Separation anxiety is a very common problem in many coonducta dogs. Several studies indicate that affects 15% of the canine population.
When a dog with separation anxiety is left alone, can destroy household items (carpets, furniture, doors, walls ...), barking, howling, whining, urination, defecation, vomit or saliva, or even may have several these symptoms at once. Moreover, when the owner is going to leave, the dog usually displays the following routine: it continues throughout the home and is depressed when he walks out the door. By the time the owner returns home, the dog will welcome you with great joy, jump over him, barking with euphoria, etc. It is also very common that the dog is close to the owner to lie at his feet, etc.
Symptoms can occur when the dog is left alone, when a person leaves (even if people at home, the dog somatization to be very attached to the person who is gone) or when it is physically separated from the owners (for example, when locked in a room). On many occasions when the dog is alone in a car but the problem does not appear, it is usually because the dog learns that stays in the car is not supposed to be a long time away from the owner, this is a factor to be considered for amendment of conduct.
The amount of time they can be alone without the appearance of these manifestations can be very variable. In severe cases of separation anxiety, dogs can not be alone more than 10 or 15 minutes before they panic and somatic all behaviors associated with anxiety.
In many cases inappropriate behavior only appears after a time change. For example, the dog may be well to 17:30 or 18:00 is the time at which the owner used to go home. If the owner's schedule change and not get home until 19:30, the dog may start to panic at 18:00.
should differentiate the dog who is afraid of being alone which is inherently destructive (usually young) and one who expresses fear responses to stimuli happening outside when the owner is gone. None of these dogs exhibited signs of anxiety at the time of the departure of its owner. Often dogs that initially showed fear when exposed to noise in situations of loneliness, later manifest separation anxiety when left alone.
Separation anxiety can appear in older dogs and for no apparent reason, ie the dog at a certain age and without any changes in schedules, and can not stand alone (develop symptoms above).
In some cases the fear of being left alone can be associated with situations that have caused fear and terror. This includes running trapped in a fire, or be home when there was an attempted robbery or fire alarm.
Dogs with increased risk of separation anxiety are from kennels, protective, laboratories, street, and those who have spent long periods with an elderly or sick to leave home (and suddenly left alone in the house). Solution
La0 best solution is prevention, though not always going to be able to avoid developing this problem. We must ensure that the dog is not overly attached to their owners and should be accustomed to being alone. It is best to exit gradually.
When we leave home we should not say anything to the dog, especially if we have been following our pre-departure preparations and noticed that he is nervous or sad. Whenever you notice that the dog is nervous about something (noise, another dog, etc.). We should not try to calm him down, or stroke, because we get the opposite effect. The dog should be noted that the owner does not care, and so he will learn not to worry.
When we return home we must not allow effusive greetings, you should ignore the dog until it calms down, and once this quiet, we will call, tell him to sit and then greet him. This is also very useful to prevent disturb visits, which could not like you jump on, etc..
would be a good idea to provide a dog that is unique to him and where he feels safe. With toys, a place to sleep and nobody bothers you. There could be given a special toy for you to enjoy a little before we go out. That will not follow us around the house and we can get out quietly. The special toy should be something that you love, and it is recommended that it be something to chew on (there are commercial toys that can be filled food or home can be made as a hollow bone in, too filling). TREATMENT
If symptoms appear earlier to treat the problem as would be best to contact a specialist in behavior, to correctly diagnose the problem and propose some guidelines to follow for changing behavior, because dogs are actually much this little neglect. Keep in mind that sometimes may be due to other causes, such as urination at home can be because you've left too much time at home or because you have a problem in the urinary tract, including cystitis. So it would be appropriate for professionals who help the owner were a veterinarian first to rule out physical problems, making correct diagnosis by a medical history and determine whether to use medication (Ideally, an expert in pharmacology to use the correct medication and dose, following up the process). The next phase should be in the hands of a dog trainer or behavior specialist therapist to explain to the owner practical doubts about the work of obedience and relaxation of dog behavior modification and help get it going in the right way, this would form a multidisciplinary team that would ensure better for our interests.
Behavior modification is to reduce the attachment of the dog owners, teaching them to be alone (scheduled and incremental outputs), not to anticipate the departure of the owner (You can not know if the owner's out or not), relax and obey the owner.
is important to note that once started behavior modification the problem can not be re-produced, but we'd meet again with anxiety problems and prolong the process too, so we commented earlier that if the dog does not show symptoms of the problem in our car, is one of the options we have to leave when we have to go home. If you do not have to use the agenda and ask someone to stay with him for the duration of the process.
Treatment usually consists of behavior modification and pharmacotherapy. Never be without medical behavior modification (if medication is removed the problem would reappear.)
improve the relationship with the owner through obedience control, promoting relaxation through orders will help us to improve certain situations like getting increasing control over the order still to be let alone out of sight and another room. Here comes into play again the dog trainer.
Do not allow the dog to get attention with demand. Whenever the pet gets what he wants, whenever pushed or whining, it is more likely to be anxious when alone and can not get health social. Owners should know that they can give the dog the attention they want, but this should always be at their discretion, not by requirement of the animal.
Separation anxiety, despite being an annoying problem, is one of the best behavior problems resolved, even without medication, if behavior modification is done correctly.
0 comments:
Post a Comment