The last two articles we took time looking at dog separation anxiety and its symptoms and causes.

There are solutions but many of them are about masking the problem, not fixing it.

Today we are looking at TREATMENTS that benefit the dog as well.

SYMPTOMS – > CAUSES -> TREATMENT

There are medical conditions that can make a dog act ‘crazy’ just like a human. But unlike humans it is rarely family members that cause it. Dogs mental conditions leading to separation anxiety are fairly rare, and we won’t go into them here.

HOWEVER there are physical conditions of the bladder, urinary tract, etc that can cause a dog to act strange and be incontinent. Like was medications to treat ailments can also make a dog in the short term much worse. Once you have ruled these issues out, you can look at treatments for your dogs specific cause of separation anxiety.

Its seems that most text split the severity of dog ANXIETY into two levels for treatment

Mild or slight separation anxiety.

If you know the specific cause of the change of your behaviour (house location, family member etc) then its easier to tailor a solution.

I always recommend giving a treatment based on the cause, not a blanket food will fix all issue.

For instance a few sites bang on about just giving the dog a dog toy stuffed with artificial brand name dog treats – they are clearly after your money.

If you change home, you need to familiarize your dog with your local area, take it for daily walks around the neighborhood so it knows where it is living and that nothing is scary or magical about it. No big dog monsters who howl at night will harm it.

If a family member who gave them a lot of attention leaves, you will need to have all family members step up their game of walking your dog as well as playing with it at home.

Mild separation anxiety is usually classed like mild depression. Not suicidal, but can lead to bad behaviors and health concerns if not treated.

Treatment should be familiarizing your dog with the new thing that they seem scared of or don’t know about, but it is often more simple. A dog that is walked regularly off lead, makes its own choices and gets worn out mentally and physically from a big walk is easier to train when you get them home AND much more likely to sleep and be happy and relaxed rather than bored and tense.

This kind of dog may come running to the door or gate as you leave, but they will get over it in half an hour and settle. They won’t bark, dig and be upset all day upsetting the neighbors.