What is Dog Separation Anxiety?
In some ways, dogs are like humans.
Like us, dogs like routine and often get stressed over large changes in their schedule. This is especially true for negative changes that they do not expect, and do not understand.
Dog separation anxiety usually occurs when our own schedule shifts, thereby disrupting the amount of time we are able to spend with our dogs. When faced with such disruptions, dogs may get stressed and become destructive.
A dog with separation anxiety may chew up household items, and urinate or defecate in the house.
Note that these are displacement behaviors, that occur as a result of stress. They are NOT the result of dominance, vengeance, or maliciousness.
To fix separation anxiety issues, we want to target and reduce our dog’s stress, and not punish him with physical corrections. Pain or dominance based punishment, will often increase stress, and thereby worsen our dog’s anxiety problems.
Dealing With Dog Separation Anxiety
Sadly, we will sometimes get busy, need to travel, or work long hours to meet a deadline. After all, we must go out in the wild world, so that we may put kibble on the table.
Therefore, how do we deal with separation anxiety, and make things better for our dogs?
Dog Separation Anxiety 1 – Daycare
One of the best ways to deal with schedule changes, is to put our dog in daycare. In this way, he gets the company of humans and dogs, while we are away. He also gets to brush up on his dog-to-dog, and dog-to-human socialization skills.
Before committing to a daycare center, it is important to drop by for a tour of the facilities. Ensure that the place is clean, well supervised, and suited to our dog’s temperament. However, even a well-run daycare center may sometimes fail to detect dogs that carry common ailments, such as kennel cough, puppy warts, demodectic mange, and fleas.
Therefore, make sure that our dog is up to date on his vaccinations, before putting him in daycare or boarding.
A dog who is up to date on shots, may still catch something from playing all day long with so many different dogs. This is especially true for puppies and younger dogs, who still have developing immune systems. Unfortunately, this is a risk we must accept, if we decide to put our dog in daycare.
Dog Separation Anxiety 2 – Pet sitter
If we are uncomfortable with sending our dog to a public daycare, we can also hire a pet sitter to keep his separation anxiety issues at bay. The sitter can walk him, and keep him company at home.
Make sure our pet sitter is insured, qualified, has good references, and most importantly, gets along well with our dog.
Although they may be more expensive, I try to find sitters who are also dog trainers. This means they have more experience with dog behavioral issues, and can better deal with a misbehaving, stressed, or fearful canine.
Make sure to give the pet sitter our cellphone number, the location of our vet, as well as special instructions for our dog, including allergies and important house rules.
Dog Separation Anxiety 3 – Try to keep to a schedule
Another way to alleviate separation anxiety issues, is to try and keep to a fixed schedule.
During holidays, go out and visit some friends, so that our dog has his usual alone time. If we have to be away unexpectedly, have a familiar friend come over to fill in for us.
If the change in routine is temporary, we can also have our dog stay over at a friend’s house. First, try bringing our dog over for several short visits. In this way, we are around to make introductions, and help him with the transition to a new environment.
If all goes well, do short stay-overs, then slowly lengthen the time.
Dog Separation Anxiety 4 – Exercise our dog
I take my dog out for a long walk before leaving. This will give him an opportunity to fully relieve himself outside, and also put him in a more restful state of mind.
I take my dog out for another walk, after I get home. Exercise helps to relieve stress, and gives our dog important mental and physical stimulation. Neighborhood walks also help to socialize our dog to a variety of people, objects, other dogs, and other animals.
If we had to stay cooped up in the house all day, we would get cabin fever as well.
Dog Separation Anxiety 5 – Desensitize our dog
Get our dog accustomed to us leaving the house.
First, I start with the ritual of getting my handbag and keys, as well as wearing my shoes. I walk to the door, then sit back down. I repeat this many times throughout the day, so that my dog gets comfortable with my “leaving the house” ritual.
Once this occurs, I walk to the door, leave, and come back to the room. I repeat this until he is relaxed again, then slowly lengthen the time that I am away.
When I achieve an away-time of about 15 minutes, I get in my car, circle the block, and come back.
Make leaving and coming home as low-key as possible.
When I return home, I ignore my dog until he is calm and resting. In this way, he does not spend all day anticipating my return. I also leave him with many interactive, chew-safe food toys, so that he has something interesting to do when home alone.
Dog Separation Anxiety 6 – Dog Medication
There are a variety of medications available, to help treat dog separation anxiety symptoms. However, to be effective, these medications must be used together with a behavior modification program, which includes a rigorous exercise and desensitization routine.
The medication alone will not solve our dog’s anxiety issues. However, it can help mute the symptoms, so that our dog can benefit from the accompanying retraining process.
Dog medication should only be used under the direction of a vet, and only for the short-term.
Dog Separation Anxiety
Dealing with dog separation anxiety will take time, and a lot of patience.
In general, prevention is better than cure. Therefore, we want to start desensitization exercises as early as possible, before any anxiety problems develop.
If we have a very busy lifestyle, consider volunteering at our local shelter or SPCA instead of buying a puppy.
Only get a dog when our schedule becomes more regular, so that there is less danger of separation anxiety, and other behavioral issues.
Hi,
Love the site/blog.
Lots of good tips. Some I use already.
I adopted a 1 year old dog (shih-tzu/pom)- male (not fixed yet).
The people that had him before had always 5 or 6 dogs, several children & a super busy household.
When I arrived at the house to pick up doggie – it was an explosion of dogs barking, kids screaming & adults yelling blue murder. Yay! Nice calm setting…. LOL!
This dog was babied to the point where it even sat on the owner’s lap (not to eat the food off the plate, just to be glued to owner) while they were eating, always carried him around like a baby & generally always had to be in the owner’s face. Constantly glued to them. Even while doing washroom tasks.
They even told me I could never leave – even for a few minutes.
OK – I didn’t clue in. I am a first time dog owner (but have grown up around dogs all my life & leaving for shopping etc was never a problem)
Of course he was happy when we got back but was normal happy. Not frenzied flying panting swirling blur of fur.
OK – I live alone & *someone* has to go get the kibble ..
It is summer so can’t leave the dog in the car while I wait in line at the super market for 45 minutes to pay for my loaf of bread while the temp in the car climbs to 120 degrees C.
I can’t always rely on calling someone to come babysit the dog & let it lick them to death steady so it does not go wacko. I don’t just trust anyone in my home alone.
I guess I could hire someone for 20 bucks or whatever the fee is so I can go spend 2 bucks on a loaf of bread… (this could get expensive especially since I like fresh food & not canned mush so go to the store several times a week)
And besides when they do come over, they encourage his excitement with immediate massive praise, affection as soon as they get in the door cus they think the jumping/barking is cute). (I think this just makes things worse) rather than waiting a few minutes for the dog to calm down for a few minutes then pet, play, whatever when he is in a state of mind to be able to listed to me.
I work from home so I am there most of the time.
I live alone and no other pets so it is a HUGE environment change for him.
My schedule can’t always be perfect – I work from home and sometimes business is different hours.
If I leave for <5 minutes – upon return he is a spinning train-wreck of major hyperness. (I am talking about taking the garbage to the curb here – not a trip to the beach for the day without him)
Even if I just walk around the house & return.
I walk him about 2 hours a day (spread out over a few sessions), has plenty of toys.
I surprise him once in a while with treats but don't treat train him.
He too has separation anxiety. (obviously)
When I get back, he is drooling/panting out of control, spinning/jumping like mad, yelping, and so on for about 15 minutes before he can even respond to anything that resembles down, sit, stay, shush, etc.
I try to not respond at all to him until he calms down. Once he can stay still for a few minutes & sit on command then I praise/pet him & so on.
I want to try & associate the praise related to him sitting/staying rather than "I missed you soooooooo much" lol.
The previous owners let him bark like mad non stop, jump, claw, etc when anyone ever come over, ever met up with another dog while on walks and so on.
To top that off, a friend of mine come over with their dog & gave him a dose of the fleas. (yay! more stress!)
Of course the dog is super sensitive to them & scratches bad. (this is nearly cleared up through aggressive flea control & anti-itch treatments)
Looks like I sure got my work cut out for me huh. LOL!
I work from home on the computer providing remote support & am on the telephone (support also) for an antivirus company. I can't jump up & go play with doggie every time it wimpers or I would no longer have a job.
Because the previous owners constantly attended/paid attention to its every wimper or whenever it even moved a muscle – I feel this is what is slowing my progress on training, behaviour modification, separation anxiety resolution. (because I am not letting it in my face steady steady like he is used to)
I live in a small town where there are no behaviour modification services, dog shrinks, qualified trainers (anyone can teach a dog to sit if you shove enough treats at it)
I can't exactly quit my job or take a month off work to "fix" the dog – it will only start all over again on return to work stuff.
I believe I can do this without having to spend 5000$ to get the dog whisperer here. lol.
Anyway – I hope I am doing the right thing by giving it lots of exercise & play time, social time, etc.
I don't want to drug it to 'make' it calm… I wan't it to learn that being calm is normal & me having to take off for an hour to get kibble is not the end of the world so no need to lose it. lol.
What is your opinion on dogs marking everything they come across on walks?
I realize this is marking territory and so on.
I read some sites where allowing him to do this basically gives him the idea he is alpha (even over me) and I shouldn't let him do it while on walks.
Other sites say to let them mark whatever they want otherwise it is frustrating to them.
Walking the dog & stopping every 3 meters to let him mark is not exactly fun. It feels more like he is taking me out on a p p tour. (he is still over excited when we get home)
I have been on walks where I let him & its constant pulling on the leash, losing it when he sees other people, dogs, etc.
I have been on walks where I keep the leash short with gentle corrections when he tries pulling ahead & it is amazing the difference. We actually get a good workout & he happily falls asleep when we get in.
He also seems less distracted by other people, dogs, etc this way rather than charging ahead like a wild bull (trying) to drag me. LOL!
Anyway – hoping I am making progress here & hope he improves.
I've always said I love a challenge — well I sure got it! 🙂
Hope some got a chuckle & hope post was not too long.
Thanks,
Tam~~
Hi again –
Just thought I would quick update things a bit.
Over the last few days I have seen a huge difference in my dog’s behaviour.
Last week I would not be able to walk him down the street past someone without him spazzing out with over-excitement.
Now I can walk past people, greet them and so on & all it takes is a gentle “down” command to stop him from jumping etc. (this includes people on bikes, noisy skateboards, walking alone, with strollers, etc)
Not much reaction either when meeting someone else with a dog. I have not reached the confidence in ME yet not to anticipate issues but that is coming soon. I just have to remind myself everything is going to be just fine & it will be.
Today I come across this lady pushing a triple stroller. We stood there for 10 minutes shooting the breeze & not a sound out of my dog. Curious sniffing and such as usual but quiet as could be. 3 very young anxious children in the stroller & my dog after a minute or 2 was just laying there waiting for me to finish yakking. LOL!
Last week if someone come to the door – the dog went wacko barking with excitement & would not quit.
Today my contractor come over (he knows to just walk in) who the dog has never met before come over to do his work & the dog was quiet. Went to him & sniffed as usual, looked for a greet/pet but it was amazing that he didn’t explode into barking like mad-excited.
I can now leave for several minutes at a time without very much reaction at all from the dog. He is happy on my return but not excited to the point of out-of-control.
No anxiety panting, no crazy jumping, just a happy dog. I don’t make any deal about my coming & going – I just do it – calmly as if he wasn’t there.
When he calms down (2 min) I greet him & praise him.
He is often quite content to sprawl out in his bed in the other room for an hour or so at a time without having to sleep on top of my feet.
Walks? Wow — so nice to have him walk beside me without him yanking on the leash choking himself half to death.
Distractions? – not much bothers him now — ready to move onto more & bigger challenges.
Heh – in short – I hadda train ME to be calm & not get loud/anxious around him when I have to apply any discipline. Otherwise he is a mess because of MY reactions to whatever is happening.
Awesome learning experience.
All it took was for me to calm down & quit anticipating something bad was gunna happen.
I see huge improvements every day .. its simply amazing how our feelings/emotions etc around an animal transfers to it. (weather calm/relaxed or anxious/angry/frustrated, etc)
It is like night & day.
I’m anxious, he is anxious.
I’m calm, he is calm.
We have our play-time after walks (so he is not excited during walks) where we play tug-o-war etc, then after that – he goes & has a nap. lol.
hhaha — contractor right now is working in my basement drilling holes in concrete to install a water heater. Earlier the dog was growling and upset.
Took the dog to the basement to show him what was going on & took him back upstairs.
Hes laying here beside me schnoozing away happy as could be.
Lots to learn yet – but it is going sooo well. Dog issues? Naw – I just didn’t know how to handle a dog & thought I had to undo a years worth of babying/pampering.
Now that I know dogs live in the moment for the most part … then it is the pleasant ‘in the moment’ things I want him to learn & love.
Sooo.. question remains:
Do I let him p p all over every pole, hydrant, etc along walks or is it OK to not let him mark the entire neighbourhood?
He does make it pretty obvious if he is marking or just going to the washroom so it is pretty obvious what I need to allow/not allow. Just not sure if it is going to lead to frustrations if I don’t allow marking everywhere we go.
Hello Tammy,
I am so glad to hear that things are going so well. With Sephy, calm energy was also very important. I also noticed a big change in his behavior after I changed my own energy and responses.
As for marking during walks, I personally do not see the harm in that. They are leaving social markers for other dogs to find, and it is a very natural behavior. They also seem to enjoy smelling markers from other dogs.
When I first got Sephy and started training him, I found that there was a lot of contradictory information out there. Some people want to attribute everything to dominance/being alpha, and others don’t even want to use the ‘d’ word. Here is my take on dog dominance.
http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs
http://shibashake.com/dog/dominance-bad-dog-behavior
Hi,
My husband and I just moved into a house from an apartment. We have a 5 year old shih-tzu/maltese (C.C.) and an 8 or 9 year old westie (Truman). We used to live with my brother who helped with the seperation anxiety but have since moved out as we are expecting our first child in a couple months. They are having a hard time adjusting to the new house so far. Along with the usual urinating, defacating, howling and general freaking out they recently started becoming destructive, Truman especially. My husband and I both work full time so consistent training is near impossible. Even though we have begun to while we aren’t working. Both dogs were fully grown when we got them and we don’t crate them, in fact, the one time Truman was locked in a room he tore up the carpet and destroyed the padding underneath. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Some things that helped with Sephy-
1. Daily exercise. We walk him for an hour or more every day, have fun play sessions, do obedience training, make him work for his food through interactive toys, etc.
2. Desensitization exercises. I slowly desensitized Sephy to the “people leaving” ritual.
3. I start small and slowly increase the challenge. First I only leave him alone for a very short time (seconds) before coming back in. Once he is accustomed to this and calm, I very slowly increase the challenge.
4. I set him up for success and only expose him to situations where he can handle. When Sephy was young, we got a dog walker to take him on group walks at the park. This helped to socialize him to other dogs and also broke up the tedium of his day when I am not home. Other possibilities include dog daycare, pet sitter, or getting a neighbor to come over and visit.
Other things that I did are listed in the article above. Good luck!
Hi,
we’ve got a 4 year old danish-swedish garddog, the breed is quite similar to the jack russell. However, he is what you’d say an extreme case of dog separation anxiety, and there is no way any of us can leave the house without him howling and barking, and without sneaking out the backdoor. I’m sure the reason why it got to this is that my father always took him with him on his business trips, which was quite alot, as an easier choice instead of training him to stay home alone. Big mistake. Now, we’ve tried numerous of things, like putting on shoes and a jacket, picking up car-keys and walking around. We even tried the 5-10-15 minute ritual of leaving him, but he is too stressed to calm down. If you as much as walk towards the door he freaks out. And when we come home, after leaving him for a couple of hours, he gets so excited he almost shakes! I know that the whole stress is typical for this breed, but this is too extreme, and I am sure that other families have the same breed without any of the above mentioned issues. What is the next step? What should we do next?
Hello Monica,
With Sephy what seemed to help is to start *very* small. In the beginning I would just walk to the door and then sit back down. I keep repeating that many times per day until he stops reacting to it. If he reacts, I just treat it like a non-event, i.e., sit back down and ignore him. If he keeps reacting too strongly, then I dial things back even more, e.g. I may just stand up and then sit back down and then repeat.
I keep repeating until Sephy stops reacting, then I very slowly increase the challenge. The key with Sephy is to go very slowly initially. Once he started to gain some confidence, things started to progress a lot faster. But things were very slow in the beginning.
The other important thing is to control my own energy. Sometimes I would get anxious myself in anticipation of Sephy freaking out. Sephy would pick up on that energy and get even more frantic. Once I became more calm, Sephy’s behavior also improved. Being angry or frustrated also worsened Sephy’s behavior.
Doing a lot of daily exercise with Sephy also helped with his anxiety. Socializing him to a wide variety of people and environments helped him gain confidence in other areas, which helped with his separation anxiety.
Finally, getting help from a professional trainer can also be helpful. A good trainer can place cameras in the house and figure out a good plan to desensitize the dog and help him become more relaxed when home alone.
Hey I have a 1.5 yr old beagle who has bad seperation anxiety we are not sure how to deal with as he is much older now my problem is that we just got a 8 week old shiba and I worry that he will try to follow the beagles actions is that a correct assumption? Anything I can do to help? Also my shiba will not go to the bathroom on any puppy pads or fake grass just goes inside and outside when we take him, when he makes a mistake I tell him no an place him on the pad then take him outside is there something I’m doing wrong? Lastly he loves to play with our beagle but I worry if we let him play too roughly he will be aggressive towards other dogs as well. Anything to do so he don’t become aggressive but can still play with his buddy?
Hello Gordana,
In terms of separation anxiety, desensitization exercises can be helpful. I did that with Shiba Sephy when he was young, and he is now pretty good being home alone. Sephy also really likes a fixed routine and consistent rules. He is less stressed when he knows what to expect from everyone in the family – in terms of both schedule and behavior.
http://shibashake.com/dog/separation-anxiety-dog-why-how-reduce-dog-stress#desensitize
In terms of potty training, what has helped with my dogs is not only to ‘correct’ mistakes, but also to reward them really well for doing their business outside. As soon as they are done with potty outside, I mark the behavior (Good) and reward them with attention, food, and a fun game. Here is more on puppy potty training.
In terms of playing, I always supervise play sessions and have many play breaks. This keeps everyone from getting over-excited. I do not allow any kind of bullying. I also do group obedience training sessions, so that they learn it is most rewarding when they are calm and working together. Here is more on what I do to introduce a new dog.
Hugs to your dogs and congratulations on your new Shiba puppy! 😀
Hi, we have a 4 year old Cavashon. For the most part he’s absolutely the best dog ever! However, he has gotten into the habit of becoming agitated and stress when ANYONE leaves the house. If we’re home on a Saturday morning and I need to run an errand, but my husband is home, the dog can sense at leat 10-15 minutes before I leave and starts barking and running around, trying to nip at you to stay. It happens if either of us goes out alone, or when we leave together. It also happens when we have company and the company is leaving, he starts going crazy. I also mention, that when we are in the park and someone stops to pet him, when that person starts to leave, he gets very surly, growling, etc.
This behavior has developed over the last year, but it’s getting worse. Please help.
Thanks
Hello Joyce,
How does he react when he is led away by a leash before the person leaves?
Yeah, dogs are extremely observant and they know all the little things we do when we get ready to leave. Desensitization exercises can be helpful in these situations.
http://shibashake.com/dog/separation-anxiety-dog-why-how-reduce-dog-stress#desensitize
A variation on people desensitization exercises can also help get a dog accustomed to people coming and leaving. The key is to only expose the dog to a little of the stimulus at a time, so that he can remain calm for the duration. At the same time, we engage the dog in doing something else together with us, so that he focuses on us, instead of on the stressful external stimulus.
In the meantime, we want to set our dog up for success and carefully manage him so that he does not get exposed to stressful situations that will trigger his reactive behavior. The more a dog practices a behavior, the more it will become a habit.
hello. yeah. my dog keeps on trying to get over to my neighbors fence. ever scince they moved in she has been digging and trying to get over. i spend lots of time with her but she still is so devoted to get over there. why? please help
Hello Julie,
There are many reasons why dogs dig. My Sibes love to dig to hunt for mice and other earth critters. My puppy once dug and chased a mouse all the way to my neighbor’s yard. Now I place concrete blocks on my fence line so that she cannot dig over there.
Some things that can help with fence digging-
1. I let my dog’s dig in a large area at the back of my yard. Then I train them as to where it is ok to dig, and where it is not ok. In this way, they can still engage in fun digging, but not cause any damage.
2. Exercise helps a lot. The time my puppy dug over to my neighbor’s yard, was during vet-visit day and I only took her for a shorter daily walk. Now I make sure to take her for longer walks every day (1-2 hours).
3. I also take my dogs to the hill trails around my neighborhood, where there are many interesting smells and they can also dig for mice and such.
Hello! I hope someone still checks this and can help. My dog has this problem, but not at home, its in the daycare. I don’t want to place the whole blame on the daycare, since it would not be fair. My 7 month husky/mal is used to stay at home by himself for max 5 hours. However, today we decided to try daycare bc we would be gone more than the typical time. Now, when he is home he shows no sign of separation anxiety-he gets his snacks, we dont even overly say goodbye, we just simply leave. we have felt that by doing this, it has helped him get used to staying home by himself. when we come back he is quietly waiting in the kitchen, happy to see us, but never to the point where he shows anxiety.
However, today, we got a call a few hours later from the daycare stating that he is showing separation anxiety, but that he was playing well with all the dogs in the daycare when its play time. They suggested sedatives when he goes into kennels (which we do not want to do, seeing that he has never showed this problem at home alone). We then get a call again stating that we should pick him up because he starting howling and showing signs of anxiety, and they were afraid he might hurt himself. Now, I was becoming worried and upset because as professionals they should know how to handle situations like this especially if its his first day. Also, we specifically chose this daycare bc they featured all day play with a few rest breaks. Knowing that he loves to play with dogs, as long as his breaks (basically putting him in his kennel) wont go over an hour, he would be ok. However, it seemed as if they kept the dogs longer than that. Well in the end of the day, he showed separation anxiety. I would love for him to not have this at any daycare facility, but how do i fix this if he is absolutely fine at home? Should we just find daycare with all day play and no kennel boarding? the only reason we placed him in the daycare center is so he would have company, being that we would be away for more than 5 hours? any suggestions!?
thank you in advance!
Hello Stefania,
My Shiba Inu had a similar experience with daycare. In his case, he really likes his routine, and does not like sleeping in strange places, especially when we are not there. The other thing about daycare that did not suit Sephy is that he really likes energetic wrestling and high speed chase games, which most daycare places do not allow (for good reason).
An alternative to daycare that I tried is hiring a dog walker. She takes out a group of around 5 dogs to walk off-leash at a nearby park. Shiba Sephy does not have good recall, but he really loves other dogs, so that was how the dog walker got him to come back. I would not do off-leash walking with my Sibes because they have much higher prey drive and there is a greater chance that they would bolt after deer. However, most dog walkers also offer on-leash walking services.
The nice thing about group walking is that Shiba gets to play with other dogs, gets to go to the park, and after that he comes home to the house pretty tired out. The weakness with hiring a dog walker is that most of them use aversive techniques, which was the key reason we stopped this activity. Also, there are a wide range of dog walkers with different levels of skill. I made sure to get one with a lot of experience, supervised the dogs well, and who is insured. We met the dog walker at our house first, evaluated how she interacted with Sephy, and we also followed her on a couple of her walks.
In terms of all day daycare, I am not sure how that would go for a puppy. Puppies are not very good at monitoring their own activity level, and may just play, play, play and forget to rest.
I did visit one all-day play daycare when I was looking for places for Sephy. They told me that they supervise the dogs closely so that the dogs that were resting, did not get bothered by the other dogs. They also only accepted more calm or submissive dogs. In essence, they want to make sure that when a dog who does not want to play makes his/her wishes known, the other dog will back away. Sephy was not a good candidate. 😀
Another possibility is to get a pet sitter to come over to the house.
Thank you for all your suggestions and help! I have just realized that my dog just loves the company, and that he loves spacious places. He knows how to stay at home alone, but not longer than 5 hours. We have just figured out to come home during lunch time and then leave again. As long as he has some interaction in the middle of the day he will be a-ok. I just was worried when they told me separation anxiety, but have never seen the signs of that even when we left him at home. I will def. look into pet sitters as well.
I must say your blog has helped me so much with the growth of my pup Lobo, from when Lobo was going through his puppy biting phases (around last October) and still find myself going to your blogs. thanks again!!
I believe you posted about this but I can’t find it…
Just wondering what are some things I can do to help with separation anxiety? Reptar’s environment and routine has completely changed this past week. He’s actually doing remarkably well and his behavior hasn’t changed too much. However, he is now unsure of his crate (before, he used to love it and go in willingly). I’m just trying to curb any negative effects that might be coming from these drastic changes.
Thanks for any tips you can provide!
Hey Colleen,
So good to see you. How have you been?
We moved one year after I got Sephy. In the beginning I established a very fixed routine again, and also exercised him more. He gets stressed whenever there are any changes, so the fixed routine helps him a lot. That way he knows exactly when eating time is, when he goes for walks, and most importantly when people come home.
Another thing you may try is to put Reptar into his crate for shorts periods of time even when you are home. Let him work on his Kong or bully stick. In this way he doesn’t associate being in the crate with you being gone.
Hugs to you and Reptar. Make sure to take some R&R time-off for yourself as well. 😀
Thanks UnkCoothd. You make a very good point. Dogs can sometimes be forced into an alpha position when there are no rules or consistency in the household. Many dogs get stressed from this because situations arise in the human world that they are unequipped to handle. Many behavioral issues may ensue including not eating, guarding food, marking objects inside the house, etc. These behaviors usually persist even when people are home because such dogs feel stress all of the time. As you described, exercise, rules, and consistency are important to keep this from happening.
Hey shibashake great hub. I especially think number 3 is important. Another thing to mention is that only the alpha role in a pack is allowed to leave without the others. If a dog assumes the alpha role in its human pack the subordinates leaving can tend to cause separation anxiety and frustration that combined with a lack of exercise can lead to massive damage, defecation and other mayhem while the owners are away.