How to prepare your dog for separation anxiety
These days of confinement our dogs are enjoying extra hours of company. That’s good now, but it can become a problem when it’s time to get back to work. We give you some tips to prepare your dog for that moment. These are things you can start doing today.
The problem of separation anxiety in dogs
Dogs are a social, gregarious species, and for them being accompanied is a necessity. Just like people, they are not solitary animals. Isolation and loneliness can cause stress and, many times, is the source of certain behavior problems.
Separation Anxiety is used to describe the fear and stress that some dogs experience from being left alone or being separated from their human family.
For most people, these weeks of confinement are not going to work and staying home. Dogs are accompanied all day, and surely happier than ever in that sense. But do not forget that the return to work will come and it is necessary to prepare them for that moment.
How to prepare your dog for your return to work
There are some things you can do now to avoid causing problems with separation anxiety when you return to your work routine.
General recommendations
- Make sure that, at home, your dog frequently enjoys positive times that do not have to do with human company. For example, encourage the use of stuffed food toys in another room or put her food rations in a room alone.
Besides that, ethologists recommend:
- Do not seek excessively the contact and attention of our dog.
- Do not always give in to their demands for attention.
- Offer entertainment that does not require human presence or interaction: interactive toys, chew bones , etc.
- Respect the space and the tranquility of the dog at all times.
- Try to maintain daily care routines, during which the dog is allowed to have long periods of independence.
- As far as possible, telework (in cases where this is feasible) without keeping the dog in the same room. That is, teach him to be separate while we work.
Specific recommendations
- If your dog has had problems with separation before, contact an ethologist veterinarian for more recommendations.
- If your dog is elderly, it is important to try to maintain the routines, if possible, so that he does not become disoriented.