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dealing with separation anxiety |
Some dogs experience a high level of anxiety when left alone, even for very short periods of time. Most puppies learn how to entertain themselves while alone and gain confidence in their ability to be alone.
Some dogs, for various reasons, do not gain confidence in themselves. Some dogs are left alone too long when they are puppies and they become traumatized by the event. Other dogs are neglected or abused and therefore have a low self-esteem. All of these types of dogs can show profound anxiety when being left alone, or simply out of eye-sight of their "people." The process of teaching a foster dog with separation anxiety self-confidence can be time consuming and requires a lot of patience and positive reinforcement.
Begin by changing your "leaving" routine.
Dogs that exhibit separation anxiety usually begin to get anxious long before you walk out the door. Most people have a set "leaving" routine that they go through before leaving the house. They put their shoes on, close the windows, lock the doors, jingle the car keys, etc. Your foster dog will learn this routine very quickly and if he already gets anxious from being left alone, this long, drawn out "leaving" routine can make matters worse.
When you leave the house, do so promptly
When you leave, say "Take care of the house" or a similar phrase. Don't make a big deal out of leaving, just start to teach them a phrase that means, "I'll be gone, but I'll be back." Then, when you leave, turn around and come back in after about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Say hello to your dog in a low-key manner and go about your day. You need to be low-key so that you teach your dog to be low-key. If you are overly anxious about leaving or coming home you will be conditioning your dog to be anxious as well.
Conditioning Confidence
The first day of working on desensitizing your dog, you need to leave and come back at least 10 times. Each time you leave, increase the time you are gone: 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, etc. Any time you come home and your dog was exhibiting his anxious behavior (chewing, barking, etc.) cut the time you leave in half next time. If he's still experiencing separation anxiety, cut your time in half again! Once your dog is no longer anxious, start increasing the times again.
Because of the time and commitment involved in these exercises, it is best if do this on your vacation time for the first week or until you build up to about 4 hours of being gone with no anxiety from your dog. If vacation time is impossible, then start on Friday afternoon or evening, and make this your primary activity for the whole weekend. Then repeat this again the following weekend, varying the time you are gone. Leave for 30 minutes, then for 5 minutes, then for 10 minutes, then for 2 hours, etc. Also, provide your dog with some interesting chew toys or a Kong toy filled with treats, etc. to give him something to occupy his time while you are away.
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