If you’ve come home to a chewed up house, barking dog or found accidents, its a good bet it has developed Separation Anxiety.
Prior to CoronaVirus, it was estimated up to 50% of all dogs suffer from this problem. That number is much higher now. In fact, Dog Separation Anxiety Help has become one of our most common in home dog training requests.
Stopping Separation Anxiety in Dogs
Separation Anxiety is esstentially a panic attack a dog has when being left alone. This condition can impact dogs of every age, sex and breed. This is most often a result of the dog not practicing being alone when they are a young puppy. This is why we stress the importance of setting up a Long Term Confinement Area or safe sanctuary in our puppy training classes.
People often take it personally when they come home to find their dog has destroyed furniture, chewed through the front door or a wall, had accidents or barks non stop until someone comes home. But your dog is not acting this way on purpose.
Accidents, chewing and other destructive behaviors are common symptoms of Separation Anxiety in dogs
Some people think their dog is chewing, soiling or barking intentionally, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Dogs with separation anxiety often bark non-stop or loose control of thier bowels due to the stress. Some chew things up to try to soothe themselves and others will chew at doors or walls to escape. People often mistakenly think the dog chewed or soiled their things on purprose “to get back at them for leaving the dog alone.”
Dog Gone Problems’s Separation Anxiety expert Claire gets some kisses from a gratetful client!
In reality, dogs act out in these ways as a coping mechanism trying to deal with or aleviate the stress; so any punishment will only make matters worse. We know its frustrating, but trust on this one; pointing to the item and saying “bad dog” will not help. In fact, it will most likely make it worse.
Other people think a kennel can solve their dog’s separation anxety problem, but that just causes the dog to become more frustrated as its not addressing the root cause to the problem; an insecurity of being left home alone. Or try to escape the kennel!
Your dog may not chew things up or soil the house when its in a kennel, but the anxiety is often multiplied, resulting in evern worse behaviors (territorality, barking, aggression, sound sensitivity, fearful behaviors, etc).
Due to such high demand, one of the Professional Dog Trainers on our staff Claire Herum, has developed a treatment plan to help people’s dogs get over their Separation Anxiety problem for good. If you want more information or to schedule an in home dog training session to stop your dog’s Separation Anxiety, fill out the form below.
