Back to school, part 4

And we return to the topic of separation anxiety and with a reminder, it is a minority of dogs that actually have separation anxiety. What looks like anxious behavior may simply be a lack of training or boredom; this makes it essential to enlist help if you believe your dog is suffering from separation anxiety. There are three calls you need to make, the first is to your adoption group, the second is to your vet and the third is to a behaviorist. You should be working with all three, your adoption group can provide you with support, your vet with the name of a behaviorist and the behaviorist with a plan of action.

Today's post will concern how to treat separation anxiety. For further reading I highly recommend Patricia McConnell's book "I'll Be Home Soon," her framework is what I am utilizing for treatment and her writing is very accessible.

Before we start examining treatment I want to reinforce what should be gospel; NEVER correct a dog after the fact. If your dog does something undesirable and you don't catch them in the act they don't associate the correction with the undesirable action, instead they will associate the correction with the action that they were engaged in at that moment. This means when you come home to a mess and your dog is overjoyed to see you if you correct them you are telling them that their excitement and their greeting is unacceptable. Do you really want them to think that your return is something to be feared or avoided, that they shouldn't be happy to see you when you get home? Remeber, a dog with anxiey cannot help themselves and correcting them for something they may have done hours ago will not help them cope, in fact it may make things worse.

As previously discussed, dramatic displays when you are leaving or coming home should be avoided, it gives your dog the wrong message. Obviously that hasn't been effective in helping to prevent separation anxiety but it is important to keep up with it even though alone it isn't effective it is part of teaching your dog to cope with your absence. The first step you need to take is to observe your dog while going through your morning routine. Refer back to the list of behaviors commonly associated with an anxious dog and keep track of what you are doing when the first signs of their distress are detectable. Common actions are putting on shoes, picking up keys, turning off the television, picking up a coat, grabbing your briefcase, but sometimes they may be smaller actions, dogs are masters of association and it may be small unconscious behaviors that are their queues that you intend to leave. By this time your dog knows your pre-departure routine and is likely near the peak of their distress before you leave the house so it shouldn't be too difficult to pick out the major actions to start with and continue watching them even as you have moved on to the subsequent parts of the treatment.

The next step is to take one action that is part of your dog's stress-escalation routine and work on disassociating it from your departure. For example, if your dog starts to get upset when you put your shoes on then throughout the day you should put on your work shoes but do the unexpected; sit down and read a book for half an hour, fold a load of laundry, dust, anything but leave the house. There is one caveat to the disassociation process, you need to plan it well ahead of any planned departure. If you plan on leaving within an hour best not to work on desensitizing your dog now, it may just trigger their anxiety earlier to your leaving the house.

Be patient, the process of disassociating certain actions from your leaving, and the stress that results, can take a while. Working on one trigger at a time then combining multiple triggers may take a while but at the end of the process you should have a dog that will allow you to leave without becoming unduly upset. The next step is to leave your dog in such a way that they don't become stressed (this may be done in conjunction with the trigger conditioning). The root of the problem is that your dog is upset when you leave so you have to find a way that they don't feel so isolated. This may mean finding a friend to leave your dog with, using a pet-sitter, or going to doggy daycare. These may be the best solutions because there are other people to observe their behavior and report to you. Alternatively you can try taking your dog with you, leaving them in another part of the house that you use frequently (so it feels familiar) as a "going away space," or borrow a dog they know to see if the presence of a second dog helps. The last suggest comes with a big warning, anxious dogs are inherently upset so you need to find a way to leave the dogs together in such a way that they are safe. That might mean crating them side-by-side or using a baby gate to keep them physically apart but able to see each other.

Separation anxiety varies in intensity in every dog. Most are affected relatively mildly and only a minority are as challenging as my boy, Boo. Teaching an anxious dog to copy with your absence is often a trial-and-error exercise. Some dogs do much better with a canine companion and for others it makes no difference. For a small number of dogs only you will do so leaving them with a friend might make them less anxious but still upset. The last resort should be medication. For those dogs who pose a risk to themselves it is an essential part of the counter-conditioning process and almost all can be weened off of chemical aids with time. It is important that you speak with a veterinarian and a behaviorist if you believe that medicinal treatment is necessary.

I know it sounds like a long process and for some dogs it can be while for others a couple weeks of work and they improve significantly. Don't let the risk of separation anxiety keep you from bringing any dog into your life, it is not a common problem but now that you are aware of what to look for and have some idea how to treat it you should be prepared to make a start if your new buddy shows signs of anxiety.

Boo, my anxious boy, is an absolute delight. Some days I had to remind myself that his behavior was born of his extreme attachment to me and how could I be upset with a dog that loved me too much? The hardest part of having a pet with separation anxiety is that every day when you leave their whole world falls apart and they are desperate to see you again. Boo is still my shadow, he's eager to please and because we worked through his anxiety in partnership we have a stronger bond than I did with my normal dogs. As a result of Boo I took another project dog, a spook, and I am getting ready to welcome yet another project dog. The more they make you work the more they love you for it because they can't help that they're easily upset but in the end they trust you more and the bond between you and your dog goes far beyond what most people with know with their pets.

So as your schedule changes with autumn approaching you are now prepared in case you find your dog struggling with a new schedule!