Be Your Dog's Best Friend
Module 4- Section 1
Module 4- Section 1
PREVENTING SEPARATION ANXIETY
Prevention of Separation Anxiety
"What defines Separation Anxiety is that the pup or dog ONLY engages in the inappropriate behaviour when the owner is not home"
Dogs are social animals; naturally they live together in packs. However, it is not a good thing to have your pup with you on a 24/7 basis. All this teaches the pup is that he cannot survive if he is alone, especially in a one dog household. This leads to behavioural problems such as over dependence, separation anxiety, destructive behaviour, barking and digging to mention but a few. We all love it that our dogs follow us around and love being with us so much, but by the same token they need to develop independence and be able to spend a fair amount of time alone.
Look at it from the point of view of what would you rather have: - a child who clings to your leg and screams when you leave it the first day of nursery school or, a child who goes off to school, waves goodbye and say’s ‘see you later’? Many of our clients will ask ‘isn’t there a middle route?” No, there isn’t!
Many owners make the mistake of having the pup with them on a 24/7 basis when it is first brought home, as mentioned previously. If we look at the situation from the pups point of view - it has been with mom and litter mates from when it was born - suddenly it comes to a new home and its people are with it all the time - they then go back to work and the pup is left alone - of course it won’t cope.
When the pup comes home it must start immediately with what the daily routine is going to be when you are at work no matter how cute the pup is, or how much people want to pick up and cuddle it. To give the pup too much attention at this stage will result in the pup not coping when the owner does leave. Do ensure you bring in the House Rules, as these will go a long way to preventing separation occurring.
If you are in the position where you are at home most of the day, or even work from home, the same care must be taken to make the pup independent – if not, the pup simply won’t cope when left alone. Unfortunately, what often happens, is that we start of with good intentions, but get so busy in our daily lives, that we forget to do the work with the pup – it is even more important when you have an ‘only’ pup.
Remember to keep in place your toilet training and take the pup out for elimination purposes. Yes, a lot of work but well worth the effort!
We work on preventing, and changing, separation in the following ways which will build the pups confidence, and as above, do ensure that the House Rules are consistently in place: -
In the Home:
Always ensure that the time alone is rewarding for the pup in that when it is alone, it has a wonderful Busy Buddy/Kong which has been stuffed, to chew on, and this particular chew toy is kept for when pup is alone only. As we have mentioned before, pups can easily swallow objects and care must be taken and the item being chewed upon checked daily. How you leave the pup alone in this exercise would depend on how confident the pup already is, so the time period could be adjusted accordingly to longer periods.
"What defines Separation Anxiety is that the pup or dog ONLY engages in the inappropriate behaviour when the owner is not home"
Dogs are social animals; naturally they live together in packs. However, it is not a good thing to have your pup with you on a 24/7 basis. All this teaches the pup is that he cannot survive if he is alone, especially in a one dog household. This leads to behavioural problems such as over dependence, separation anxiety, destructive behaviour, barking and digging to mention but a few. We all love it that our dogs follow us around and love being with us so much, but by the same token they need to develop independence and be able to spend a fair amount of time alone.
Look at it from the point of view of what would you rather have: - a child who clings to your leg and screams when you leave it the first day of nursery school or, a child who goes off to school, waves goodbye and say’s ‘see you later’? Many of our clients will ask ‘isn’t there a middle route?” No, there isn’t!
Many owners make the mistake of having the pup with them on a 24/7 basis when it is first brought home, as mentioned previously. If we look at the situation from the pups point of view - it has been with mom and litter mates from when it was born - suddenly it comes to a new home and its people are with it all the time - they then go back to work and the pup is left alone - of course it won’t cope.
When the pup comes home it must start immediately with what the daily routine is going to be when you are at work no matter how cute the pup is, or how much people want to pick up and cuddle it. To give the pup too much attention at this stage will result in the pup not coping when the owner does leave. Do ensure you bring in the House Rules, as these will go a long way to preventing separation occurring.
If you are in the position where you are at home most of the day, or even work from home, the same care must be taken to make the pup independent – if not, the pup simply won’t cope when left alone. Unfortunately, what often happens, is that we start of with good intentions, but get so busy in our daily lives, that we forget to do the work with the pup – it is even more important when you have an ‘only’ pup.
Remember to keep in place your toilet training and take the pup out for elimination purposes. Yes, a lot of work but well worth the effort!
We work on preventing, and changing, separation in the following ways which will build the pups confidence, and as above, do ensure that the House Rules are consistently in place: -
In the Home:
Always ensure that the time alone is rewarding for the pup in that when it is alone, it has a wonderful Busy Buddy/Kong which has been stuffed, to chew on, and this particular chew toy is kept for when pup is alone only. As we have mentioned before, pups can easily swallow objects and care must be taken and the item being chewed upon checked daily. How you leave the pup alone in this exercise would depend on how confident the pup already is, so the time period could be adjusted accordingly to longer periods.
Exercise 1
In this part of the exercise we work on the pup being left alone at home, inside, for short periods of time, starting a just a few minutes at a time. The pup can either be left in the crate, playpen or safe area. If you are just leaving the pup in a room, make sure the room is ‘puppy proof’ beforehand and that the pup has been outside for elimination purposes.
Exercise 2
Another exercise in the home you can start to do if you have a pup that follows you all around the home is the Alone Time exercise. Start leaving your pup alone for only 15 or so seconds to start with, simply by shutting the door after as you go to another room. Shut the door, turn around and walk back in. Don’t make a fuss going out, just go. As you walk back in make a note of where the pup is - perhaps sitting right by the door - if so keep the time period short and build up accordingly, and you only increase the time period when the pup is no longer reacting to you leaving and coming back into the room. When you come back in go and sit down or whatever else you were doing and completely ignore the puppy. About ten minutes later repeat the exercise. This needs to be practiced over and over however it is an excellent exercise to do to help a pup cope with being alone.
If, when you walk out the door, the pup starts barking or scratching, ignore it, and as soon as the pup is quiet, open the door and walk back into the room going back to what you were doing before you stood up and left. Don’t pay any attention to your pup; just keep on with your normal life. If you were to pay attention to the pup or return to the room when it is barking, whining, scratching etc, all that is being achieved is that the pup is successfully training the owner! If the pup is crying, then go back a step and shorted the time period away from it. It is crucial that the pup can cope with the time period it is left alone for – please don’t rush this exercise and bear in mind that each and every pup is different,
Do this several times a day gradually building up the time period – if the pup is not coping with you leaving the room, then this exercise to be practiced a lot more often and reduce the time period.
With pups and dogs it is important to stagger the amount of time left alone – work up to about 5 minutes, then reduce to 3, then up to 8 minutes, then down to about 5 minutes and keep on increasing till the pup can happily spend quite some time alone. By doing this, you are teaching the pup that it can survive alone and doing it in a manner that the dog can cope with.
These times are of course dependent on the pup itself and should be practised right from when the pup comes home.
Where pups/dogs are concerned is that they do not generalize - that the pup can cope with you disappearing through the kitchen door for 5 minutes does not mean that it can cope with you disappearing through the bedroom door and closing it! At each and every door in the home start from the beginning with a few seconds with each door - once done with one door, the process will go much faster. Practice with all the doors gradually building up the time period.
Exercise 3
Now you can put the pups bed in an area of the home where you walk through a lot. Give the pup its favourite chew toy to chew on while lying on the bed. Take this time to perhaps put the laundry away or similar. The idea is that you walk around the home, doing various chores whilst the pup is lying quietly on its bed, chewing happily away.
If the pup moves off the cushion, simply put it back on.
Owner leaving the home:
Very often dogs get very stressed about situations such as these, and this is mainly due to the amount of attention we pay them when we come in or go out - ‘don’t worry mummy/daddy will be back soon’ etc, and we inadvertently cause the problem to occur. In order to avoid situations such as this, simply practice a very similar exercise as above for leaving the home. Get all your bits and pieces together, ensure that the area you are leaving the pup is totally safe and that it has adequate toys and chews to keep it occupied and has recently been taken to the toilet. Say ‘bye’ and leave.
As in the Alone time training above, keep the period short and stagger the time period. If the pup does stress, then start with only 10 - 15 seconds and gradually build up. When you come back in, put down your bag and keys, let the pup out if in its playpen, ask for a sit and reward. You can practice doing this over and over throughout the next few days gradually increasing the time period and staggering the time period as well. Do remember that if you have built up to about an hour that on arriving home, take your pup to the toilet immediately and while the pup is still young rather pick the pup up due to the sphincter muscle being underdeveloped - the pup may not be able to refrain from eliminating.
If you are dealing with a pup that has already developed a problem about being left alone, in addition to the above, don’t give the dog context cues that you are leaving. Start by changing your own habits – if you always leave your bag and keys in the same place, change the location – if you always leave by the front door, leave by the back door – if you always leave at seven thirty, leave at seven fifteen etc.
If the pup is reacting when you pick up your keys, then first thing to do is to change where keys are left (now don’t forget where you left your keys!) Simply pick them up, put them down. When pup is no longer reacting to this, pick up the keys, walk with them and perhaps sit down somewhere. Do this over and over until the pup is no longer reacting. You can the pick keys up, walk towards the door and turn back. Next step is to walk out the door, turn around and come back in. You will keep on going until no reaction from the pup.
Your next step would be to walk out the door, shut it behind you, turn around and walk back in. Again, keep it at this stage until no reaction from the pup. Then, as in the Alone Time exercise above, gradually increase the time you are outside the door.
Really go slowly, we do not want the pup to stress at any stage.
Here we are going to teach the pup that it is ok to be outside by itself. Remember, always ensure that the area you leave the pup is safe and swimming pools, ponds etc are not a threat to the pup. Don’t start this until the pup is confident in the exercises above and you can leave it for at least 15 minutes.
Firstly, start by getting the pup really involved with a nice big stuffed chewy or Kong a few days before starting and keep this for the Alone Time exercise only. Whether you do this for a few days or not will depend very much on the pup itself – with some pups you can put them outside immediately with the new chew toy and they will be happy, others may stress slightly, and you will have to go slower, as above. You can even smear a bit of peanut butter in the gaps of the chew toy, and push in some nice pieces of biltong. Please note that peanut butter can be toxic to dogs in large amounts, so use organic peanut butter if possible and don’t put on too much, especially if your pup has an easily upset tummy. Please never use any peanut butter than has Xylitol in it – this is totally toxic to dogs. Xylitol is an artificial sweetener.
As your pup is really ‘getting into’ the chewy, take it away. Do this several times over the course of a day. This will result in this particular chewy being the most desirable object to the pup! When you feel the pup is ready, put the pup and the chew toy outside, and let them have a good chew for a few minutes. The take the bone away and bring the pup inside. This will help to change the pups prospective and outside alone time will become a rewarding experience. With this exercise, the same applies as the previous one’s – stagger the time, gradually building up the time period. If the pup is not coping, then you have gone too fast – do back a few steps to where the pup is happy and then build from there.
Walks, Feeding and Human Interactions
Another way to build up the pup’s confidence is to ensure that all members of your family take the pup out for a walk and spend time with it rather than just one person. If you have family and friends that the pup knows and visit often, they too can spend time with the pup and take it on walks, even short one.
Ensure that the pups feeding is done by all members of the family. These increases the bond with each member and also helps to raise all members of the family higher in the combined human/canine social structure.
When it comes to playing and giving love to the pup, let all members of the family get involved. Games of Flirt Pole, throwing the ball, a game of chase etc. The more the pup interacts with all members of the family with activities it enjoys, the better.
In this part of the exercise we work on the pup being left alone at home, inside, for short periods of time, starting a just a few minutes at a time. The pup can either be left in the crate, playpen or safe area. If you are just leaving the pup in a room, make sure the room is ‘puppy proof’ beforehand and that the pup has been outside for elimination purposes.
Exercise 2
Another exercise in the home you can start to do if you have a pup that follows you all around the home is the Alone Time exercise. Start leaving your pup alone for only 15 or so seconds to start with, simply by shutting the door after as you go to another room. Shut the door, turn around and walk back in. Don’t make a fuss going out, just go. As you walk back in make a note of where the pup is - perhaps sitting right by the door - if so keep the time period short and build up accordingly, and you only increase the time period when the pup is no longer reacting to you leaving and coming back into the room. When you come back in go and sit down or whatever else you were doing and completely ignore the puppy. About ten minutes later repeat the exercise. This needs to be practiced over and over however it is an excellent exercise to do to help a pup cope with being alone.
If, when you walk out the door, the pup starts barking or scratching, ignore it, and as soon as the pup is quiet, open the door and walk back into the room going back to what you were doing before you stood up and left. Don’t pay any attention to your pup; just keep on with your normal life. If you were to pay attention to the pup or return to the room when it is barking, whining, scratching etc, all that is being achieved is that the pup is successfully training the owner! If the pup is crying, then go back a step and shorted the time period away from it. It is crucial that the pup can cope with the time period it is left alone for – please don’t rush this exercise and bear in mind that each and every pup is different,
Do this several times a day gradually building up the time period – if the pup is not coping with you leaving the room, then this exercise to be practiced a lot more often and reduce the time period.
With pups and dogs it is important to stagger the amount of time left alone – work up to about 5 minutes, then reduce to 3, then up to 8 minutes, then down to about 5 minutes and keep on increasing till the pup can happily spend quite some time alone. By doing this, you are teaching the pup that it can survive alone and doing it in a manner that the dog can cope with.
These times are of course dependent on the pup itself and should be practised right from when the pup comes home.
Where pups/dogs are concerned is that they do not generalize - that the pup can cope with you disappearing through the kitchen door for 5 minutes does not mean that it can cope with you disappearing through the bedroom door and closing it! At each and every door in the home start from the beginning with a few seconds with each door - once done with one door, the process will go much faster. Practice with all the doors gradually building up the time period.
Exercise 3
Now you can put the pups bed in an area of the home where you walk through a lot. Give the pup its favourite chew toy to chew on while lying on the bed. Take this time to perhaps put the laundry away or similar. The idea is that you walk around the home, doing various chores whilst the pup is lying quietly on its bed, chewing happily away.
If the pup moves off the cushion, simply put it back on.
Owner leaving the home:
Very often dogs get very stressed about situations such as these, and this is mainly due to the amount of attention we pay them when we come in or go out - ‘don’t worry mummy/daddy will be back soon’ etc, and we inadvertently cause the problem to occur. In order to avoid situations such as this, simply practice a very similar exercise as above for leaving the home. Get all your bits and pieces together, ensure that the area you are leaving the pup is totally safe and that it has adequate toys and chews to keep it occupied and has recently been taken to the toilet. Say ‘bye’ and leave.
As in the Alone time training above, keep the period short and stagger the time period. If the pup does stress, then start with only 10 - 15 seconds and gradually build up. When you come back in, put down your bag and keys, let the pup out if in its playpen, ask for a sit and reward. You can practice doing this over and over throughout the next few days gradually increasing the time period and staggering the time period as well. Do remember that if you have built up to about an hour that on arriving home, take your pup to the toilet immediately and while the pup is still young rather pick the pup up due to the sphincter muscle being underdeveloped - the pup may not be able to refrain from eliminating.
If you are dealing with a pup that has already developed a problem about being left alone, in addition to the above, don’t give the dog context cues that you are leaving. Start by changing your own habits – if you always leave your bag and keys in the same place, change the location – if you always leave by the front door, leave by the back door – if you always leave at seven thirty, leave at seven fifteen etc.
If the pup is reacting when you pick up your keys, then first thing to do is to change where keys are left (now don’t forget where you left your keys!) Simply pick them up, put them down. When pup is no longer reacting to this, pick up the keys, walk with them and perhaps sit down somewhere. Do this over and over until the pup is no longer reacting. You can the pick keys up, walk towards the door and turn back. Next step is to walk out the door, turn around and come back in. You will keep on going until no reaction from the pup.
Your next step would be to walk out the door, shut it behind you, turn around and walk back in. Again, keep it at this stage until no reaction from the pup. Then, as in the Alone Time exercise above, gradually increase the time you are outside the door.
Really go slowly, we do not want the pup to stress at any stage.
Here we are going to teach the pup that it is ok to be outside by itself. Remember, always ensure that the area you leave the pup is safe and swimming pools, ponds etc are not a threat to the pup. Don’t start this until the pup is confident in the exercises above and you can leave it for at least 15 minutes.
Firstly, start by getting the pup really involved with a nice big stuffed chewy or Kong a few days before starting and keep this for the Alone Time exercise only. Whether you do this for a few days or not will depend very much on the pup itself – with some pups you can put them outside immediately with the new chew toy and they will be happy, others may stress slightly, and you will have to go slower, as above. You can even smear a bit of peanut butter in the gaps of the chew toy, and push in some nice pieces of biltong. Please note that peanut butter can be toxic to dogs in large amounts, so use organic peanut butter if possible and don’t put on too much, especially if your pup has an easily upset tummy. Please never use any peanut butter than has Xylitol in it – this is totally toxic to dogs. Xylitol is an artificial sweetener.
As your pup is really ‘getting into’ the chewy, take it away. Do this several times over the course of a day. This will result in this particular chewy being the most desirable object to the pup! When you feel the pup is ready, put the pup and the chew toy outside, and let them have a good chew for a few minutes. The take the bone away and bring the pup inside. This will help to change the pups prospective and outside alone time will become a rewarding experience. With this exercise, the same applies as the previous one’s – stagger the time, gradually building up the time period. If the pup is not coping, then you have gone too fast – do back a few steps to where the pup is happy and then build from there.
Walks, Feeding and Human Interactions
Another way to build up the pup’s confidence is to ensure that all members of your family take the pup out for a walk and spend time with it rather than just one person. If you have family and friends that the pup knows and visit often, they too can spend time with the pup and take it on walks, even short one.
Ensure that the pups feeding is done by all members of the family. These increases the bond with each member and also helps to raise all members of the family higher in the combined human/canine social structure.
When it comes to playing and giving love to the pup, let all members of the family get involved. Games of Flirt Pole, throwing the ball, a game of chase etc. The more the pup interacts with all members of the family with activities it enjoys, the better.
