Separation distress is a real and worrying issue for many dogs and owners. It occurs when your dog gets extremely distressed when you leave, often to the point of trying to escape which can cause significant damage to the home, and the dog.
Here are my 5 top tips to try and AVOID having this problem
1. Make sure your puppy’s mom can leave the puppies when she chooses. This issue often
starts in the litter, with bad breeders, who keep mom with her puppies until they go to their
new homes. They have not leaned the lesson that Mom will leave, but she will come back,
and this valuable lesson is lost, making for a more anxious puppy.
2. Get your puppy at 8 weeks of age. Lessons in ‘learning to be alone’ are best started young.
Older puppies will often have been left in the company of other dogs, and when you get
them at 12 weeks, it will be much harder to get them to accept being alone.
3. If you have an existing dog or two puppies, the same rule applies. They need to learn to be
completely alone and not to panic, otherwise groomers, vets and kennels will struggle to
accommodate your dog.
4. Encourage independence in the home. If you allow your puppy to follow you around all day
it’s going to be more stressful for him when he’s left. Using crates and baby gates will help
this and leaving him a tasty treat to enjoy will soften the blow!
5. DO Sleep in the same room as your puppy for the first few nights. This will not spoil him but will help him adjust to his new life and foster trust with you. Encourage separate beds
however and gradually withdraw so he is happy on his own after a week.
Check out www.drdogcare.ie for more top tips.
Happy training!
