How to plan against Separation Anxiety in your dog

 

There is no scientific evidence showing that any particular breeds suffer SA any more than others but there appears to be anecdotal evidence about some breeds. Approximately 20% of dogs can suffer SA, for rescue dogs, that can rise to 40%. No matter what, the time to start on SA prevention is day 1. SA is a devastating condition for owners and dogs alike. It is widely recognised as the most challenging behavioural issue there is in dogs. In addition to the cost of treatment, there’s the cost of replacing, sofas, doors, beds, crates, tables etc, etc. Our advice? Get the first punch in.

 

Peekaboo!

Dogs don’t come ready to understand what is happening when they can’t see you. Playing peekaboo with your puppy starts to teach this and just like with human toddlers, it’s a lot of fun too.

• Start with a cushion or newspaper, cover your face and re-appear. Just for a second, repeat a few times then gradually increase your time ‘out of site’ up to 5 seconds.
• Repeat several times a day for 3 days.
• Now pop out of the room and back. Start at 1 second and increase to 5 seconds as before.
• You may need someone to help stop pup looking for you.
• Repeat several times a day for 5 days.
• Repeat and kind of short out of sight absence up to 5 seconds. Use your imagination.
• DO NOT try and trick the pup like you see on videos. Short absence and back.

The Door is a bore.

Despite what you may read about car keys and coats, the most significant indicator to the dog is the door. The door is ground zero. When you go through the door, bad things happen in your dog’s head. You need to get the dog into a position where the door is boring, nothing happens, it’s as significant as the ironing board.

 

Here we go…….. repeat each point 10 times then onto the next. No more than 3 sessions a day.

• Walk towards the door walk away before you get there.
• Walk up to the door. Stop. Walk away.
• Walk to the door, touch the handle, walk away.
• Walk to the door, use the handle, walk away.
• Walk to the door, open and immediately close it, walk away.
• Walk to the door, open it wait for 2 seconds, close it and walk away.
• Walk to the door, open it, step outside then straight back in and walk away.
• Etc, etc until you can spend 5 seconds outside with the door closed and the dog keeping her cool.
• If at any point the dog shows anxiety, go back a couple of steps and go even slower.

So, you’re teaching your dog that when they can’t see you, you do come back and you’re teaching them that the door is nothing to be scared of.

 

This protocol is designed for puppies, it works well.  It isn’t a guarantee just like you can’t guarantee to prevent any condition. There is nothing to stop you doing either of these exercises with a rescue. It may help or it may not. Just remember, any signs of stress, back off.

 

Good luck!