The anxious dog: how lock down can help you

Posted on by TheBorkingGabby

The year 2020 is most likely going to be remembered for how coronavirus changed our lives. For some of us the change is going to be temporary but chances are that months from now, for a lot of us the change will be huge and permanent.

A lot of jobs will disappear, some roles will evolve, routines will be affected and commutes will be longer or shorter.

For some of us these changes are going to be difficult and these are going to affect everyone in our families, pets included.

Dogs, especially, thrive on routines and can get really stressed when things change.

If you have a dog that suffers from separation anxiety, you might already be familiar with how going out might mean coming back to some sort of damage to your house or personal belongings, excessive barking or soiled floors.

If the separation anxiety is severe your dog will do this almost every time you go out, but if it’s mild this might only happen sometimes or you might not even know it’s happening.

To reduce separation anxiety you need to desensitize your dog to all the clues that anticipate your leaving. Then you need to work on building up how long your dog is going to be alone for. This training actually requires days and it works really well if you stick to a plan and don’t let your dog get very anxious and practise the unwanted behaviours.

Because of these requirements, this training is not always easy to practise since most of us normally still have to go to work and cannot be away only for the time required at the beginning of the training.

Now that a lockdown is in place, dogs have gotten used to our constant presence. This unfortunately makes the separation anxiety worse and chances are that your dog will show more destructive or distressed behaviour once you’ll start going back to work.

To avoid this and help your dog with the separation anxiety you can actually take advantage of the lockdown situation to help your dog learn how to cope when you are not home.

The first step is to desensitize your dog to the clues that tell him that you are leaving. That means tricking your dog into thinking that these cues don’t necessarily mean that you are going away. This is really important because a lot of the anxiety your dog experiences starts before you leave, because he anticipates the event.

There are a lot of cues that tell your dog that you are going away and they are different for every person but the most common ones are getting dressed, putting your shoes on and grabbing your keys. So once you identify what your specific cues are, you can start the training.

Start by practising the cues in the order that you would normally do if you were to go out. At this point you might notice that your dog is distressed (he’s following you, keeping an eye on you, etc…). Ignore him, then walk up to the door and open it a little. Without stepping out close the door again and do whatever routine you would do when you come back home (putting your keys down, hanging your coat back, taking off shoes, etc…) and go sit somewhere. Again you should ignore your dog.

At first your dog will be completely confused and he will still keep an eye on you to see what you are doing.

Wait a few minutes and then repeat.

Do this training a few times in the same day without actually going out. Practise it until your dog gets bored and settles down somewhere. Then repeat for a few days until your dog starts ignoring you very quickly after you start.

The second step is to start walking out of the door. So repeat the exercise the way it is but once you get to the door, this time you will step out and close it behind you. As soon as you have closed the door, open it again and walk in. Do the routine you would do every time you come back and go sit somewhere. Don’t make a fuss of your dog if he comes to you to greet you.

Wait a few minutes and repeat a few times until your dog settles.

Once your dog is not showing any distressed behaviour at this point you might start extending the time you are out of the door. Start from as little as a second and slowly build up. If at any point your dog shows any distress it means you are building the time up to quickly. If that happens just go back to the last time span your dog was comfortable with for a while before progressing again.

TIPS:

  • If during this training you need to go out for something, try to time this up so that someone of your family can stay with your dog while you are away
  • it might be useful to have something to do (like reading a book) when you have to wait for time to go by.
  • It might be useful to give your dog a chew toy or a kong during the sessions as well as in the future when you need to leave your dog alone for a while. These are good toys to help him cope with the anxiety and prevent boredom while you are away

If your dog’s anxiety is so severe that you are not even able to leave your dog alone in a room then you will need another training as well and I will write about it in another article.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or if you need help with one of our services don’t hesitate to contact us in the following ways. We are available for all Chelmsford (UK) area.

As always I apologise if my english is not perfect. Still work in progress!

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