SEPARATION ANXIETY – Craig A Murray Whilst it is a very desirable feeling for some of us to know that our dogs can’t live without us, it’s not a healthy state of mind for our dogs to be so dependent upon us that they go into stress the moment we walk out of sight. When we look at how we raise our children, we teach them to be their independent best but we teach our dogs to be so very dependent on us and in some ways, that fulfils our emotional needs. There’s no denying how much most pet owners love their dogs, but when you look at things in a common sense and practical way, to have an animal under enormous stress when you leave it should be considered a form of abuse. It’s true that not all dogs are the same and so there are some individuals that are needier than others. We also must take into consideration the amount of time we spend with our dogs. We want to ensure our dogs have great environmental enrichment and quality of life, but we also want to ensure that they can cope on their own and are comfortable in their own skin.
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DOG WORLD June 2020
Due to the number of dogs we own and the amount of times we must travel for work, we need to drop our dogs to boarding kennels at times. It’s great to see that when we leave our dogs, they are happy to go with whoever is holding the lead to take them to their accommodation. There is always that little twinge when we have to leave our dogs as we would much prefer to have them with us and in our care, but it’s nice to know they are well adjusted and settled dogs that won’t suffer too much due to our change of circumstance. Naturally a change of environment is always going to have some element of stress but we want to keep it to a minimum. It shows we are trying to do best practice for our dog’s emotional needs. We see the oncoming of separation anxiety well before it happens in a lot of our client’s dogs. They will mention the dog starting to display anxious tendencies when they are preparing to leave for work or to go out without the dog. If we can identify an upcoming problem at this stage, the owner’s behaviour can be easily adjusted to make the dog more comfortable with knowing the owner is leaving. It’s always best to give your dog time
