Independence.

Separation anxiety be gone!

“What’s that smell?” was a question often on our lips when we returned home from a day out, during the first few years of living with Roxy. No evidence of toilet mess, no food gone bad, yet each time the family went out for a sustained number of hours, we would be welcomed home by a weird, off-smell when returning. The veterinarian later explained that the smell was linked to pheromones, released from Roxy’s backside, most likely in reaction to stress.

It could’ve been worse. Separation anxiety is a very common condition afflicting dogs and symptoms can be much more terrible than just a bad smell. Unrelenting howling, breaking of doors, tearing down of fences, destruction of remote controls, shredding of sofas, bins turned upside down, household items ravaged…are just a few examples.

To prevent separation anxiety from surfacing, it’s essential to nip it in the bud early and condition your puppy to feel safe and content when they are home alone.

Food Chew Toys

Feeding your puppy exclusively using food chew toys has so many benefits, not least for building independence. Use this tool to help your puppy associate being home alone as a positive thing:

• Leave your puppy some tasty food-stuffed chew toys each time you leave the house. The longer you will be away, the more food chew toys you need to offer. The idea is that your puppy needs to “work” to get its food. See tips under Food for increasing the challenge level for your dog.

• Begin by stepping out of the house for 5 minutes, then 15, then 30, then an hour and beyond. You can combine this independence training with toilet training using the playpen method.

• When you leave the house, do so causally without making a fuss - a quick pat and “Bye!” will do.

• If you are consistent in offering your puppy well-stuffed food chew toys each time you leave the house, they WILL associate you leaving as a GOOD thing.

Exercise And Stimulation

Food chew toys are only one part of independence training. Just like us, dogs need mental, physical and social stimulation. Otherwise, just like us, they will get up to no-good and / or their mental health will suffer. If there’s one thing the 2020 Pandemic has taught us it is that forced home confinement can easily lead us into a funk.

Using food chew toys and obedience training help with providing mental stimulation. For the physical and social dimensions, provide your dog plenty of exercise and opportunities to play with other dogs every single day. Having a large backyard where they can spend all day is frankly not enough, especially for young dogs. Dog parks are great both for play and exercise. If you are short on time, seek regular help from a dog walker.

Over To You!

• During the first week, combine Toilet Training with Independence Training using food chew toys. Feeding your puppy exclusively using food chew toys in the early weeks brings fast training results.

• Give your puppy well-stuffed food chew toys each time you leave the house, even after your puppy is toilet trained.

• Exercise your dog daily and create for them plenty of opportunities to play and socialise with other dogs. If you are skimp on time, seek out a local dog walker.

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