How Fast Can You Cure Dog Separation Anxiety
Dog owners frequently ask how long it takes to cure separation anxiety in dogs and while it’s an an understandable question question, unfortunately it doesn’t have an easy answer. In today’s high speed society, we’re all looking for a quick problem fix, but when it comes to your dog’s behaviour problems, time and patience is the best cure.
You see, how swiftly or slowly a dog overcomes separation anxiety depends on how acute the symptoms are, the individual character of the dog and the opportunities it gets for learning new behaviour. All these different variables means that there is no definite time frame you can put to this issue, which is essentially a good thing.
Now I realise that everyone wants the symptoms of separation anxiety in dogs to disappear as fast as possible, but having short time frames often results in people putting themselves under undue pressure. This could have a detrimental effect on the situation, making dog owners more anxious and less patient with their dogs. If they add further pressure to that by badgering themselves with questions like “why hasn’t this worked yet”, they are more likely to end up feeling a failure, or deciding that that the training program does not work and giving up before they get the results they are looking for.
Time Pressure Could Increase Your Stress and Your Dog’s Nervousness
Another drawback of putting yourself under time pressure is that your dog will pick up on your concerns as they are extremely sensitive to our moods and feelings. They often take their lead from what we are feeling too, which means that if they sense you are anxious it’ll increase their own anxiety and the result will be that it takes even longer to fix the issue.
In short, the best approach once you have found a good dog separation anxiety training programme to follow is to relax and accept that there is no pressure, and instead trust that it will happen. Ironically, it might help shorten the training time needed.
Learning Doesn’t Occur in a Straight Line
Another fact about learning new behaviour or skills worth mentioning is that while training needs to be regular and consistent, improvement seldom happens in a continuously growing upwards curve (ask any sportsman or coach), instead you tend to get large jumps forward followed by a plateau where you often feel you are getting nowhere. Your dog’s anxiety training could develop in the same way, so do not give up when you hit a plateau stage, as you might be about to get one of those massive steps ahead.
A good tip is to keep a record of all of the anxiety problems you need to handle and record your progress every week, however tiny, because when you’re feeling unmotivated it can be a great reminder of how far you’ve come. Stick with your training plan and you will see results as long as you are consistent and persistent in your training, and give your dog the right messages. There are many, many examples of dog owners who’ve used training to banish their dog’s anxiety issues and in the process gained a much more cheerful and relaxed life for themselves and their dogs.
Author Venice Marriott is a writer and dog owner and runs a website, which provides help and information for dog owners dealing with dog anxiety. Get more information about how to cure dog separation anxiety, when you visit the site.
Nov 17, 2011 | 0 | dog training
