Separation anxiety occurs in dogs who become highly attached to their owner or another dog in the family and are therefore distressed in their absence. This may occur each time you leave the house or the room with the door closed. Scratching at the door, chewing things up, barking hysterically are just a few of the signs. Most puppies always want to be close to their humans and those that haven’t been taught how to stay alone may exhibit unwanted behaviours.
We often unintentionally train our puppies to behave this way; if you make leaving a big production – lots of hugs and goodbyes or asking if he’ll miss you – your puppy will assume that you leaving is a big deal and will be left in a state of excitement and then anxiety. This means while you are gone your puppy needs to express their energy and usually ends up barking, digging and chewing as a way of releasing this energy. Thankfully this is something that we can prevent.
To help prevent your puppy becoming distressed when you leave:
- Make leaving and arriving uneventful. When you leave your puppy do so without any fuss, talking or eye contact. When you return home do so without any fuss, talking or eye contact
- When you return wait until your puppy is completely calm and has left you alone before giving them attention. This teaches your puppy that only calm behaviour gets attention
- Encourage alone time every day. Gradually increase the amount of time your puppy spends alone
- Develop a consistent routine with your puppy
- Make sure you provide plenty of toys that will occupy and challenge your puppy when you are away from home
- Leave the radio or TV on as human voices can be soothing
- Don’t ever reprimand your puppy if it has been destructive. This will be ineffective (unless you catch them in the act) and may further increase your puppy’s anxiety levels
In the long term this training helps your puppy relax more quickly and teaches them to be happy and relaxed while you are away.
Training should focus on preventing a problem by starting early and avoiding bad habits.
