Does Your Dog Have Separation Anxiety? Dogs are part of our family and they can undergo separation anxiety when we are not around. Dogs view their owners as their pack. When they are separated from their pack they can become very upset. Many dogs who deal with a separation anxiety issue will take their sadness and frustration out on their owner’s property and rip personal possessions apart. Coming home to find your favorite shoes chewed to shreds may be a sign to you that your dog is crying out for help. If your dog is suffering from separation anxiet,y you may also get reports from unhappy neighbors that your dog has been on a barking tangent since you left your home.

Other signs of separation anxiety include:

1. Your dog has decided to be your shadow when you are home. He will follow you wherever you go from room to room and has no interests in anything but you.

2. Your dog acts agitated or mournful when you prepare to leave. He may do things that will draw attention to himself in an attempt to keep you from leaving.

3. Your dog is overly enthusiastic when you come home. Some dogs may even wet the floor upon seeing you.

4. If you place your inside dog outside to potty, he will refuse to leave the door area and will just stand there and bark.

Dogs can develop separation anxiety from the start, or it can be acquired at any time in their lives. Changes in the household, such as the death of another pet or family member can trigger separation anxiety in dogs. Anything that would disrupt your dog’s life, such as a move, new child or even the dog owner working a new schedule, can make a dog go into the doldrums. If your dog has never shown signs of separation anxiety before, you should take a look at your lifestyle. What has changed in your dog’s life that would make him so anxious?

What You Can Do

* Do not lash out at your dog in anger. This only makes your dog think that it is wrong for him to want to be around you and his anxiety will become worse.

* Teach your dog that you always return. Play games with your dog that will show him that you will always return. Teach him to sit and stay. Move to other rooms in your home and then come back. When you do come back, reward your pet for remaining calm. Gradually increase the amount of time you are away in different rooms and then return. Start the process over and start going outside for a few minutes. With time, your dog will come to understand that you will not be gone forever.

* Find something for your dog to do while you are away from home. Purchase new chew toys to occupy your dog while you are away.

* Change up your leaving pattern. If a dog knows your routine, this can bring on his anxiety.

* Don’t pay a ton of attention to your dog the moment you walk in the door. This seems to make separation anxiety worse. Instead, take off your shoes, flip through the mail and then make a fuss over him.

* For a dog with severe separation anxiety, you may want to consder a trip to the vet. There are anti-anxiety drugs that a vet can prescribe your dogs. They work as a calming agent and are good to use when you are training your dog that you will return.

* Talk to your neighbors if you have received barking complaints. Tell them you are working hard to relieve your dog of his anxiety and ask them to bear with you.

When your dog realizes how much he is loved and that you would never leave him forever he will finally start to relax.

Wishing you and your new puppy a long and happy life,
Katelyn

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Suddenly, that adorable new puppy seems more like a baby shark. Your feet, your furniture and even your walls are all falling prey to those razor sharp little teeth. Are you doomed to spend your life covered in bandaids and sitting on the remaining half of your sofa cushion? Well, while you won’t be able to completely stop your puppy from chewing, you can stop him from chewing everything you own.

Teach Your Puppy Proper Chewing Manners
If you leave a chewing puppy to roam at will, it can destroy your home very fast. It is important that pet owners understand that teaching dogs chewing manners is as important as housebreaking them.

Why Do Puppies Chew?
Many people feel that when a puppy is left for a longer period of time with its siblings and mother, it will be less likely to chew on its new owner’s possessions. Studies have shown that puppies that are taken from their mothers and siblings before eight weeks of age do exhibit more aggressive forms of chewing than puppies that were taken from their mothers at 10 weeks of older.
Why? Probably because there is nothing like being scolded by your mother, even if your mother is a dog. When puppies start cutting their teeth and start to chew on their mothers, they are quickly scolded with a painful nip. Mother dogs will not tolerate being a chew toy to their puppies. If nipping the young pup doesn’t curb the pup’s desire to chew, the mother dog will leave the area and force the puppy to be alone. Puppies soon learn that chewing is not tolerated.
When puppies find that their mothers won’t put up with their chewing, they usually start taking their aggression out on their litter mates. When they hear a yelp from their siblings, they are shocked to discover they were the cause of the yelp. When the offending pup is nipped in return, or if its litter mates refuse to play with it, the chewing pup learns again that biting and chewing is not tolerated or acceptable.

Dealing With a Chewing Puppy
If you come home to find your expensive pillows torn to shreds or your nice leather shoes torn apart, it can be very frustrating. If you have a puppy that likes to chew, it usually won’t stop at your possessions. The pup may also try to chew on your toes, fingers and clothing. It is important to understand that all puppies will go through a teething stage, much like human infants. Expecting a puppy to not chew is virtually impossible, especially when it doesn’t see a difference between your nice new belt and a chew toy.

In fact, if your puppy is feeling lonely when you are gone, the scent of your personal possessions will probably be more intriguing to it than a bone or chew toy. Understanding that all puppies will go through a teething and chewing process is important. However, you must teach your dog chewing manners. If you do not, it will never learn boundaries and everything in your home will be up for grabs.

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(with Expert Advice from Bernadine Cruz, DVM, Anyes Van Volkenburgh, DVM and Maralyn Redford, an obedience instructor and breeder of Champion Golden Retrievers )

To wrap up the main portion of the course, we are going to leave you with some advice from our experts. We asked them for their top five tips for new puppy owners and here they are:

Bernadine Cruz, DVM says:

1. Feed a well balance food appropriate for its age and breed. When in doubt, ask your vet for a diet that will suit your dog’s growth profile.

2. Keep your puppy slim. Studies have shown that a pet that maintains its ideal weight throughout its life can expect to live 15% longer than its chubby littermate.

3. The number one reason why dogs are relinquished by their owners to a shelter is unacceptable behaviors. Train your dog. Set compassionate rules that are reinforced by all members of the family.

4. Follow your veterinarian’s advice. What you read on the internet or learn from your breeder or friend may be stated with the best of intentions but not necessarily correct. Your veterinarian is trained to provide the best medical advice for your particular pet.

5. Before adopting a pet, do your homework. Just because you see a particular breed on TV or a movie that is just too cute, it may not be the most appropriate pet for you. Be sure you have the time, finances and desire to devote to your dog. When you adopt a pet, it is for life, their life.

Anyes Van Volkenburgh, DVM had six important tips to leave with new puppy owners:
1. Nutrition is key – If you choose not to cook for your pet (and there are a myriad of great books with home made pet food recipes), then make sure the pet food you buy is made of wholesome, human quality ingredients.

2. Proper medical care – I stress the improtance of finding a progressive, preferably holistic, veterinarian who will treat your pet’s mind, body and soul.

3. Training – find a positive trainer to help you teach your puppy what is expected. Do not wait for behavioral problems to develop; take your puppy to a puppy class asap.

4. Talk to your puppy – We’ve been conditioned to think that animals do not understand our language, but new research shows that dogs, cats and parrots are more capable of understanding complex sentences than we ever thought before. Talk to your pet – tell him or her that you are happy, excited about a new opportunity, or hungry or tired, that you have to go work and will be back in 9 hours, that you’ll miss them while you’re gone. You’ll be amazed to see that in a short time your puppy is able to understand seemingly complex sentences. And you will cherish the bond that talking to your pet fosters.

5. Play together – dogs living in packs play together to show that they share a friendship and feel safe and comfortable with each other. Cats who like each other play, too. Play is a way of letting your guard down.

6. Smile – Animals gravitate towards people who are joyful, calm and centered, not negative, scattered and anxious. Since animals pick up on our emotions and often internalize them, they much prefer healthy emotions.

Wishing you and your new puppy a long and happy life,
Katelyn

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