Dogs often mirror our emotions, they also form routines around our own. When we experience lifestyle changes, our dogs can feel abandonded or anxious. Both young and old dogs can be effected by anxiety, exhibiting undesirable behaviours as a result. Some dogs are more suseptible to seperation issues than others, but in all cases humans play an important role in their emotional wellbeing—fortifying their resilience to adapt by building a habit of training their behaviour early on.
We asked Perth’s Dog Whisperer, Kathy McLeod to shed some light on how human habits and routines can affect our canine companions and what we can do about it—much of which can also help us through stressful times.
With Covid-19 playing a large role in our lives, long periods of lockdown and an increase in people working from home, I expected how detrimental this would be for many dogs. As some form of normality in our daily lives returns, the shift can throw our dog’s routine into disarray. With pet parents spending more time with their canine companions and many not being able to get their dogs out to socialise, there has been an increase in separation anxiety and social anxiety issues.
As people return to work away from their home, many are expressing concern about their dog’s lack of ability to cope with being left alone. This isn’t at all surprising with how much we mean to our dogs and vice versa. Their stress which can leave them emotionally overwrought transfers to their human who are sometimes at their wits’ end with addressing their dog’s separation distress in a timely manner. It affects their ability to concentrate on their work knowing that their dog is not coping well and may vocalise this, making neighbours aware of the problem.
Dogs that have a strong connection with their human may struggle with their new alone time leading to separation anxiety. There are mild-to-moderate forms of separation anxiety—which behaviour modification techniques can often successfully treat. Severe cases may require additional support. While some dogs will cope with the change of routine, many initially will not have the same resilience.
Common behaviour changes include a dog that doesn’t leave your side, stress signs including yawning in context, lowered body posture and reluctance to increase their distance from you. Distress vocalisation such as howling and prolonged periods of barking are often telltale signs the dog isn’t coping well. Destruction of furniture quite and commonly entry and exit points, attempts to escape sometimes causing injury, are increasing signs of stress.
Forward thinking provides you the time to desensitise your best friend for the foreseeable back to work schedule. There is nothing better than taking advantage of home time to get your dog comfortable in their own company. This prior preparation aims to set both dog and human up for success, so their independence is up to speed before your work schedule changes.
Providing your dog plenty of opportunities to have short and frequent outside time when you’re home is a good head start in building up their home alone skills. Discouraging your dog from following you literally everywhere in your home will aid in helping them enjoy their own company when you leave the house.
Fortunately, there are many dogs that aren’t candidates for separation anxiety, but having a watchful eye and knowing your dog’s personality provides you wonderful insight about their coping mechanism. By taking proactive steps, we can prevent many dogs from enduring such distress. Early implementation of independence behaviour modification will be a big payoff for both your dog’s well being and for your peace of mind.
Kathy Kopellis McLeod is a well-respected Dog Behaviour Consultant who has been active in the industry for over 25 years. Her expertise is widely sought out to tackle a range of dog behaviour problems. In particular, Kathy has become the go-to person for owners needing help with anti-social dogs and those with serious behaviour issues. Follow her @dogbehaviourperth
