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Separation Anxiety

Your dog has so far spent his entire life in kennels surrounded constantly by noise, people, and other dogs. While many dogs are happy to be left alone in their new environment, others find this a stressful and frightening experience. This can be shown in behaviours such as barking and chewing.

In most books on dog training it is recommended that to overcome this you vary the times you go out to prevent the dog anticipating your departure and becoming stressed and nervous before you even leave the house. In the case of greyhounds I have always found the exact opposite to be true (again it all comes back to them feeling secure with routine).

When you leave, your dog is frightened because as far as he is concerned you may never come back, so right from the start it is a good idea to leave him on his own for short periods of time. This can be achieved by simply going into a room where he is not allowed, or going into the back garden for five minutes.

If he does begin to whine as soon as you disappear, it is important to try not to return to him until he is quiet. This reinforces the idea that being noisy gets him nowhere, and being quiet is rewarded. Try to build up the time he is left very slowly, and try to do this at the same time each day. Although it may seem like a mammoth task to get from five minutes to four hours, once he gets the idea that you are always coming back it will happen very quickly. Most dogs, if they are going to exhibit any separation anxiety, will do so within the first thirty minutes of your departure, so once he can be left without problem for half an hour then there is no reason he won't be fine for longer.

Another method that can help your dog to understand that he is expected to remain at home is to give him a signal just before you get ready to leave the house (I use a chew or bone). The only time he should ever have these particular treats is when you are going out without him.

If your dog is OK when left for short periods, but becomes destructive when left for longer then this may be because he is bored. Leaving long lasting chews and bones can help by giving him something to do, but many dogs will not show any interest these. Toys such as a Kong, or a specially designed ball with holes, can be filled with smaller more appealing treats that must be worked for, can often alleviate boredom. Failing that, a hollowed out bone (available from most pet shops) can be filled with something which the dog then spends hours trying to lick out (peanut butter or cream cheese seem to be popular choices).

The topic of separation anxiety is a huge one and the suggestions above are a few ideas to help you think about ways to help your dog. If you are having problems of this nature then I would recommend visiting Clicker Solutions which I think provides a very thorough, step by step explanation of how to deal with this problem.

This is another link to a site that clearly describes the symptoms and possible reasons for separation anxiety, and offers solutions on how to deal with it, http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/separtn.htm

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