UNDERSTANDING SEPARATION ANXIETY IN OUR DOG’S
What is Separation Anxiety (S A for short)?
S A is a condition that affects our dogs when they find themselves in a position of solitary confinement, as they are separated from the pack mates. The dog is naturally a pack animal and they long to be with their pack mates as safety in the wild packs is in the strength of the pack together as one, In which case it is a natural behaviour to want to be in the company of packmates.
DOG’S IN THE HUMAN WORLD
Of course this is not always possible as the dog has been taken away from the wolf packs and interbred by man to perform certain duties such as guarding, herding, retrieving. The dog has had to adapt to human life to learn to live with it’s human packmates, but the dog still communicates and behaves naturally as they did in the wolf packs millions of years ago.
UNDERSTAND THE DOG’S NATURAL INSTINCT
In the pack it would be a natural behaviour if a pack member became isolated to call for the pack to either locate them, or to call them in. This would mean barking and howling, which is just like yodelling for humans lost in the hills. So indeed when our dogs are alone and barking and howling they are absolutely calling us home. This becomes more of an issue when our dog’s are elected Alpha of the pack, and as Leader they want to make decisions for us to protect the pack.
THE DOG’S DILEMMA
They are confused because all the pack mates have left without the permission of the Alpha, so they must be re-called. When the pack fails to answer to the calls, the Alpha dog becomes anxious and wants to find the pack, so he needs to get out and find them so that door where they all left is the place to start, they try to get out by chewing and scratching the door.
ADDING TO THE STRESS
The dog is further confused when the subordinate packmates re-appear and they all shout at the dog for causing damage, the dog is after all following his instinct to look after his Pack/Family so he can’t understand why he is elected leader and then the pack is turning on him, the dog becomes stressed with worry. This can lead to aggression or tail chasing, toe chewing all caused by the stress/anxiety of S A.
HOW DO WE HELP
The first thing we can do to help the dog is to remove him of the Alpha status and relieve him of the stress and worry of looking after us. By studying the behaviour of the wolf pack and how the communicate is key to the whole issue. Dogs still communicate through eye contact and body language, and messages that we send especially after separations, determine the status of the hierarchy within the pack. Also the way we communicate with the dog during day to day living all add up to the elected dog becoming leader.
TAKING CONTROL OF SEPARATION ANXIETY
By giving the dog understandable signals, we can take control by becoming the one true leader through signals in our body language. This relieves the dog from trying to make decisions for us he does not understand thus enabling them to not worry and relax.
EXERICES TO REDUCE OR REMOVE SEPARATION ANXIETY
There are several exercises we can train to de-sensitise the triggers that cause our dogs stress, and learn to be confident when alone.
DOOR IS A BORE
The first trigger to suggest we are leaving is to stand, if the dog reacts to this we simply sit down again, repeat this until the dog remains calm and disregards you. Now we walk to the door, if the dog follows give no eye contact pretend to polish the door knob and return to your seat, repeat this several times until the dog no longer follows you to the door.
CREATE SEPARATIONS
We need to build the dog up to be happy when alone, leave the dog in a room for 1 minute, when you return do not fuss the dog until they calm down. when the dog is calm then call them over to say hi. Carry out this exercise daily building your time away by 1 minute each time.
If you would like to learn more on using body language to lead our dog’s then visit
https//pawsativechoices.com
