Raising a Well Mannered Mutt

By Sallie Palmer
Certified Dog Trainer

Separation Anxiety

What is Separation Anxiety? If you have a dog with separation anxiety you will most likely recognize the signals immediately. Separation anxiety is best described as unwanted behavior a dog exhibits when separated from his main person. The behavior can be as mild as whining and whimpering when the family member is away to extreme destruction of physical property and even self -mutilation. I have seen the evidence of a dog destroying a living room by pulling down the drapes, de-constructing the couch and scratching at the windows and walls in an attempt to get out. I know of a dog who snapped off one of her front canine teeth in an attempt to get out of a dog run when her person left for work. The dog seems to go into a panic state when left alone.

What causes separation anxiety? Is it a dog who loves his person too much? I have seen dogs that have been abandoned or given up to shelters develop separation anxiety when they are rescued by a new person. I don’t know if the dog sees the new person as someone who delivered them from a stressful situation. I just know that I have seen it countless times. However the dog developed the condition, what can you do to cure it?

The first thing I tell people is when they get a new puppy or dog, be sure they don’t contribute to creating separation anxiety by always giving the dog attention when he requests it. When dogs whine, they are asking us to come closer. So, if your dog is in a crate or dog run and starts to whine (and you are sure he doesn’t need a potty break) if you talk to him or worse let him out, you have reinforced the behavior of whining. You have told the dog that whining equals being let out. You can be fairly sure that the next time you crate the dog he will probably start to whine when he wants out. If you ignore him and then when he first starts to whines, yips or yowls but later cave in when he escalates the noise you have taught him to increase the behavior and then he will be rewarded by you either by attention or being let out. Even yelling at the dog will contribute to the unwanted behavior because for some dogs bad attention is better than no attention. If you lavish attention on your dog when he whines or bark then again you are reinforcing behavior that will steadily become worse over time.

Overcoming separation anxiety can be difficult, emotional, time consuming and down right unpleasant. Preventing it in the first place is easier. Make sure your dog has time alone in his crate. Give him chew toys and treats him in the crate. Feed him in the crate. Leave the room for awhile. Leave the house (stay close and listen once or twice) Make the crate a place they want to go. Also leave the house without fuss. No fond farewells, just leave without saying goodbye. Come home without fuss. Don’t get excited to see the dog, in fact ask aloof for the first few minutes. Make your coming and going not a big deal. We all love to be greeted happily by our dogs, but we also want to find our couch in one piece when we return.

Remember Wally, the young Border collie mix that I acquired from a rescue group. He is one of those dogs who had horrible separation anxiety. He still has it to some degree but he has improved greatly. Wally had several homes before he was even 5 months old and came to the rescue group. We didn’t have any history about him. This is how I have worked with him.

Wally hated to be crated but it was necessary because he had no house manners and wasn’t housebroken. My course of treatment with Wally was to ignore his vocalizations and move away from him.

I would place Wally in his crate with a stuffed KONG to keep him busy. I would wait until he was engrossed with the KONG and move away from him but still be in the same room. If at any point Wally started to whine, bark or cry I would ignore him (wearing an I-Pod helps.) If he continued to carry on then I would leave the room and not return until he had stopped crying. This was difficult and I wondered if my neighbors thought I was tormenting the poor dog. Wally would howl more before he would give up and be quiet. I only required Wally to be quiet for a few seconds before I would come back into the room but not let him out of his crate or pay attention to him at all. I would just be where he could see, smell and hear me. If he started to cry again then I would leave the room. I repeated this action until Wally understood that his whining meant that I would leave the room and that quieting down meant I would come back into the room but not let him out. After I was back in the room with Wally and the crate I would let him out only when he had been quiet for a full minute. Then he was allowed to go outside and play with me. I would continue this treatment until Wally would gladly go into his crate for his stuffed Kong and not cry while in there. I am happy to report that after several days of this Wally does not have separation anxiety in his crate or at my house.

Wally still has separation anxiety however at my training classes. The course of action is the same. When Wally is tethered at my training classes, I move away from him when he cries. This is tough because sometimes my students can’t hear me over the howling but if I give in, he will get worse. I come closer to him but still ignore him when he calms down. I take him off his tether when he has been quiet for awhile. He is getting better but we aren’t there yet.

Treating separation anxiety can be a stubborn, frustrating and a complex challenge. It is always a good idea to consult someone who has experience in this area. Educating yourself as much as possible to the triggers and causes can be helpful. In extreme cases veterinarian care and medication may be necessary. Exercising the dog is always helpful. It is my hope that people with dogs that exhibit separation anxiety behavior will seek help and put in the work necessary. There is hope for improvement.

 

Sallie Is a Certified Dog Training and Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. She has volunteered with several animal rescue groups and has evaluated hundreds of dogs. Sallie teaches group classes in Willits and Ukiah. She specializes in private sessions of behavior issues. If you would like to know more about Sallie go to www.wellmanneredmutts.net.

 

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