An Easy Way to Help a Dog with Separation Anxiety

For this Encino dog training session, we share tips to help Idgie, a 2 year-old mixed breed rescue dog with a case of separation anxiety.

Idgie is a great little dog in a Modern Family, but she doesnt know how to stay calm when left home alone. This can easily lead to separation anxiety in dogs. In fact with CoronaVirus, millions of dogs are developing separaiton anxiety as they have little to no practice at being left home alone.

As one of LA’s dog behavior experts, I have found that teaching a dog to stay and desensitization are the two things most important to helping a dog get over separation anxiety. You can watch me detail free tips on how to stop separation anxiety in dogs in the free positive dog training video below.

It will be important to practice often and always end on a successful note. The key to stopping a dog from freaking out when left alone is to practice a lot in progressively longer sessions. You want to build success on top of success.

With millions of dogs home with their humans 24/7, its a safe bet that many of them will develop a case of separation anxiety. Im calling this the “Corona Effect,” but it doesn’t have to impact your dog. Using these tips to stop separation anxiety should work with any dog.

The guardians would also be well served to teach Idgie some new tricks and commands. This is a great way to get a dog to see us acting like a leader and also boost their confidence which helps dogs with a separation anxiety problem.

Idgie’s guardian’s vet had prescribed some doggy prozac to help and in this case, this was a warranted addition. A month or two after the family completes all the steps to stopping separation anxity outlined in the above video, they can talk to the vet about gradually decreasing the prescription. The prozac is a great short term aide as its helping disrupt the old, unwanted behavior pattern. Once this has been replaced with a calm and confident demeanor for a few months, Idgie will be ready to transition off the drugs. You never want to suddenly stop giving a dog prozac, it needs to be gradually reduced under a doctor’s (vet’s) supervision.

We covered a number of other tips in this in home Encino dog training session. One of Idgie’s guardians is a hero who helps keep the public safe and prioritized her time to do that job instead of joining us in person. I wanted to make sure we rewarded her dedication and got a good overview of the session so we recorded a roadmap to success video that you can watch below.