Page Updated: March 2, 2001
When your dog is doing something bad mostly when you have left your home it may be separation anxiety. With separation anxiety chewing, barking, howling, whining, urinating and messing, and any other destructive behavior can be displayed. Your dog may display all of these together or just a few of these bad behaviors. Other dogs will only display one of these bad behaviors. A dog that displays only one of these bad behaviors like just urinating in house has low separation anxiety. But, a dog that displays destructive behavior all over the house has severe separation anxiety. While a dog which only displays chewing on one improper item and also urinating in house has moderate separation anxiety. The severe dogs may need more than just trying the below. They might need some calming herb or flower essences to help with relieving their stress while you are gone. Some dogs just may be purely bored and it's not really separation anxiety but rather that the dog needs more to do and I would still recommend trying the method below or just exercise your dog more.I had suggested natural sterilized beef bones here but I have just found out from a vet that these bones chip dog's teeth. Please forgive my error in judgement. I don't want to tell you to use something that may harm your dog. I suggest you give your dog Nylabone or Gumabone (I think Nylabone is best) products which are very good to provide for destructive chewers. The Kong toy can still be filled with something like canned dog food. Other toys to try are the big hard Boomer or Indestructible balls, Buster Cube and Roll-A-Treat. These will be rolled around and your dog will likely hit into things. These are play toys rather than a chew toy. The idea is to find something to keep him or her busy while you are gone to cause them to loose interest in doing the bad behavior they normally display while they are gone. Click here to a find some of these items for sale at a great price online. Also go to Valley Vet Supply and R.C.Steele Catalog where they have a wide selection of Nylabone products.
I won't suggest getting another dog because some of you can't and this doesn't always work. It may compound the problem rather than helping the problem.
Another way to put a stop to the behavior, especially for destructive behavior, is to buy a crate for the dog to be in while you are gone. Go here to read more on crates.
If you do have a dog with severe separation anxiety and you have tried my method and it doesn't work and you are interested in using calming herbs or flower essences, the sites below will help you:
Herbal Medicine for Healthy and Happy Pets
GNC.com - Your Internet Source to Live Well
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