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Dealing With Separation Anxiety In Dogs

By: Adrian Fletcher

Separation anxiety is the dread or fear that your dog experiences when someone that they are attached to leaves them. So a typical instance of this might be when you go to work in the morning, the dog might get tense or anxious. Typically this anxiety produces negative behavior in the animal. It may howl or bark, urinate or defecate in the house, start to chew things or bite itself. Obviously this is not good for the dogs state of mind or your home. So what can be done about separation anxiety in dogs ?

Separation anxiety begins when a puppy is separated from it's mother too soon. A puppy should have at least 8 weeks with it's mother before being re-homed. If a puppy was re-homed before this time it may experience separation anxiety in later life.

Training for separation anxiety in dogs can start as soon as you bring the puppy home. To begin with, don't make a bid deal of the separation when you leave it at night or on odd occasions. Put it in it's basket and walk away. It will get used to the fact that you are not always there.

Try to communicate the fact that you will not always be there and your dog should not suffer form separation anxiety when it gets older.

Training a puppy is relatively straightforward, however it may not be as easy with a grown dog that is suffering from this problem. The dog may have been given to you by a previous owner or you found him at the dog shelter.

If it has spent anytime in a shelter or pound it may have been neglected before this. This may lead to insecurities and anxiety. It may have also been deprived of affection whilst in the shelter too which may add to it's insecurity.

If a dog has been given away by a previous owner there is generally a good reason for this. The dog may have behavioral problems but it may also be that the family has had it own share of problems. The couple may be going through a divorce or maybe they are having financial difficulties. All these problems will filter through to the dog and could manifest as separation anxiety.

The way to train a grown dog for separation anxiety is to take the softly softly approach. Practice leaving your pet. Start off with just a short separation, say a minute or so. Close the door to indicate that you have left. Wait a minute and then come back in. Don't make a fuss of the dog when you leave or come back.

Continue doing this but increase the length of time that you a separated from your pet. If the dog starts to howl or get anxious then go back to a time period that is comfortable. Although this might be tedious, you should continue it until the dog does not get anxious when you leave.

To break up this process you could also try taking the dog's mind off the fact that you have left. So you could give it a tasty treat or a meaty bone. This should keep it interested for a while by which time you may have returned. Although this will not solve the problem, it may break up the training for you.

Article Source: http://www.articlebankonline.com

Visit www.doghealthncare.com for dog training tips and dealing with canine health issues. The site includes a detailed review of a popular dog behavior training course.

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