What You Need to Know About Dog Separation Anxiety
Did you know that dogs also experience separation anxiety like us humans, do? In fact, it may already be happening to your pet except you do not know it – because you are mistaking the dog’s separation anxiety indicators for excitement.
Who is very familiar with a pet that bounces up and down while wagging its tail at you as you enter the door of your house after a long day at work? It may seem like the dog is but merely excited to see you, but the truth is it may also be the consequence of the anguish it felt while it was alone and separated from you.
Yes, dogs also experience anguish when left alone – and this usually happens regularly without you knowing it! They have canine instincts that activate when they think that they are abandoned, which is something that dogs hate the most.
While dogs experience separation anxiety, there is no reason for you to feel guilty that you left your dog at home. After all, your life cannot revolve around your pet. Some dogs do handle the separation very well, and those who will need a little more help can simply go through retraining in order to deal with their abandonment and anxiety issues.
What is bad, however, is to completely ignore that this is happening and assume that the dog will be able to work it out on its own. What is dangerous about this is that if you let your dog continue to show excitement (which, again, is separation anxiety in disguise), it has the potential to progress into a fully developed anxiety disorder or depression.
This mental problem has physical repercussions, which can target the heart (think shorter and unhealthier lives for dogs), as well as the potential for the dog to destroy your house in an effort to deal with its issues.
Reasons for Dog Anxiety
On the lowest level, dogs experience separation anxiety because of its built-in pack mentality. Like wolves, dogs are used to being part of a group for protection because there is strength in numbers.
If they are by themselves, the feeling of loneliness is heightened as well as the feeling that they were removed from the pack. On a level a little higher than this, the dog may be feeling anxious because you have yet to show it that you are the alpha or the commander in chief of the pack.
It is not yet secure in the thought that you leaving it is alright because you will be back and take care of its needs. Left in the wild, the pack leader usually leaves the pack to scout ahead or go hunting. If you leave and your dog is upset about that, it is likely that it sees you as a mere follower (who is not following protocol of staying together), and that they are the alpha.
What you need to do is to control the situation and stress on the fact that you are the pack leader, yet at the same time provide the necessary assurances that you are going to return each time.
When your dog is able to wholly accept that you are indeed the pack leader apart from being its owner, it will be so much less stressed out and anxious. It will be easy for them to place their trust in you to adequately deal with the situation at hand.
Then again, your dog’s separation anxiety may not always have to be as complicated an issue like the dilemma of who really is the pack leader. There may also be times when it is probably because your dog is lacking in exercise.
When a dog does not get enough exercise, it is easier for it to become agitated every time you leave. It will also find ways to keep itself busy (and also as a way of removing all of that excess energy) by tearing up your home.
One easy way to get a handle on this is to find time to give your dog a walk before you go to work. An ideal time for that walk is about thirty minutes of walking. Walking your dog when you get home is also a good idea if there are any lingering feelings of anxiety left in your pet – provided that you will have waited at least fifteen minutes before you go ahead and greet your pet.
If your pet is jumping all over you as you settle down your things, ignore it. Put your stuff away, fix yourself a drink, and then kick off your shoes and settle down on the sofa – and then give your dog the attention it craves. It will get used to this routine and will lessen its penchant for jumping up and down and becoming hyper when it senses that you have already arrived.
What Your Dog Needs and When to Give It
Being a good owner of your dog means seeing to it that its needs are met and prioritizing those needs over its wants. A better dog owner is also keen at knowing the difference between the dog’s needs and its wants.
Some people may think it is cruel to just give the dog its needs and not give in to its wants, but you also have to remember that your pet is a dog and not a human. It will be happy to have its basic needs met, and will be agreeable to being trained when you have satisfied its needs.
Reminding yourself that your dog is indeed a dog will allow you to prioritize what is important and create a safe and protected environment it both needs and wants. When you focus on this, you will see that your dog will be more relaxed every time you leave the house.
You will also rest easy in the knowledge that when you return, those expensive leather shoes that you keep by the stairs will be intact despite your dog having easy access to it.
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