Preventing Separation Anxiety…
Separation anxiety is something I am being contacted about a lot. It is a really common problem but doesn’t need to be.
If you have brought a new puppy home during lockdown and have been spending a lot of time at home with them, you might be concerned that they are not prepared for when life returns to some sort of normality and that they may find your absence overly stressful. If you have an adult dog you may be starting to see signs that being parted from you is now causing them undue levels of stress after having got used to you being around so much for the last few months.
Separation anxiety can be extremely upsetting for both you and your dog and can manifest itself in various ways depending on its severity. The course of action taken will depend on you, your dog and the seriousness of the anxiety you are facing.
Here are some key steps you can take in order to prevent separation anxiety becoming a problem, even whilst you are spending a lot of time at home. Start doing these now so that your dog doesn’t struggle when normality resumes…
Do not reward attention-seeking behaviours. Rewards could include talking to your dog, touching them, giving them something to ‘distract’ them or even just looking at them. Attention seeking behaviours could be your dog barking, pawing or whining for things like affection, play or food. Feel free to do all these things with your dog when they are not demanding it of you.
Do not allow your dog to follow you around all day. Close doors behind you when you leave a room. Even if your dog is asleep and settled in the next room, close the door the between you; this will help your dog get used to not being able to access you freely and constantly.
Schedule periods of enforced separation into your day, every day. If you are spending most of your time at home in the company of your dog, it is tempting to let your dog sleep at your feet or on your lap all day as you work. Unfortunately your dog may become so used to constantly being with you that they then become anxious when they are no longer able to permanently access you. Even if you will not be returning to your workplace or office after lockdown, at some point your life will return to some sort of normality and you will need to spend more time out of the house and away from your dog. Regular periods of enforced separation will help prepare your dog for this.
If you are seeing signs that your dog has separation anxiety and sleeps on your bed with you, you may want to consider removing them to outside your bedroom.
If you have a puppy, get them used to being separated from you as soon as possible. I am hearing and reading a lot of advice at the moment which suggests new puppy owners should not leave their puppy alone at all when they are young as this will increase the chances of separation anxiety. I do not agree with this advice. The sooner you get your puppy happy with being left alone, the better. Always best to start as you mean to go on and teach your puppy this valuable life skill.
I hope you’ve found this post helpful. If you would like support preventing separation anxiety in your puppy or dog or you would like help to fix an existing issue then please get in touch to discuss.
