How To Stop Separation Anxiety In Dogs

Separation anxiety is what it sounds like. It happens when a dog is feeling anxious with being separated from his/her owner, resulting in him/her feeling lonely. Depending on his/her background, a dog may find being lonely to be hard to stomach. Separation anxiety doesn’t just happen when a dog is left alone at home while his/her owner is away during the day, it can also happen even when they are both at home.

Separation anxiety, if left unaddressed, can lead to unwanted behavior by a dog such as barking or chewing on furniture. In order to mitigate the risk of your dog engaging in these kinds of behaviors, you will want to go about how to stop separation anxiety in dogs so that you can address your dog’s struggle with loneliness. Here are the ways in which you can do that.

How To Stop Separation Anxiety In Dogs In The Following Ways

1. Spend Time With Your Dog

There is simply no better way for you to help your dog out with his/her loneliness than to spend some quality time with him/her whenever you are home. That way your dog can feel like a loved member of your household. There are a number of things that you and your dog can do together.

Inside The Home

When you and your dog are indoors, one suggestion is for you to grab a toy ball and play it with your dog.

The ideal place to play with your dog is in a spacious room with plenty of room for you two to push the toy ball around. If you don’t have a toy ball at home, I would suggest that you order the Jolly Pets Bounce-n-Play Dog Toy Ball which comes in three sizes.

Another thing that you can do with your dog inside the home is to do roll overs with him/her. It is a fun and cool trick that you can do with your dog. So, if you would like to teach your dog how to roll over, this post has you covered.

Outdoors

When you and your dog are outdoors, one fun thing to do together is to play a game of frisbee. A frisbee is shaped like a disc and it is thrown across the air and your dog needs to catch it. If your dog doesn’t know how to catch a frisbee, you can train him/her how to do that.

You will want a frisbee that is soft as that is better for your dog’s teeth when he/she is catching it with his/her mouth. The Hyper Pet Flippy Flopper certainly has you covered here.

Another outdoorsy thing to do with your dog is to go for a peaceful walk around your neighborhood. If your dog doesn’t know how to walk by your side during the walk, I would suggest that you check out this post to learn more.

2. Have Your Dog Sleep With You

If your dog is feeling lonely, he/she is probably not going to feel comfortable sleeping all by his/herself in a separate room like the living room. So, if you don’t mind, you can have your dog sleep in your bed with you.

But, if you want to keep your dog off of your bed, that is perfectly understandable. You can have your dog sleep in his/her own dog bed inside of your bedroom by your bed.

If, however, you don’t have enough space for the dog bed inside your bedroom, you will want to have your dog sleep just outside of the bedroom. I would suggest that you keep your bedroom door just a little bit open so that your dog will know that you are sleeping in there.

You will want to get the most comfortable dog bed that you can for your dog. The best one I have seen out there is the PetFusion Ultimate Dog Bed thanks to the memory foam material that the dog bed is made of.

3. Give Your Dog A Toy To Keep Him/her Occupied

You are going to want to give your dog something to help keep his/her mind off of you, especially if you are going to be gone during the day and your dog is home alone.

You will want to give your dog a chewy toy that will keep him/her busy during the day. Kongs are great because each one will take a long time for your dog to finish chewing off and you can stuff them with delicious treats in order to reward him/her for reaching the finish line.

The Kongs actually comes in five different sizes – extra small, small, medium, large, and extra large. So, just pick a size that you think is most appropriate for your dog. As far as treats are concerned,

I would get the Canine Carry Outs Dog Treats for stuffing into your Kongs. The treats are offered in at least ten different flavors such as hot dog, chicken, burger, and steak.

4. Give Your Dog Something With Your Scent On It

If you are going to be gone for the day with your dog being left alone, you will want to give your dog something that will have your scent on it. That is because it will help your dog to feel like you are right there with him/her even though you aren’t actually at home at that time.

You will want to give your dog something that you use often such as a pillow or blanket.

That is because as you use them, you will naturally develop your own footprint on them which will allow your dog to have a piece of you without your actual presence.

That will help to tide your dog over until you can return home yourself. I would give it to your dog just as you are getting ready to head out the door.

Concluding How To Stop Separation Anxiety In Dogs

These are the ways that you can use for how to stop separation anxiety in dogs. So, just use one or a combination of two or more of them. What are your thoughts? Does your dog feel lonely whenever you aren’t there with him/her or does he/she feel fine being alone? Feel free to leave a comment below.