All the things I wish I knew before I got my first ever puppy!
Just think, when you first get your puppy, you take them away from their Mum and siblings, they finally start to see you as their new family…then you leave. No wonder they’re going to get a bit upset.
Some breeds are more prone to separation anxiety than others, as a retriever, Cooper unfortunately falls into that category! Fortunately for us though he’s not got a severe case. For us we quickly realised that he was happy to be alone around the house if we were there (i.e. If I was upstairs he was happy on his own downstairs), but as soon as we went out out, all hell broke loose!
I’m not currently crating Cooper in the conventional sense, he has his own room in the garage which has his crate in it, he spends half his time in the crate and the other half sprawled over the floor! But if we’re going out, that’s where he’s confined to.
Below is a list of things you can do to try and help ease separation anxiety and almost train your dog out of it somewhat. Obviously if your dog is having SEVERE anxiety, speak to a professional asap.
1. LET YOUR DOG GO TO THE LOO BEFORE BEEN CRATED/LEFT ALONE.
This is especially the case if you are crating your dog or if your dog is fully house trained. Young dogs in particular do not have overly strong bladders so it’s unfair to expect them to be able to hold it for long periods of time. Dogs also HATE toileting where they sleep, so if your dog does have an accident in their crate they’re going to be even more distressed. Also if your dog is house trained it can be quite distressing for them if they have an accident inside as they tend to know it’s wrong- but they can’t help it!
2. TAKE THEIR COLLAR OFF.
Okay so this isn’t separation anxiety related, just a general point. Whether you leave your dog in a crate or whether it has the run of the house, either buy a break safe collar or take their collar off altogether! Collar strangulation kills over 26,000 dogs every year, it’s so easy, especially in a crate, for a dog to get their collar caught on something and panic. Combined with the fact that your dog may already be frantic from the separation anxiety, it only increases the odds of an accident. I personally didn’t want to leave Cooper without a collar on every time I left him alone. Firstly, it’s a lot of faff putting it on and off constantly and two, if he did manage to get out it’s so much easier for people to track an owner down with a collar. Yes he is microchipped, but that means whoever finds him would have to take him to a vets to be scanned. To solve the problem I got Cooper a break safe collar which will basically break in 2 if it gets snagged on something.
3. DON’T GIVE THEM LOTS OF ATTENTION BEFORE LEAVING.
If you give your dog lots of fuss before you leave, it’s going to be all the more noticeable to them that you’ve gone. Try and make the least amount of drama possible when you leave- hopefully they won’t even notice you’ve gone.
4. PUT THEM IN THE CRATE LITTLE AND OFTEN WHILE YOU ARE AROUND.
Or if it’s a particular room that you’ll be leaving them in, leave them in there. Then if they are calm and quiet, reward them for it. However, as hard as it is, if do they cry and howl, you need to ignore them. One thing our trainer drilled into us was NEVER let them out of their crate/room while they are howling/barking as this teaches them that if they bark and cry you’ll come and let them out.
5. MAYBE LEAVE THEM WITH A LICK MAT OR OTHER TREAT WHICH WILL KEEP THEM OCCUPIED FOR A WHILE
This kind of goes hand in hand with number 3. You want to go out in the most low key way possible, however if like us, you have a very astute dog, it’s easier said than done to sneak out- that is until food is involved. Before I go out I put a bit of peanut butter on a lick mat and leave it in his room. While he’s licking that the whole house could literally collapse around him and he would be none the wiser! Just make sure whatever you choose to give them is safe for them to have unattended and won’t pose a choking risk!
6. LEAVE THE TV/RADIO ON SO THEY HAVE SOME BACKGROUND NOISE.
Watching Cooper on the cameras we noticed he was incredibly jumpy at every little noise when we were out. This was pretty surprising for us considering how he normally doesn’t flinch for any noise, or if he does, it’s nothing more than a temporary head up. When he was home alone, every time he heard a noise he’d shoot up and run into his crate at full speed. To try and help with this we started leaving the tv or radio on as a bit of background noise for him. He’s so much less jumpy with it on.
7. LEAVE AN ITEM OF CLOTHING THAT YOU’VE WORN WITH THEM.
This tip was an absolute life saver from our trainer (who is also a dog behaviourist). We had mentioned to him how if we put Cooper in his room while we were in the house or at night, he was absolutely fine, but if we left the house he cried and basically got into a right pickle. The trainer explained to us that as a dogs primary sense is smell, even though he may not see us in the house, he was still able to smell us, so he was somewhat comforted by us. When we left the house he couldn’t smell us anymore, hence the meltdown. To get over this he recommended leaving an item of clothing that I’d already worn in his room with him (somewhere he couldn’t get hold of it obviously!). That way he was still able to smell me even when I wasn’t there. A bit of trickery- but it does the job!
8. TRY AND DEVELOP A ROUTINE SO THEY KNOW THAT YOU WILL BE COMING BACK.
Like small children, dogs are all about routine- which is why lockdown was hard for even senior dogs. If you go from been with your dog every day to suddenly disappearing to work all day, it’s going to be a big shock for it. Obviously we all need to work and plans do change, but for the most part try and get your dogs into a routine that they are used to. That way they’ll get to know that when you go out in the morning, you’ll be back in the afternoon. If you keep switching it up on them they won’t know if they’re coming or going- well if you’re coming or going anyway!
9. DON’T MAKE A BIG FUSS OF THEM WHEN YOU GET BACK, JUST LET THEM OUT AND CARRY ON AS NORMAL.
Just like when you leave, you don’t want to make a big fuss of them when you come home, you want to normalise the whole thing as much as possible. Making a big fuss of your dog will highlight to them that something different happened when you left and could make them crave your attention even more. We made the mistake originally of rewarding Cooper with a pizzle stick every time we came in after leaving him alone… in the end when we let him out of his room he’d just run to the kitchen and search for the pizzle…and don’t even get me started on the hissy fit he’d have if he didn’t get one!
10. IF YOU ARE GOING OUT FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME, CONSIDER HIRING A SITTER OR GETTING SOMEONE TO COME IN AND CHECK IN ON THEM.
Dogs for the most part, are extremely social creatures, and remember, you have other family and friends to spend time with, to your dog, family is all he has. If you are working all day, and even more so if you are leaving your dog in a crate, consider hiring a puppy sitter or a dog walker to come in and check on them. They can let them out, let them go to the toilet and have a run around. Alternatively, if you’re not keen on letting someone in your home, have a look at doggy daycare. A lot of day cares do pick up and drop off and if like Cooper, your dog loves the company of other dogs, they’ll have a whale of a time!