What is separation anxiety?
Did you know that up to 8 out of 10 dogs show separation related behaviour (SRB)? This is behaviour that only happens when the dog is apart from their owner, typically when home alone. Separation anxiety in dogs is a condition where a puppy or dog displays distress, anxiety and fear when left alone. It is similar to a human having a full blown panic attack.
Our dogs cannot comprehend that we’ll always come back eventually. The stress that this fear creates in our dogs cannot be understated. Understanding that your dog pee’s on the floor when you leave because they’re terrified and have lost control of their bladder, rather than that they are trying to show you who’s boss, is key to treating separation anxiety.
As well as being stressful for the dog, separation anxiety can be very difficult for owners to manage too. Distressed dogs left alone can cause costly damage to property in a bid to escape. Constant barking can often lead to noise complaints from neighbors. The nagging worry of ‘is my dog ok?’ can be draining.
Symptoms
So what behaviour might you see if your dog is experiencing mild separation anxiety? Your dog may pace the house, whine and bark occasionally whilst you’re out. They might also chew their toys or other items lying around in your absence. They might be over excited when you return and take two or more minutes to settle down again.
However, mild separation anxiety can easily be confused with other separation related problems. A dog who is bored, under-stimulated and under-exercised may bark and become destructive if left alone at home all day. Puppies not yet toilet trained may appear to show separation related stress, when actually they have too much unsupervised freedom for their age. Dogs genuinely experiencing anxiety will typically show symptoms within the first 30 minutes of their owner leaving, if not sooner.
Dogs suffering with moderate separation anxiety may not eat when left alone, they might bark or howl most of the time and there may be more intense chewing and destruction. They might also lose bowel and bladder control and give you an excessive greeting on your return. Severely anxious dogs may attempt to escape and show extreme destruction, like scratching through doors. They may shake, drool and engage in forms of self harm like chewing on their paws or tail. In the most severe cases, a dog may aggressively block their owners departure.
Why do dogs get separation anxiety?
The exact reason your dog may suffer with separation anxiety is not always clear. Some breed’s have been bred to stay close to their handler, like gundog’s and lapdog’s. Without consistent training on how to be independent from a young age, these breed’s may be more likely to develop SA than dog’s bred for guarding or independent working, like Shepherd’s and Huskies.
Trauma, illness and malnutrition in utero or in early puppy-hood are all contributing factors for separation anxiety in dogs. So are major life changes like the introduction of new family members, moving house, death of a loved one or returning to work after a long period at home. Because of the lock down that we’ve all been living through for the last two months, many of our dogs have been exposed to this last factor without us really having much control over it.
So how can we help dogs suffering?
If you’ve not left your dog alone in a while or ever, you’ll want to get a clear idea of how exactly they cope when left alone. Set up a webcam or camera to film your dog whilst you leave the room for a few minutes, but no more than thirty minutes. Study their body language carefully and make a note of if/when your dog started to show they were uncomfortable.
There’s no need to do this step if you know for certain your dog will get stressed in your absence. Severe separation anxiety should treated with the help of a professional. Contact us here to discuss how we can help. We will work with you to create a personalized training plan based on gradual desensitization. Your vet may also be able to prescribe medication to help.
Training your dog to be happy home alone
Now that you’ve got an idea of how they currently cope on their own, we can start the training! Firstly, you’ll want to decide where your dog will ‘live’ whilst at home by themselves. This should be a safe space with a comfy, soft bed or den for them to rest in. Make sure you’ve put away anything they’re not allowed to play with. Make sure your dog can’t get loose or escape by confining them to one room or area. Baby gates, play pen’s and hearth gates are useful for creating safe, contained areas.
Once you’ve chosen your space and made it dog-friendly, you’ll teach your dog that this is their new favourite place. Feed them their meals and treats in their safe space and reward them every time they choose to go there. You can try a pheromone releasing plug-in or spray and play calming music when they’re in their safe space too. These steps should help give your dog a strong positive association with their area. Start this a few weeks before you are due to restart work or your normal routine.
Rehearse the room
Once your dog is loving their safe space, we can begin de-sensitizing them to you leaving. To begin with, give your dog an interactive food toy (we love Lickimat’s). Let them get stuck in and after a few seconds, take a few steps towards your front door. Return to your dog. If your dog continued to happily work away on their enrichment, great. If your dog abondons their food toy and follows you, try the activity again. This time, just take a couple of steps away from them and then turn back . You can build up to walking to the front door over a number of sessions.
Once your dog is happy with you going to the front door and back, you can move on. You can practice just opening and closing the front door. Do a few sessions of this to teach your dog the front door opening doesn’t mean they’re being abandoned! As long as your dog is content, you can start going out the front door for a few seconds. Build up your time outside the house in 10 second increments until your dog can cope with 5 minutes.
Train for real life
Throughout this training, you’ll want to include elements of your ‘real life’ departure routine. So if you wear a uniform to work, do a few sessions wearing that. Grab your handbag and lock the door on your way out in some sessions. Practice at different times of the day and on different days of the week.
As long as your dog isn’t showing any signs of distress, you can continue to build up their time alone. Once they can manage 5 minutes alone, you can build up their time alone in 1 minute increments. Set up your camera again to keep an eye whilst you’re gone. That will help you see if you’re leaving them for longer then they can handle. If so, just go back a step. Resist the urge to rush through the steps and go at your dogs pace. You will see better results and your dog will have learnt how to be independent.
Once your dog can manage ten minutes alone, build up their time alone in 2 minute increments. Avoid increasing their time alone every time you leave them. Instead, follow a 2 minute alone session with a 5 minute absence, then 3 minutes, then 7 and so on. Build up your absences until your dog can handle 30 minutes alone. The 30 minute mark is a big milestone in separation anxiety training, so be sure to celebrate!
Life after separation anxiety
Once your dog can manage 30 minutes alone, build up their time alone in 15 minute increments. Build up your absences until your dog can handle up to 3 to 4 hours alone. How long you continue the separation training for is up to you, but be realistic. Even if your dog is unlikely to be left for more than 2 hours at a time, it’s still worth training them to be comfortable with 3, just in case.
Dogs of any age should not be left alone for more than 6 hours at a time as they need to be let outside. Ideally, dogs should not be left for more than 6 hours per 24 hour period. Dogs are social animals that, like us, cannot thrive in isolation.
Treating separation anxiety in dogs is a slow process that can take weeks or months. It requires a great deal of patience and commitment from you the owner. But it is so worth it! Avoid leaving your dog at home alone for longer periods than you have trained for. You will likely see a regression in their independence if they regularly go ‘over-threshold’.
2 thoughts on “Separation Anxiety in Dogs After Coronavirus”
Comments are closed.