CHENNAI: I have a four-year-old male Labrador who is usually calm when I leave for work. But recently, he would not stop barking after I locked my door. I could hear him till I reached the ground floor. Is this separation anxiety? If so, what can I do?
—Geetha
Hi Geetha,
Since you have specifically used the term “separation anxiety”, let us first see what this term means.
When you have a dog that follows you all around the house, and gets restless, it does not mean he has separation anxiety. Yes, he does seem to be disturbed when you leave him alone and doesn’t want you to go, but once out of sight, he settles down eagerly waiting for you to come back.
On the contrary, if your dog scratches on the doorway even after he has hurt his paws in doing so, eager to get out and find you; howls and barks all throughout your absence; has a panic attack resulting in excessive drooling and sweating then he is showing all signs of separation anxiety. Dogs may cause serious self-injury by chewing on a tail or other body part out of anxiety.
Separation anxiety is thus referred to a state where the dog has an extreme attachment to an individual such that if the person isn’t present, the dog goes into panic mode. To answer your specific question - If you are leaving him alone for the first time in 4 years, then he is probably new to the concept and will have to be familiarized with staying home alone for a few hours.
If he is used to being alone, and this is a new behavior, then watch carefully to see what is triggering his barks. Eliminate possible reasons, and do not encourage his behavior by giving him unwanted attention. He will learn to repeat his bad behaviour just to seek attention. A professional behaviourist can help you isolate and identify if the problem is due to anxiety or just bad behavior learned over a period of time.
(Are you worried about your dog when you leave for work? Write to our expert at petfaqs@gmail.com)
