How to avoid separation anxiety in animals like dogs?

If you are a dog owner, you should be mindful about this fact. That’s where you can try your best to avoid separation anxiety from taking place in your dog at all times.

What exactly is separation anxiety?

To begin with, let’s have a solid understanding of what separation anxiety is all about. Separation anxiety can take place when you leave your dog alone at home. It’s something more than little whining. It is a serious condition and you need to pay special attention towards it. However, there are many different methods, which you can follow in order to overcome separation anxiety in your dog without any hassle or frustration.

Several factors can lead your dog towards separation anxiety. Being left alone at home is the most prominent reason out of them. If it is the very first time that you leave the dog alone at home, there is a high possibility for separation anxiety to kick in. Change of dog ownership has also been identified as one of the prominent reasons behind separation anxiety. The other common reasons that can trigger separation anxiety include changes in family schedule, moving from a shelter to a home and the loss of a family member.

What are the signs of separation anxiety?

To make sure that your dog is dealing with separation anxiety, you should take a look at the signs, which indicate it. All the dogs that are affected with separation anxiety show that they are stressed out. They will bark, howl or white to excess. In addition to that, he will end up with numerous indoor accidents as well.

It’s common to see how dogs dealing with separation anxiety tend to chew up things. They scratch the doors and windows at your home. They will even try to dig holes inside the home. On the other hand, you can see your dog salivating, panting and drooling way more than usual. The dog will try his best to escape the home as well. It is associated with obsessive patterns.

You will not be able to see your dog doing these things when you are around. In fact, a normal dog will do these things once in a while. However, the dogs that are affected with separation anxiety will do them at all times.

How to treat separation anxiety?

There are few different approaches available for you to follow at the time of treating separation anxiety. At the beginning, it is recommended for you to get in touch with your vet. Then you can rule out all the medical issues that exist. For example, some of the dogs tend to end up with accidents at home due to hormonal health issues. On the other hand, an incomplete housebreaking can also lead your dog towards separation anxiety. Some of the medications that your dog take can trigger a separation anxiety as well. Therefore, you need to discuss with your dog and ensure that you rule out all the medical issues.

If the problem associated with separation anxiety is mild, your life will be made easier when dealing with it. For example, giving a special treat to the dog can provide a great assistance to you with overcoming the situation. A toy that is stuffed with peanut butter can be considered as a perfect example for such a treat that you can give. However, you need to be mindful to give this special treat to the dog when you are gone. You can remove the treat once you return back to home.

You can also make the coming and goings to the home less surprising for the dog. That’s where you should refrain from excessive greeting. For example, you can ignore the dog for few minutes after getting into the home. You should also leave few recently worn clothes around the dog at the time of leaving him alone. Those clothes would smell like you. Therefore, you can indicate your presence to the dog and assist him to overcome separation anxiety.

Vet Clinic based in Perth – Pet Practice also that there are natural calming supplements, which you can give to your dog as well. You can easily purchase them over the counter, without having the need to provide a prescription. When you provide these natural calming supplements to the dog, you will be able to reduce the occurrence of separation anxiety. However, you need to make sure that the supplement is made out of natural ingredients. Then you can make sure that your dog is not subjected to any frustrating side-effects after the consumption of those supplements.

If the problem is serious, you need to be extra careful. When your dog sees that you are about to leave home, he will become nervous. Your dog knows that you are about to leave home, when you get the keys to your hand or when he sees you putting on shoes. You can do these things, but you can stay longer without leaving. For example, you can put on the shoes and sit on the table. You can grab the keys and watch TV. When you do these things many times throughout the day, your dog will become less anxious. As a result, you will notice how the signs that are linked with separation anxiety are starting to disappear.

Final Words

These useful tips can help you with eliminating separation anxiety in any kind of a dog breed. No matter what, you need to make sure that you are providing lots of exercises to the dog on a regular basis as well. When your dog is tired, he will get less stressed when you leave home. You can also think about challenging the mind of your pet. That’s where games such as fetch will come into play. You can keep the dog happy and busy at all times and you can reduce separation anxiety in him.