Best way to deal with seperation anxiety in puppies?
We have a male Jack russell terrier 9 months and a female Jrt mix 13months. We can’t leave them on their own as they cry and howl constantly, even for 5 minutes. They go EVERYWHERE with us. Any tips on relieving the anxiety that they have? Much appreciated.
Thanks so much to everyone that responded. There are some excellent ideas that i will try.
Chosen Answer:
The following is my standard reply. I know that many askers have used my methods because I have had private emails to confirm this. I know that you have two dogs who suffer from this dreadful problem, however the same proceedure can be used.
If your dog suffers from separation anxiety, or if you anticipate this don’t give him free access to every room in your house when you leave him. . If you allow him free access you are doubling his burden. As well as having separation anxiety he will think that he has to guard every room in your house.
If he is restricted to one room he will not see you leave. You could also con him into thinking that you are always at home by carrying out the following procedure.
Try to do this when you are at home all day, or in the evening when you are there. After your dog has had a long walk, put him in a room with his comfortable bed, this should be a room where you will leave him if you need to go out and where your dog will sleep at night.
Walk out of the room and close the door. Open the door immediately and go back into his room, close the door behind you and try to ignore him. Pretend or actually do something which excludes your dog, for example if he is in the bathroom you could do a bit a cleaning for a couple of minutes. Then walk out of the room, go back again immediately and continue with the pretence. Keep doing this to ensure that your dog won’t feel isolated and eventually leave a small gap before you go into his room again. Over a period of days increase the gap before going back into his room. When you know that your dog is asleep stop going into the room, however you MUST try to go onto the room before he wakes up and starts to cry. If you carry out this procedure for a couple of days, your dog will always think that you are at the other side of the door. I do this when I get a new puppy and this PREVENTS separation anxiety.
Don’t neglect his long walks and playtime in the garden whilst you are re-training him, he needs his fun
When you are leaving your dog on his own please don’t make a dramatic exit, or this will give the game away. Simply put him into his room and walk out. When you come home don’t give him a big hello, just walk into his room and let him out for a pee. You can then play with him and give him cuddles.
Please don’t get a dog if it has to be left alone all day. Try to get a friend or a professional to take him out for pees and poos, if you need to leave him for any length of time…
by: dorothy s
on: 24th April 09
23 de April, 2009 at 10:45 am
I have a female Akita that also has seperation Anxiety. We have tried everything and now we are hiring a trainer to work with her. I wish I could give you an easy answer to this, but the dogs need to be assessed and then they can give you some help. I would suggest finding a trainer in your area and see what advice they can offer. Good luck I know how hard this is to deal with.
23 de April, 2009 at 10:46 am
It will take time – you have to train it out of them. The best way to leave is to just leave the house – no extended good-byes. Kong-type toys are good as the dog has to work at getting the treat out. You can also try turning on a talk radio station, relaxing music, or the television. Start by giving a treat and leaving for only a minute. Then increase the time.
23 de April, 2009 at 10:46 am
I found that creating the noise that the dog hears while you are at home when you are gone will soothe the dog some b/c they have the feeling like you are there. For instance, I leave my television on when I am at work and that is the only way my dog will let me out of the door playing happily with his toys.
23 de April, 2009 at 10:49 am
put a tick tock clock in their kennel area so they can hear it, and try a heating blanket for dogs, the warmth helps them be cozy and quiet. Good Luck.
23 de April, 2009 at 10:50 am
The only way to stop anxiety is to stop rewarding it. By taking your dogs with you everywere or catering to their every need, you are creating the problem. My Great Dane suffered from Anixety when he was younger and I couldn’t go behind a door without him trying to attack me (due to anxiety). You need to ignore the cries and when they are quiet, then they can have attention. When you first get home from work or whever, ignore them for 10 minutes. Don’t even look them in th eye. I used bitter apple on my dogs (spray right into mouth) to stop barking issues or crying problems. Dogs do not need to be babied. There are bad dogs because of bad owners. Bad meaning, problem dogs. Those dogs end up in the shelters homeless because nobody took them time to work with them. Work on establishing dominance. You are the owner, you are the boss. Right now, your dogs own you. They will get worse and worse, time to stop the problem now.
23 de April, 2009 at 10:52 am
Everything Louise said, great answer
23 de April, 2009 at 10:52 am
idk sorry
23 de April, 2009 at 10:56 am
Take them to doggie daycare one day a week. This has helped my friend’s dog tremendously.
23 de April, 2009 at 11:00 am
NOT “separation anxiety”=just untrained,ill-mannered & SPOILED *ROTTEN*!!!
good grief….why’d you do that to them?
23 de April, 2009 at 11:03 am
your dogs need to know that its ok to be alone. Whats causing this is probably that they are with u all the time. So when they are finally left alone they think something is wrong. Dogs need alone time too. If u give them more of it they will be a lot happier and healthier.
When ur leaving the house (for about 5 minutes prior to ur departure) do not communicate or baby them (telling them u’ll be back soon and such). Act like everything is normal. Ignore them all together. When u have a goodbye (especially one that’s more then 2 words or one look long) it makes the dogs feel like ur letting them know about a concern u have in leaving them alone. There is no problem! and u need to convey this to ur dogs by not getting them rowled up before your departure.
Also there should be no excitement upon ur return. U wont need to do this forever. just until they learn (from ur lead/example) that there is nothing extra-ordinary about u leaving the two of them on their own for a while. I say all this out of my own experience with y 7 year old shih-poo. It took me a lot of money and time with a professional trainer to learn this. Hope it can help u better understand (and train) ur dogs and their anxiety.
23 de April, 2009 at 11:26 am
Seperation Anxiety such as this can be addressed by conditioning.. You have to leave them for short periods of time, building up to slightly longer periods.. They probably know that if they cry you reward them with your presence.. You have to try leaving them sometimes..
23 de April, 2009 at 12:48 pm
The following is my standard reply. I know that many askers have used my methods because I have had private emails to confirm this. I know that you have two dogs who suffer from this dreadful problem, however the same proceedure can be used.
If your dog suffers from separation anxiety, or if you anticipate this don’t give him free access to every room in your house when you leave him. . If you allow him free access you are doubling his burden. As well as having separation anxiety he will think that he has to guard every room in your house.
If he is restricted to one room he will not see you leave. You could also con him into thinking that you are always at home by carrying out the following procedure.
Try to do this when you are at home all day, or in the evening when you are there. After your dog has had a long walk, put him in a room with his comfortable bed, this should be a room where you will leave him if you need to go out and where your dog will sleep at night.
Walk out of the room and close the door. Open the door immediately and go back into his room, close the door behind you and try to ignore him. Pretend or actually do something which excludes your dog, for example if he is in the bathroom you could do a bit a cleaning for a couple of minutes. Then walk out of the room, go back again immediately and continue with the pretence. Keep doing this to ensure that your dog won’t feel isolated and eventually leave a small gap before you go into his room again. Over a period of days increase the gap before going back into his room. When you know that your dog is asleep stop going into the room, however you MUST try to go onto the room before he wakes up and starts to cry. If you carry out this procedure for a couple of days, your dog will always think that you are at the other side of the door. I do this when I get a new puppy and this PREVENTS separation anxiety.
Don’t neglect his long walks and playtime in the garden whilst you are re-training him, he needs his fun
When you are leaving your dog on his own please don’t make a dramatic exit, or this will give the game away. Simply put him into his room and walk out. When you come home don’t give him a big hello, just walk into his room and let him out for a pee. You can then play with him and give him cuddles.
Please don’t get a dog if it has to be left alone all day. Try to get a friend or a professional to take him out for pees and poos, if you need to leave him for any length of time…