Dog Separation Anxiety: What You Need To Know

How often has your dog started barking when you get out of the house? This is one of the most common problems that almost every pet owner - dog separation anxiety. Though this is slightly irritating to some, but in severe cases your dogs might start to ruin your house, or barking relentlessly for hours when you leave. So here is what you should know about dog separation anxiety.

The Causes of Dog Separation Anxiety

You have to know that dogs are pack animals and they sense a direct connection to their masters. And they will grow nervous when you get out of the house. But, almost all of the anxiety that they feel is because they are attached to the specific actions you take on your leave.

Your dog doesn't actually have a direct motive why they grow agitated when you leave. It is because their behaviors are reinforced on a regular basis; you give them attention before and after you leave or you go through the same routine each morning. This makes your dog not able to control their nervous feelings when you get out of the house.

How you can Reduce Dog Separation Anxiety

There are a lot of methods to reduce the dog separation anxiety. Here are a few of the easiest methods.

Change Your Routine - By changing your morning routine you can reduce pre-leaving nervousness. You can get up at different times, get your keys down before you go away and wait for a while or get dressed sooner. You can also differ your routines to further reduce the pre-leaving nervousness of your dog.

Don't Reinforce It - When you lavish or pet your dog with attention before you leave and when you come back, you're actually reinforcing the behavior. One of the easiest ways to lessen dog separation anxiety is to ignore your dog for 10-15 minutes when you go out or come back from work. By doing this you are getting rid of the relationship between you're comings and goings and their attention. You can do this by using crate training or putting them in a separate room in your house then leaving and coming back in time intervals.

Increasing to Longer Times - If your dog grows nervous the second you walk out the door, you should start going out of the house for quicker periods of time. You can do this by leaving for a few seconds and then come back. By doing this, you are altering the dog's expectations for how long you'll be away and when will you come again and also increasing how long you are able to leave each time. This will help reduce dog separation anxiety can be treated by modifying the dog's anticipation for how long you'll be gone and when you'll return.

You're Not Being Mean

You may think that you are being cruel to your dog by using these ways. But in reality, you are actually helping them to relax, and letting them know that you're coming back again and also that you're in control of the domain and there is no reason for them to feel that anxious. Not to mention that reducing dog separation anxiety is great for your dog's health - both physical and also mental.

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