Separation anxiety in puppies is one common phenomenon when you adopt a young pooch. This usually happens when a pup is left alone for long periods of time that they get to develop some fear, distress, or depression in their state. As dogs are social, affectionate and sensitive creatures, they tend to suffer a lot during separations. This is also why almost all puppies that already have formed a strong connection with their owners suffer from this.
How you would know if your puppy is suffering from separation anxiety
This condition manifests through the pet’s whining and barking when you leave the house. Also, this may lead to a couple of other destructive behaviors such as chewing on furniture, scratching on doors, windows, and on the floor, a number of potty accidents, hyperactivity, and other worse behavioral problems like getting depressed and not eating or drinking for extended periods of time, and even engage in self-mutilation in forms of too much licking and chewing on themselves.
However, different dogs with this issue still react differently, mostly depending on how severe their past experience has been. Some, who can detect if their pet owners are already leaving, tend to act as if they are begging for their owners to stay. These pups will follow their owners around, whimpering, whining, and barking as much as they can.
Probable causes
Some attribute this issue to how dogs generally are like. As they are designed to live in packs, they tend to look for a pack when they get adopted by a family. This is why they easily get attached to the owners. Also, as dogs are such loving creatures, they tend to fear that their owners may never come back, which makes them a tad more destructive, frantic, loud, and even aggressive. Other studies, however, attribute this condition to the dog’s abnormal predisposition to dependency, which may be caused by traumatic events that happened to the puppy.
Dealing with your pup’s separation anxiety
In order to deal with this, you must keep in mind that this is just a phase. With your understanding and patience, you can help your puppy recover from his or her separation anxiety. Keep in mind that punishing them will not do you, or them, any good, and may even worsen the condition by increasing the panic in the puppy every time you leave.
Also, there are a lot of ways how you can cure the condition, but what you should remember is, if you do not think you can pull off the tricks on your own, you can always go to experts for their opinions and help. Doggy Day Care is one venue you can ask for assistance during this phase of your dog rearing, and their trained and skilled staff can easily help and teach you how to deal with the poor pooch.
Just always remember that no matter how harsh and rocky the situation has been between you and your new puppy, you can always help him or her to get out of that rut with your patience, love, and understanding.
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