Separation anxiety- when your greyhound is fearful of being home alone
Dogs have been bred for hundreds of years to be our loyal companion, live in our homes and be dependent on us for everything. But our human centric world is very challenging for our dogs. Being home alone for 8+ hours in an apartment or backyard every day is challenging. Our expectations do not meet our dog’s natural and intrinsic needs.
Separation anxiety is a blanket term for behaviours like barking, chewing, whining, trying to chew through doors and exits, pooping inside etc. when home alone and not all of these behaviours are indeed anxiety or separation related.
It is heartbreaking to see our beloved dogs to be so fearful of being home alone that they whine, bark, become destructive or pee everywhere until we return. You want to tell them that there is nothing to worry about but how?
Identifying the cause of the separation anxiety based behaviour is essential.
Not all separation anxiety is in fact separation anxiety. Some dogs may grieve the absence of their favourite person and pace and whine until that person returns home even though someone else is home with them.
Some dogs react to outside noises and bark at the window or dog in response. Other dogs may not have learned what to do when home alone or are frustrated (or even panic) when confined inside the home or in a crate or in the backyard when you leave.
There is a spectrum that most dogs fall into from:
1) mild separation sensitivity, e.g. waiting by the door before settling to 2) separation intolerance, e.g. dog is bored or mildly frustrated when left home alone or grieving from being apart with their favourite person to 3) separation anxiety related behaviour, e.g destruction, urinating in the home, howling
Once you know what the root cause of the separation related behaviour is, we can start with a training plan. Please email to hello@amazinggreys.com.au for a tailor made plan for your dog.
Break your training plan into small and achievable steps:
Prep stage: While your dog learns to be home alone, you cannot leave him/her home alone unless it's an emergency. He/she does not have the skills to be home alone safely yet. This stage has no absences or minimal absences to minimise the separation related behaviours being rehearsed.
Let's start with teaching a routine so he/she has some predictability over his/her day which in turn increases his/her confidence and also his/her attachment/bond to you. I would also put some time away for 10- 15 minutes of playing and learning in the backyard or inside the house where your dog learns essential skills, e.g. come when called, making eye contact, etc. Have a look here for instructions how to teach your dog some basic cues: https://positively.com/dog-behavior/basic-cues/ (Please note, you cannot obedience train your dog out of a behaviour problem).
Additionally, find something that your dog likes to occupy himself/herself with, e.g. does he/she like chewing a meaty bone or enjoy peanut butter on a licky mat or find a couple of treats in a box of toilet paper rolls or tennis balls or find some scattered food in the grass outside? It does not always have to involve food either and shredding a cardboad box can be very satisfying for some dogs.
You don't need to go crazy with buying expensive toys or treat dispensing puzzles because there are a lot of diy options to offer a variety of activities to create a content dog. Some examples here: https://www.prouddogmom.com/diy-dog-puzzles/
Just be careful with food around other dogs if you have more than one dog. There are so many fights breaking out over food and when training, keep your other dogs safely away.
2. In the home stage:
The second stage now introduces barrier training where your dog has no access to you and you also teach him/her leaving cues, e.g. putting on shoes. saying 'see you later' etc. You can get a baby gate to block off a room or use your outdoor area. Start small and sit next to your dog on the other side of the baby gate or door to the garden. Give him/her something to occupy himself with as mentioned in step 1 and when he/she is relaxed and content, gradually move away further and further. If he/she gets up and tries to follow you, you have gone too far away too soon. Reset and start again.
The idea is to build up your distance away from your dog for longer periods over time.
I would also start to pair your absence with a cue like 'see you later' or 'be back soon' or whatever you want to use so Oscar understands it is now time to be alone.
Sometimes it is helpful for dogs to be desensitized to leaving cues like putting on your shoes or picking up keys. The idea is that your dog does not get up or go into full panic when you put on your shoes or pick up your keys so you do this multiple times throughout the day without actually leaving until your dog is not alarmed by the sounds or actions you take before you leave.
3) Leaving stage:
This is where you finally leave your dog home alone and again, you start small. You want to keep your absence as short as he/she can tolerate it and keep him/her always under threshold, i.e. he is never left for longer than he can be safely home alone without howling, pacing, destroying things etc. It is very useful to monitor via a camera so you understand what your dog does and when he/she becomes worried.
You will gradually increase the length of your absences until it is no big deal for your dog to relax home alone.
I would also recommend you watch this really informative (but long!) discussion about how moods impact dog behaviour when it comes to separation anxiety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOD1m-CP_2Y
It explores how a dog with a full emotional cup and secure attachment to his/her home or person is much better equipped with being home alone or facing scary things outside the home like other dogs or loud motorbikes.
One last thing to bear in mind when we use Kongs or other food puzzles for our dogs to do when home alone.
When we use food in training to change a dog's mindset about a scary thing (counterconditioning), we use it like this: dog sees scary thing, we give food, repeat until the dog can predict that seeing the scary thing means he gets food. Scary thing, food, scary thing, food, etc. It has to be in this order for the dog to change his emotion about the scary thing. If you have an anxious dog and you stuff the Kong before you leave, the Kong can become the predictor of the scary alone time. It becomes a cue that you are about to leave and that is scary.
Of course you can use Kongs or long lasting chews as a good distraction if your dog is happy to munch on them and you have to go out. But they do not last longer than 30- 60 minutes (if that) and most dogs become anxious after they finished them. So they are a good distraction but they do not teach your dog that it is safe to be home alone.