Cures for Dog Separation Anxiety

Check out these ideas and choose an easy remedy for dog separation anxiety

dog separation anxiety If your dog has separation anxiety, it's hard to come home every day because you don't know what you will find - chewed up furniture, papers and garbage strewn on the floor and other types of destruction.

No matter how bad the situation is, don't lose hope. If you need a remedy, you've come to the right place.

Read on to find some of the best ways to cure dog separation anxiety and you'll find an easy remedy for dog separation anxiety that you can use for your dog.

Dog Separation Anxiety Remedy - You leave and the goodies come out

When you give your dog special treats and toys upon leaving, your dog begins to see your exit as a good thing. Over time, your dog will even look forward to you leaving home because he wants to get the special treats and toys. Leaving special things for your dog to play with also keeps him occupied while you’re away. If your dog isn’t bored, he won’t turn to destruction.

The first things that you’ll want to do are purchase and prepare some special toys and treats for your dog. Go to the pet store and pick out a few toys and treats that your dog will enjoy. If you feel like this is starting to get expensive, take a few minutes and think about how much it will cost you to buy a new sofa or a new pair of tennis shoes, then you’ll see that buying a few new dog items is really a bargain. You don’t need to go overboard, just get a few new toys and a few treats.

We highly recommend using a toy called Kong. It is a rubber toy with a hole in the top and a large space inside where you can stuff treats. You can purchase a Kong at nearly any pet store. It is very effective in keeping your dog busy. What you’ll want to do is put some treats into the Kong and then fill the top of the hole with peanut butter or soft cheese (whatever your dog likes best.) Your dog will have a blast licking the peanut butter out of the Kong and then he’ll keep busy trying to get the other treats out of it.

You’ll want to get the toys and treats together before you’re ready to leave. Use whatever combination of toys and treats you prefer, but a good mix is a Kong, a few small dog treats and a stuffed or rubber chew toy. It’s a good idea to alternate the stuffed or rubber toys so that your dog does not become bored with them.

Remedy Step by step

1. Once you’re ready to leave the house, collect all of your dog’s special treats and toys.

2. Without any fanfare – this means no goodbye kisses or cuddles, sorry! – place the toys and treats on the floor by your pet.

3. When you’ve given everything to your dog, leave immediately.

Sound easy? It is. Just remember to do the method exactly as stated. If there are any tricks to this method, it’s that your dog only receives these special toys and treats when you leave and that you leave immediately after you give the toys and treats to your dog without any fanfare. A short while after you return home, collect the treats and toys and put them in safekeeping until you need to leave your home again.

This method works very quickly because it doesn’t take your dog very long to figure out that when you leave, treats and toys come out. Usually within two days of using this method, your dog will begin to look to you for his special treats and toys when you leave.

Easy Remedy for Destruction - Don't give your dog free reign

In many cases, the best defense is a good offense, and this method uses that principle. Instead of letting your dog find your prized possessions to destroy, keep those items out of his reach by putting them away and keeping your dog in designated areas of your home. If your dog tends to go into the kitchen garbage or finds your shoes in the closet while you’re gone, eliminate the possibility for destruction by simply preventing your dog access to these areas.

Method Step by step

1. When you leave, don’t give your dog free reign of the house. Close doors and use baby gates to isolate your dog to one or two rooms in your house, like the living room and the front hallway. While denying your dog free reign of the house, you should not isolate your dog by closing him into one room for the day. He will feel frustrated by being enclosed and will react with more destruction. Keeping just a few rooms “off limits” will do the trick.

2. When you come home, you can remove the barriers and let your dog go where he wishes.

3. As your dog gets used to being alone, you can begin to open the closed off areas of the house to him one by one. If he’s been denied access for a long time, he may not even realize that he has the option of going into those rooms because he’s so used to staying in the other rooms of your home.