Separation anxiety is a problem that all dog owners have experienced, but not all of them are aware what it is. A dog's anxious behavior is very unpleasant at some point as it makes your dog uneasy when you leave. Tolerating this behavior and allowing it to develop will turn your dog into a menace in your home as it might resort to making a mess out of your household items or furniture, or it can become so noisy with its persistent barking that lasts for hours, especially when it is left alone.

The Sources of Dog Separation Anxiety

Dogs follow a social order known as a pack. They are attached in some way to their master or the other members of the household. But the anxiety that dogs feel is not directly due to its attachment to its owner; rather, it is attributable to specific actions you take prior to your departure. Dogs don't like their masters to leave them, but your departure, but your departure has no direct connection to its agitation.

Separation anxiety occurs when you lavish your attention to your dog before you leave or when you arrive. You could also be doing a pattern of the same activities before you depart. Dogs can easily tag a sequence of activities overtime, and they will know that you are leaving. As the dog's behavior is reinforced on a daily basis, time will come that it cannot contain its anxiety anymore, and anxiety is manifested.

Reducing Dog Separation Anxiety

Dealing with separation anxiety comes in many ways. Here are a few tips to consider:

Change Your Routine. By changing your routines especially before you leave the house, your dog will not be able to tag a pattern of the things you do that it can connect to your departure, including any familiar sounds such as the sound of an alarm clock. You may change the times that you make yourself ready to leave like dressing up or getting your car keys. Little variances in your pre-departure activities will help reduce separation anxiety.

Don't Reinforce it. Ignoring your dog for at least 10 minutes before you leave or upon your arrival will help to make the dog forget the connection of your departure to the attention that it gets. Petting a dog before leaving it on only reinforces its anxious behavior. Another way of preventing your dog from developing separation anxiety is to put it through crate training, or placing them in a separate room in the house, or leaving the house and coming back at varying intervals.

Building Up to Longer Times. If your dog can already detect your slightest detection of leaving, you've got an anxiety problem to deal with. You can start by leaving for very short periods and coming back at once. Changing the dog's anticipations on the length of times that they will be separated will help to reduce its separation anxiety. The dog will not be anxious if it sees you return each time. You can make your absence longer as your dog adjusts.

You're Not Being Mean

Contrary to popular belief, applying ways that eliminate separation anxiety are not spiteful or mean; those are ways that actually help your dog to relax and be assured that you are coming back each time you leave. It is also a demonstration of that you are in control. Remember that the lesser the anxiety, the healthier your dog will be.

It is important to note that persistent, severe anxiety issues warrants immediate action from you. Teaching your dog not to associate your departure or arrival with its sense of survival can greatly lessen its separation anxiety. It can be traced to a dog's feeling of being abandoned.