-15 minutes after you get home, do not pet them when you walk out and stop giving in when they make sad noises. This can be practiced with crate training or putting them in a separate room in your house then leaving and coming back in intervals.
Building Up to Longer Times - If your dog grows anxious the second you walk out of the door, start working on going out of the house for shorter periods of time. Leave for a few seconds and then come back. Dog separation stress and anxiety can be treated by changing the dog's expectations for how long you'll be gone and when you'll return. If they see you are coming back each time, you can stretch out how long you are able to walk out each time.
You're Not Being Nasty
Lots of people feel that the solutions to anxiety are cruel to the dog. In reality, you are helping your pet dog to relax and know that you are not only coming home but that you are in charge of the domain and there is no reason for them to feel that anxiety. Reduced dog separation stress and anxiety is good for their health - both physical and mental.
If your pet dog has prolonged, severe stress and anxiety problems, it is important to address it right away. Even if your pet merely gets upset and doesn't destroy anything once you leave, you can greatly reduce their feelings of abandonment if you teach them not to associate your comings and goings with the pack order and their survival.
