If, when you leave your dog it appears fretful, or has chewed its bedding, its toys or your prized possessions when you return, it is most likely suffering from separation anxiety. You’ve probably noticed that they also follow you constantly when you move around the house.
Dogs experience separation anxiety because they feel responsible for you and are worried that they are going to lose a member of their pack, they don’t understand where you’re going or when you’ll return. As pack leader you need to show that you are the decision maker and that you decide where you go and when you’ll be back, without your dog having to worry at all.
Because of our busy lives our dogs need to learn to be alone from time to time. Overcoming this problem requires the dog to become desensitised by building up separation over short periods of time so that your dog really believes that you are capable of coming and going whenever you like. It’s important that each time you leave or return this is done as quietly and calmly as possible to avoid anxiety during separation.
There are four occasions where a dog questions whether or not it is the main decision maker and one of these occasions is when reuniting after separation.
If you require a one-to-one consultation to solve your dog’s separation anxiety please use the Contact Me page of this web site.