Separation Anxiety

Since Sydney and Byrdey have left our house, Remi has been showing signs of separation anxiety.  Within 5 minutes of leaving her in her kennel Remi will tinkle.  I did some research online because behavior like this isn't typical for any dog and we don't want our puppy continuing on with this bad habit.  Here are some tips that we found that can help retrain our poochie:

• You need to teach your dog to be more independent
• You should allow your dog to shadow you around the home
• Never give your attention when she demands it! Only give her attention when she has stopped demanding it or when you want too. This will help for when she is anxious when she is left alone, and not able to receive attention
• When you leave your dog, it must be kept low key to stop your dog from getting anxious
• When you return home you keep it low key. If you give her any attention when she is excited you will only be reinforcing her excitement & the motivation behind it (the separation problem)
• Don’t ‘say bye’ to your dog when you are leaving the house.  Your dog will understand your bye as I am leaving you alone now and she will start to become anxious
• Make sure you exercise your dog before leaving her for long periods of time; this will help to tire her out. Also playing games with her an hour before leaving will help.
• You need to leave interesting toys & chews for your dog to play with. Use toys that you can hide tasty food in the toy. This will help to stimulated your dog and stop him from getting bored & frustrated. Try hiding the dog in the crate, so she has to find the toy as well.
• You need to teach your dog to be alone. A great way to do this is by separating her into a different room, when you are at home.  Start off with a couple of minutes and then gradually increasing the time over a few weeks, until you can leave her in a different room and she is happy being left.
• Keep using the dog crate, this willl provide security for your dog.  The reason why she is toileting is it is her way off dealing with the stress off being left by herself. Never lock your dog in the crate, this can cause the dog more stress. Keep the door open, try putting an item of yours in the crate. This will help to provide comfort for your dog when left alone!
• You also need to start leaving her in the house for a few minutes, then return. Start off with a couple of minute’s and then gradually increasing the time over a few weeks, until you can leave her and she is happy being left. This will help build her confidence up with being left alone & you will return.

We've been trying this routine for almost a week now, and we've already seen a couple of improvements.  This is defintely going to be a slow and long process, but it will be worth it to have a happy and less anxious pooch!

THE CULPRIT