Dog Separation Anxiety 30 Day Challenge

Dogs learn via the consequences of their actions.

Ensure you aren’t accidentally reinforcing your dog’s barking/whining/etc.

Reinforcement means more likely to repeat the behavior, not that you gave them something “good”.

Dogs with separation anxiety react similarly to a panic or anxiety attack.

They cannot physically control this reaction and do not do it on purpose.

Typically, this occurs because the dog has not developed the ability to cope with being left alone.

When you monitor your dog’s reactions, you want to ensure they are settling correctly and not in distress.

Signs of distress include extended barking (for longer than 20 minutes straight), howling, screaming, pacing, licking lips, and general inability to settle.

If your dog is showing signs of stress, even small ones like pacing, you should assess how well they tolerate the exercise and potentially move them down a “level.”

Each time your dog panics, the situation becomes worse.

Their body has a physiological panic response to being left alone, and each time they panic, that reaction becomes more intense the next time.

For your dog to meet their goals in this situation, we need to stop this repetition of panic.

To help you understand why we’re doing each of these steps, you need a “big picture” of what we want to help our dog achieve.

We aim to teach our dogs how to cope appropriately with being left alone.

The current coping mechanism is to work themselves up into a panic. We want them to settle down and wait when we leave them alone.

How mental stimulation helps a dog learn to settle.

Types of mental stimulation that have a better soothing response and help your dog settle upon completion.

Use a higher value for more rigid cases while assisting them to learn to cope.

Setting up your dog’s space and what you’ll need

What to use mental stimulation-wise

How to monitor your dog remotely. You will monitor your dog’s behavior during all exercises. You should use a camera to watch your dog, even the ones where you are in view.

We’ll begin at the very lowest stress level and build from there.

If your dog is at a higher level, you can begin with a higher exercise; just be careful to monitor their stress levels so you can adjust based on how they respond.

Give your work to eat, and sit right outside your dog’s “space”.

Wait for 20 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

If your dog struggles with a lickable work-to-eat, you can use something higher value, like a beef trachea.

Give your work to eat, and sit a few feet from your dog’s “space” while still within view.

Wait for 30 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

If your dog is in a severe case and struggles, you can move the distance in smaller increments.

Give your work to eat, and sit in another room but within view of your dog’s “space”.

Wait for 30 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

This week’s exercises will extend the time you leave the dog alone.

Give your work to eat, and sit in another room but out of view of your dog’s “space”.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Wait for 30 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

Give your work-to-eat, and sit in another room but out of view of your dog’s “space”.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Wait for 45 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is fully comfortable with this step before you move up.

Give your work to eat, and sit in another room but out of view of your dog’s “space”.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Wait for 1 hour, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

This week’s exercises will be desensitizing the dog to you potentially leaving the home.

Give your work-to-eat, grab your keys noisily, and then go sit down somewhere within view.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Wait for 20 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is fully comfortable with this step before you move up.

Give your work to eat, grab your keys noisily, and then sit down somewhere out of view.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Wait for 20 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is fully comfortable with this step before you move up.

Give your work-to-eat, grab your keys noisily, open and close the door, and sit somewhere in view.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Wait for 20 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is fully comfortable with this step before you move up.

This week’s exercises will be building up your dog’s tolerance to you actually leaving the house.

Give your work to eat. This time, when you grab your keys, grab them usually or quietly but not noisily.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Casually walk out of the front door. Shut it behind you, wait for ten seconds, and then come back in and sit within view.

Wait for 20 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

Give your work to eat. This time, when you grab your keys, grab them usually or quietly but not noisily.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Casually walk out of the front door. Shut it behind you, wait for five minutes, and then come back in and sit within view.

Wait for 15 minutes, and then let your dog out.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

If your dog struggles, break the time outside the door into smaller increments.

Give your work to eat. This time, when you grab your keys, grab them usually or quietly but not noisily.

Put some noise-making activity on while you are there, such as the TV. To help indicate you are still in the other room.

Casually walk out of the front door. Shut it behind you, wait for 15 minutes, and then come back in.

Calmly let your dog out and ignore any reaction/response until your dog calms down a bit.

Repeat as needed until your dog is entirely comfortable with this step before you move up.

If your dog struggles, break the time outside the door into smaller increments.

You’ll continue building up this behavior steadily over time to more extended periods with you out the door.

Be cautious of your dog’s progress, and watch for signs of discomfort or distress.

Build the time frame based on your dog’s response. If they do really well with 10-minute increases, you might be able to jump to 15 or 20. If they do poorly with 10-minute increases, maybe drop down the time to 5-minute increases or less.

Build your dog as long as you need to be able to leave it alone.