Dogs are like four legged children. They express the same emotion as they do. They get happy, sad, and most of all they suffer from separation anxiety. However, what is separation anxiety and how can you tell if your dog is or has experienced it?
Separation anxiety in dogs can be seen in how your dog behaves when you have left them, return home, or is about to leave them. You will notice that your dog starts getting very anxious and extremely nervous and agitated and they might scratch the furniture’s, bark excessively, wine, and sometimes make messes in the house such as, urine and faeces. They will be overly excited upon your return home and they will try to jump on you when you get home and the natural response from you is to get upset and aggravated; however, do not be too hard on your K9 friend because he just really loves you and is very afraid that you will leave him. The behaviour expressed by your dog is his way of dealing with your absence.
Therefore, as the dog owner, you need to find a way to deal with separation anxiety in your dog, so that he will know that you are coming back when you leave. While a child may understand when you say, “I will be back soon” your dog will not; therefore, you need to communicate with your dog in a language that he understands, such as:
• Training him to understand that you will come back
• Exercising him on a regular basis
• Giving him chew toys to release his anxiety
• The use of anxiety pressure wraps will work on easing his anxiety and
• Aromatherapy will work wonders for him as well
However, with each dog the form of treatment is different and you may also realize that you might have to use a mixture of treatments to alleviate your dog’s anxiety but the very first thing that you should do is have your dog trained into understanding that it is ok to be left alone at times because you will always return. Pick a word or phrase that you only use when you are leaving and try to get your dog to understand it. However, do not try to reassure the dog that you will return because this will only make it worse; therefore, what you should do is leave and return at the same time each day to make them know that this is the time that you will leave and return. It is like how you have their feeding time; they expect it every day at a certain time. Use this process to help and deal with your dogs separation anxiety and you will find that this method works best.
Now that you have set your time you should ensure that you do not make a fuss over your dog when you return home because the more fuss you make the more anxious he will get awaiting your return.
