Your dog tries to block you from leaving the house. As soon as you close the door, he howls and barks non-stop. When you return, not only are you bombarded with licking and being jumped on by a hyperactive dog, you notice that while you were gone he has ripped apart the carpet, scratched the paint off the door and urinated on the carpet. Your dog has a problem: separation anxiety.

Dogs have a special bond with their owners. Sometimes the bond between a dog and his owner becomes dependent, and leaving him for any amount of time can cause anger, confusion and anxiety. The stress of dealing with separation anxiety can be extreme, and the problem needs to be dealt with as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

What is separation anxiety?

Dog separation anxiety is when a dog has a very strong, dependent attachment to their owners. Separation anxiety can cause dogs to be destructive to themselves and the house and yard. Separation anxiety may cause a dog to bark, chew, destroy furniture, carpets and other extreme behavior.

It is important to determine if your dog is simply bored while you are gone, or if he has a case of separation anxiety. Dogs may be unhappy when you leave the home, but only dogs with separation anxiety will cause a problem.

What causes dog separation anxiety?

About 10% of puppies and dogs suffer from separation anxiety. It is not entirely known why dogs suffer from separation anxiety, but there are a few theories. Some causes of separation anxiety may include:

- Puppies who have been separated from their mothers too soon. When you leave the house, your dog will likely think he will never see you again, similar as to what happens when a dog is adopted.

- Shelter dogs. These dogs can be troubled. Sometimes separation anxiety may be from a previous abusive owner or being neglected in shelters.

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A common concern of my client’s is that their dog is guarding/owning them. This is a serious situation that should be addressed and resolved right away.

Unwanted guarding or ownership of a person by a dog is a symptom of a much bigger issue – lack of leadership. This occurs when the human has inadvertently relinquished (or never was) the pack leader.

Some people may at first, find this type of behaviour cute or be proud their dog’s ‘ownership/guarding’ behaviour. The problem is, if you do not know how to control the behaviour the result can be traumatic for both dog and human. When a dog is being protective of you it is not the same as owning you.

To help you better understand the dangers inherent in allowing your dog to ‘own’ you, I am going to provide a real life example below. This happened to some one I know in an animal discussion group that I participate in.

The other group member posted the following:
I have had a French Poodle, pitch black, of high pedigree. He was very possessive over me, nobody could pass me or come close, either animal or person. I also had another Maltese x Poodle at the time, who I was I was very fond off. One day I tried to pick the Maltese x Poodle up for a bath and French Poodle turned around attacking me, but I still think it was because he was jealous and did not like the idea that I took noticed of my other dog. I landed in hospital and when I came out I was told that my French Poodle has been taken to the Vet and put down. I will never forget the grief – and even though it is more that 10 years ago, I sometimes still feel sadness for him.

This person still has dogs, as do many others in the group – the need to understand and avoid this situation in the future was of concern to all. They asked my advice on how to avoid and or treat this situation should any one by currently dealing with it, or encounter this type of behaviour in the future.

When working with clients I always start by explaining the psychology of a situation. Having a clear understanding of the root causes, effects and outcomes of behaviour is vital to understanding the solution and preventing the development of the same situation in the future.

PART ONE – Understanding the Psychology of the Situation

This dog was dominating and owning it’s human. To teach personal space boundaries you have to show them by ‘owning’ space. By moving into the space he occupies, you take the space back from him. If your reaction to him being in your personal space has always been for you to withdraw from the space (even fractionally) you have not taught him. If your reaction has always been to allow your dog to remain in your personal, close space and own you, you have enabled the behaviour.

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Well I must say that this week was the best week we have had so far! After posting our week two update, I got some really good advice and tips and they have made the world of difference – mostly having to do with changing MY behaviour.

In the second week, I was really stressing about the three dogs’ relationships to each other. One reader pointed out that maybe the reasons for me being stressed out were on me, and not on the dogs. She was right. I was humanising my dogs’ emotions when really, they were just fine.

We have also changed tactics in regards to training. One reader pointed out that there are holes in the dominance theory and that there is a lot of documentation on the Dominance Myth. It’s actually very interesting and makes sense. One point they argue is that it is unfair to compare our domesticated dogs to wolves because they have been domesticated for so long that it just doesn’t make sense. It would be like asking a monkey for parenting advice.

Having looked into that I started to research into other methods of training and came across the amazing Ian Dunbar. I have featured his videos on the blog before and I ended up spending a whole afternoon watching some of his lectures. They are really captivating and if you have some time, I suggest you check them out. Another great resource is Dog Star Daily, which is a website filled with info by Dr. Dunbar.

Having said that, Dr. Dunbar teaches that we need to really focus on the positive to shape the appropriate behaviour. Thomas and I tried this and saw results immediately. It will be up to us to consciously make an effort to recognize and reward good behaviour constantly. Usually I would think to myself, wow the dogs are being good, and now I want to TELL them they are good. As I mentioned, this is going very well and we are so happy about it.

One thing that I’ve noticed this week is the relationship developing between Corduroy and Wellington. They are really starting to get along very well and I’ve even caught them snoozing together which I find adorable. I will be watching how their relationship grows over the next few weeks.

This past Sunday we went to Global Pet Foods in Hintonburg for a nail trim fundraiser for Bullies in Need. It was the first time Wellie had her nails trimmed with us and we discovered that she doesn’t like it. We suspect her previous owners didn’t touch her paws very much so we will be gently touching her paws over the next few weeks and praising her a lot for letting us do so.

We are still working on the house training, although the accidents are getting fewer and farther between. We have discovered that she LOVES her Kong stuff with a mixture of yogurt, peanut butter, bananas and honey and then frozen. She also loves her treat ball with blueberries in it! This is a ball with a hole in the end and she has to bat it around to get the blueberries to come out. She is very good at it and I recorded a video that you can see below. If you feed kibble, I know some people who feed their dogs their dinner using this. It’s amazing.

Watch a video of Wellie and her new treat ball Continue reading →

Clients often tell us that their dog does not listen to them. They only way they feel they can “control” a behaviour is by using verbal commands like sit, stay and down. The problem with this is that the dog may listen initially but the always go back to doing the unwanted behaviour.

Let’s say you are taking care of a 2 year old child who is about to reach for the hot stove. Would you say: “Sit, here is a cookie” Or would you say, “Don’t touch, the stove is hot”? Most clients laugh at the notion of saying “Sit, here is a cookie” to their kids; yet this is exactly what most of us do with our dogs. We expect them to learn from it as well. You can say a thousand times: “Sit, here is a cookie”, never will child learn that the stove is hot. If you have a jumping or barking dog and you say “Sit, here is a cookie” you can say this a thousand times, never will your pet learn that barking or jumping is wrong.

The purpose of commands is to demand a behaviour and not to correct a behaviour. Every time you use a command to correct a behaviour it is a missed opportunity to teach your dog what the appropriate reaction or behaviour is. Miscommunication is one of the main issues.

What is the solution?
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There are various forms of anxiety sometimes it can be the inability to be left alone or it can be intolerance to the leaving process, this would be a controlling dog or it could be general anxiety that exacerbates when left alone.

Let’s focus on inability to be left alone. Some dogs it’s just you, the attachment is too strong or the relationship doesn’t represent leader follower concept. Other times the dog can be left with another person or another dog or cat and he’s fine. Other times this won’t help they need that specific person.

Crating can be a safe solution if your dog is damaging the home or escaping through screens. This of course is if your dog can be crated safely. Some dogs go to great lengths to escape the confinement and will hurt themselves in the process, breaking teeth and nails, chewing bedding or cutting themselves on the plastic tray. So sometimes crating is contra-indicated in most cases of separation anxiety because you are adding to the panic. The dog doesn’t look at it as his den but rather as a place to escape from.

Ideally if someone could be home to begin desensitizing your dog this is where you will gain the most success with this procedure as you begin to teach the dog to stay in one room.

The first thing to do is to teach separation

1. You tie down or tether the dog next to you. You’re putting your dog in a position where he can display good behavior because he has too. I suggest you do these exercises in a room the dog is comfortable in or a room where you play and interact with your dog. Or in the room he will left in when you’re gone. Not in the basement if nothing fun and enjoyable happens there.
2. Sit in a chair so the dog can’t reach you. This is the first thing you do in teaching separation.You do this for a given amount of time. Get a book and plan to be there 20-25 minutes while you ignore the dog. No talking, looking, touching, the dog is invisible to you.
3. The next week you put the chair on the other side of the room and start varying the time you are there. There’s still no interaction with you dog whatsoever.
4. The next week you move out of the room, you remove the dog off the tether. You put the chair outside the door; you can squeak the chair from time to time.
5. The next week the dog is inside the room untethered and you are outside. Now you can place used smelly clothing at the bottom of the door.
   • You need to vary the time from 15 min to 25 minutes if your schedule is predictive it can backfire. Do this at different times of day and for different lengths of time.

I must admit I was hooked from even before I saw the first episode of the Dog Whisperer. I watched some stuff online and immediately went out and bought the DVDs. I love watching Cesar rehabilitate dogs and it makes me want to try harder to make my (bad) dogs behave better.

I’m not going to lie and say that I am pretty stoked that he is coming to Ottawa on tour! Although I cannot locate any pricing information for tickets, I wanted to post for anyone else who is interested that a presale begins TONIGHT!

Show information:
City: Ottawa
Date: Wednesday November 3
Venue: Scotiabank Place
Doors open: 6.30pm
Show commences: 7.30pm

From the Cesar Millan Live Blog:

As a fan of Cesar Millan you have the opportunity to lead the pack and take advantage of an exclusive Pre-Sale opportunity.

YOU CAN PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS before they go on sale to the general public at 10.00am (local times) on Monday August 30.

Click here and you can then use the code word PACKLEADER for your chance to get pre-sale tickets from 10.00am (local times) Thursday August 26 to 10.00pm (local times) Sunday August 29. Don’t miss out!