Dog Training Articles

The following article offers many effective tips for training your dog to handle separation anxiety. If you would like professional help with your dog's separation anxiety, contact us. We offer range of convient dog training and obedience classes, private lessons and consultations that both you and your dog will enjoy. Our dog training center in Baraboo, Wisconsin, is within convenient driving distance of Wisconsin Dells, Lake Delton, Reedsburg, Portage and other central Wisconsin cities and towns.

Training Your Dog to Handle Separation Anxiety

Dogs are social animals. Being separated from other members of the family/pack is stressful. Many dogs can handle the stress. Some cannot. As a result of this stress we see dogs that defecate and urinate throughout the house or chew up carpets, vinyl flooring, walls and sometimes for desert, the furniture. Each case has its level of severity.

This is an issue that usually can be avoided by not making our coming and going a big celebration and by being careful to give the dog alone time when young. It is a condition easier to prevent than fix.

Here are some hints to preventing and repairing separation anxiety:

• Don't throw a celebration when you first come home from being absent from the dog. Take your coat off and go through your mail for a minute before saying 'hello' to the dog. Be calm. Speak softly. Slip a leash on the dog and take them out to potty. Have them do a 'sit ' for you and then go nuts on them if you want.
• When leaving the house, calmly say, "good-bye" and leave. Give the dog a chew toy. Kongs with frozen peanut butter or cheese in them are great to help them direct the stress into a favorite pastime, chewing. Use a crate if necessary.
• It is believed that most owners give their dog attention for 20 minutes a day on average. This is far too little. However, not giving the dog some alone time is just as likely to produce problems as is spending too little time. It is wonderful to take the dog with you a great deal but it is important to teach the dog to accept being alone sometimes. Balance is the key word here.

Train your dog to be alone

• If you have a dog that is experiencing some separation anxiety you will have to teach it to accept being alone in small stages. Get ready to leave as you always do grabbing the keys and proceed to the door. Stop, turn around and go sit on the couch and read the newspaper for a few minutes. Then try going outside out of sight for a few minutes and returning. Eventually get into the car drive around the block and return. Finishing with various errand trips for increasingly longer times. Always remember no celebrations coming and going!
• Depending on the severity of this issue, prescription medications from your veterinarian may be indicated. Can take months to fix this problem.
• This issue can have serious consequences like the dog being given up to the local shelter for placement in another home. This usually starts a downward spiral to the dog not being adoptable and eventually euthanized. Very tragic.
• Call a professional dog trainer and work closely with your veterinarian to deal with severe cases. Again, prevention is far more successful usually than trying to rehabilitate the dog.

Steps for successfully training your dog

• Begin to 'de-sensitize' the dog to your absence. I usually do this in small steps. First, I'll go through all the motions (all of them) that I go through when getting ready to leave. I'll go to the door (without saying anything or looking at the dog) and then turn around and go sit on the couch and 'read' the newspaper, continuing to ignore the dog. I may do this several times during the day.
• Go to the door, say nothing to the dog and then go outside. Close the door and stand out of sight for a few minutes. Then, go back inside and go about your business. Increase the time slowly that you are outside.
• Then, sometimes get into your car. Get out and come back in. Sometimes go out start the car and drive around the block and come back into the house. DO NOT interact with the dog at any time doing this. Gradually increase the time in the car over a period of several days.
• Make sure your dog is getting exercise. Ten minutes of letting the dog wander in your back yard or taking the dog around the block is usually far too insufficient for most dogs. If you have a sporting breed, herding breeds or active Terrier breeds you MUST understand they need lots of exercise.