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Does your dog freak out every time you want to leave the house? Does it get agitated when you are about to close the door? If that is the case, it may be experiencing separation anxiety. This condition affects thousands of dogs globally, and, contrary to popular belief, it is a real concern.

Separation anxiety can cause many destructive behaviors, such as barking, chewing things, scratching doors, and peeing inside the house – even if your pet is housetrained. In the more severe cases, your dog might try to escape the house, which might result in it getting lost and injured.

Fortunately, there are many things that you can do to help your furry friend out. For instance, you can buy metronidazole for dogs. But before you do that, you should educate yourself about what the symptoms of separation anxiety are and what you should do to address it the right way. If you want to do that, check out the rest of this article!

What Are the Symptoms of Separation Anxiety in Dogs?

If your pet is suffering from separation anxiety, it may show a number of behavioral changes. For instance, it might start following you around and refuse to be left alone. In fact, it might growl whenever you leave the room. In some cases, it might even bark and howl excessively, as well as start chewing on furniture and scratching doors, among other things.

In case your pet’s separation anxiety gets worse, it will become more agitated. It may start destroying your personal belongings, urinating inside the house, and attempting to escape it. Such behaviors are hard to miss, meaning that you should be able to tell whether your pet is dealing with separation anxiety with ease.

How Should You Address Separation Anxiety?

If you think that your dog is experiencing separation anxiety, take your time and observe its behavior patterns. It is worth noting that many dogs display some symptoms of separation anxiety in the first few months of their life.

Most of these cases are not serious, and your dog’s condition should improve on its own. In case your dog is young and does not like to be left alone, you should distract it with toys and treats whenever you need to leave. It should be more than enough.

In addition to that, you might want to look into training methods that have the potential to alleviate your pet’s anxiety. For instance, you can train it to respond to special commands, such as stay and wait. Next, you can use these commands whenever you have to leave the house.

On the other hand, if your dog has been acting incredibly anxious for a longer period of time and showing other symptoms of separation anxiety, you should definitely seek professional help.

For instance, if your dog was affected by a traumatic event in the past, it might end up unable to cope with the stress of being left alone on its own. In such a situation, your vet should be able to recommend a few medications that will help calm your dog down.

Preventing Separation Anxiety in Dogs

Separation anxiety can be a really difficult thing to overcome. Luckily, there are quite a few things that you can do to prevent this disorder from becoming a serious problem. First, you should ensure that your pet spends as much time with you as possible.

For instance, if you are working from home, keep your dog by your side, let it sleep near you, pet it, and take it out for walks on a regular schedule. If you ever need to leave your dog alone for an extended period of time, find someone that your dog knows who will be able to care for it while you are away. It could be a close friend of yours, a family member, a neighbor – it is up to you to determine who your dog likes spending time with most.

Other than that, whenever you need to leave the house, you might want to tire your dog out by playing with it and taking it out for a long walk. That way, instead of panicking, it might end up falling asleep.

Lastly, do not punish your dog for showing symptoms of separation anxiety. It feels safe when you are nearby, and punishing it for feeling that way is kind of cruel. Instead, do your best to be understanding and look for practical and reasonable ways of addressing the problem.

In Conclusion

To sum up, separation anxiety is a serious condition that can put your furry friend under a lot of stress and bring about a number of behavioral issues. However, if you address it the right way, it is completely treatable! You just need to spend a lot of time with your dog, play with it, buy toys that it will be able to play with while you are away, and – if need be – look for professional help.

photo credit:

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