The worst part of any day is leaving your pup home alone, especially if your pup has separation anxiety. Still, we all have to work to keep our dogs in the lifestyle, treats, toys, and outfits they’ve become accustomed to, which often means leaving. Now I’m lucky after working in an office and leaving Wally up to eight hours every day for the first few years of his life, I’ve finally achieved the life I want in that I get to stay home.

For those years that Wally was home when I was at work, he slowly got used to this routine, and I also used some of the below tips to help curb his anxiety. Now that I’m home all the time, his anxiety has piqued again. I am a freelance writer, so the only time I leave Wally at home alone is to go shopping, out with friends or occasional meetings with clients. Because I’m home so much when I do leave, Wally’s anxiety comes back in full force, and some of his habits he’d gotten over through years of being home alone have come back. This means that I need to work on his separation anxiety even more now than when I was working in an office full time.

Tips to help your dog with separation anxiety

Thanks to Dr Katrina Warren and PetSafe®Australia, I have six tips to help you, and me, help your dog work through their separation anxiety and live a happier life.

“Dogs with separation anxiety become extremely stressed when separated from their guardian. This can manifest in a variety of behavioural issues, for example, barking and howling, a change in toilet habits and destructive behaviours like chewing and digging.” Dr Katrina explains.

“More serious signs of separation anxiety can include loss of appetite, hiding in corners, panting or whining or trembling,” advises Dr Katrina, “and might require your vet’s support to manage.”

So how can we help our pups stress less when we leave them at home alone and curb the symptoms of separation anxiety? These six tips will help.

1. Give them exercise

This is pretty simple the less energy a dog has before you leave home, the less they’re likely to be destructive or disruptive when you’re out. If you leave home early and can’t fit in a walk before you go, perhaps see if you can get someone else to take them for a walk.

Look, I don’t like getting up early, and I have to admit I never did this when I’d leave Wally home for long periods but still believe it’s worth trying. And really getting up just 20 minutes earlier to give your pup a walk will help them, and really isn’t that worth missing some sleep?

2. Leave them a fun toy, treat or challenge

Keeping them entertained whilst you’re out will help avoid any disruptive, destructive or other negative behaviours from flourishing. Some of my favourite ways to help entertain Wally whilst I’m out are:

• Treat-Dispensing Toys – This is a great way to not only keep your pup entertained but also reward them for being entertained rather than being disruptive. PetSafe®Australia has a great range that Wally loves and can keep him entertained for hours.
• Create a scavenger hunt – This is similar to leaving them a treat-dispensing toy, except it’s using things already your home. Just hide treats behind cushions, under blankets or in other out of the way places. If your pup gets all the goodies out of their PetSafe® Busy Buddy® toy, they can then go searching for the treats you leave hidden around your home, doubling their distraction time.

3. Don’t overdo the goodbyes

Teaching your pup good greeting behaviours will be good for the long term. When trying to help your pup with separation anxiety, the way you leave and return from home will impact how they feel about your going. If you make a big fuss when you leave, it will build it up in their minds as well.

Remain calm, do what you need to do and just leave. Then when you return home, if your dog is all excited, don’t engage with them until they’re calm. This will teach them that calm behaviour is what will get your attention.

4. Give them their own space

Making a specific space that’s just the dogs will help ease their separation anxiety. If you work to get them used to it and love it before leaving them home alone, it will be even better. You could also look into crate training them as this will be their space, a den of sorts that’s all about them.

Wally generally lives in my lounge room, but he has multiple beds there; his indoor toilet, dog teepee, and food and drink live there. It’s not a huge room, but it can be closed off enough to give him free rein without worrying he’ll hurt himself or get into anything he shouldn’t. You may not want to give your pup its own room, but even a corner of a room that you can separate from the rest of the room by gates or similar would work. Just make sure there’s a bed, water, some food and somewhere for them to at least pee, just in case.

5. Find a pet sitter or dog walker

Disclaimer I’ve never used a professional pet sitter or dog walker in my life, if I ever go away without Wally he stays with friends or my mum. As for walking he’s a small pup so one walk a day is usually enough for him, and I have always been able to do this.

However, I have friends who have used dog walkers to help give their pups some exercise while they’re at work and swear by them. I have also put Wally into doggie daycare, which’s also his groomer, some days, and he’s usually exhausted when I pick him up. All these things will help keep your pup entertained and pass the time until you get home.

6. Build up the routine

One of the best things you can do to reduce your dog’s stress is creating and keeping a routine. If there is going to be a considerable change in your routine, you gradually introduce your dog to this new routine. For instance, I slowly went from full-time work that involved a lot of travel to working full time closer to home and getting home earlier to working part-time in an office and part-time at home before transitioning to being home 100% of the time.

I’m lucky that I don’t need to go into an office, and there is no chance of this happening in the future…for now. If I did ever have to change my routine and go into an office, I would introduce this to Wally gradually. I’d do this by leaving the house for half days here and there before moving to full days more regularly. This may sound impossible, but there are ways to do this even if you’re now returning to work full time after a break. You can head to a cafe to work or even over to a friend’s for a few hours every other day, then make it every day. Introducing your dog to a new routine gradually will help them get used to it and lower the stress that may occur.

No matter how you handle your dog’s separation anxiety, the best thing you can do for them is look after them and pay attention to their behaviour. Seek advice from your vet if there are changes that genuinely concern you.