Experts say dogs experience “separation anxiety” a lot like children
Experts say dogs experience “separation anxiety” a lot like children
2024-08-06
Have you ever seen a dog looking sad when their owner leaves the house? Lots of dogs are sad to be left alone. Experts say that dogs experience “separation anxiety” a lot like children. For some dogs, though, it’s much more intense, and that can cause serious headaches for their owners. What causes a dog to feel anxious to be left alone? We spoke to an expert as well as the owner of a dog who seriously struggles to be home alone.
Her owner leaves, and Nana the Shiba Inu starts to pace the living room. Before a minute has passed, she tries to open the door.
Where’s everyone gone? Nana is feeling anxious and tries desperately to break down the door, then bites at the lock. But this door won’t budge and her owner isn’t back yet.
But he does return, in less than five minutes. He finds Nana shaking all over and panting. It’s hard to see her in this state and he gives her lots of reassuring pats.
Whenever Nana’s owner is out, she tries to break the door, gnaws at the shoe rack and even chews holes in the walls. She broke this stainless-steel door mechanism – but it broke her tooth in the process. When the wall was damaged, nails were revealed, so her owner has covered it with tape to try to prevent her getting hurt.
Nana is four and a half years old and it’s been this way since she was about one. Her owner feels helpless. But when he went to an expert for advice, he learned that Nana has separation anxiety.
Owner of Nana the dog
She starts getting anxious before I go out. She bites the door, she might open the door, bite the wall or the shoe rack or anything at all. When it’s really bad, she pees and poos everywhere. One time, she appeared at the top of the balcony, and we were very worried she might jump down.
Hsiao-shan
Pet behavior trainer
If a dog moves house a lot as a puppy, that experience can make them feel insecure. Secondly, it’s very related to the personality of the dog. If they’re more dependent on their owner, and they’ve been together a long time, when the owner leaves, they’ll have a stronger feeling of anxiety. We ask owners to have a railing at the door, and separate it off. When the owner leaves, they have to go through a second door to finally leave, which means their dog won’t see them disappearing in front of them.
A dog’s separation anxiety can be related to their personality, environment, or life experiences. This expert says that a few techniques can help relieve it. But ultimately, dogs are a lot like children. It takes thoughtful attention to find ways to help them feel safe and happy.
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撞門.哭泣.牆壁咬出大洞等 狗狗也有"分離焦慮症"
2024-08-06
很多小朋友第一次上學時，會哭哭啼啼，捨不得父母離開，但你知道嗎，狗跟人一樣，也會有"分離焦慮"。有飼主養了一隻柴犬，只要他一出門，哪怕是短短幾分鐘，牠就會非常焦慮，撞門、咬鎖、咬鞋櫃等。飼主找了訓練師幫忙，看看有什麼方法可以改善，毛小孩的分離焦慮。
主人一出門，柴犬娜娜開始在客廳來回走動，繞來繞去，不到1分鐘，就開始想開門。
家裡怎麼都沒人了，娜娜好焦慮，拼了命似的，想把門撞開，更奮力咬鎖，但怎麼做，門就是打不開，主人也沒回來。
短短不到5分鐘，主人回來了，只見娜娜全身發抖，不停喘氣，看在主人眼裡，實在好心疼，趕緊不斷安撫。
原來只要飼主不在家，娜娜就會不斷撞門、咬鞋櫃，甚至把家裡牆壁咬破個大洞、咬壞不鏽鋼門，導致牙齒斷掉，由於牆被咬破，釘子暴露，就怕傷到牠，牆壁貼了一整排滿滿的膠帶。
柴犬娜娜四歲半，大約一歲時，發生這樣的情況。讓實在飼主不捨又無助，趕緊求助專家幫忙，原來狗也有有分離焦慮。
[[娜娜飼主]]
"要出門前牠就會開始焦慮。咬門，可能去開門、咬牆壁、咬鞋櫃，各種咬的動作，嚴重的時候可能會有大小便失禁。牠曾經出現在陽台的最上面，其實那時候我們是很擔心說，牠會不會跳下去。"
[[寵物行為訓練師 小善]]
"狗狗小時候常常有搬家的這種經驗，那這樣子搬家的經驗，可能會讓狗狗比較沒有安全感。第二個跟狗狗本身的個性還是很有關係，如果牠比較依賴主人，然後跟主人很長時間黏一起，當主人離開，牠這種焦慮的感受就會比較強。我們可能會請主人在門口的地方，用一個圍攔，用圍欄把牠圍起來之後，主人離開的時候，牠要經過第二道門再走出去，那狗狗就不會看著他從牠面前走。"
狗狗的"分離焦慮"，可能和個性、環境、經驗習習相關，行為訓練師表示，可以透過一些方法改善。其實毛小孩和小孩一樣，也需要飼主的用心陪伴，找到方法，幫牠們找回安全感。
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