Separation anxiety and your pet

[AARPRachelA]

During quarantine, people and pets have connected as never before. People are working from home with birds perched on their shoulders and cats crashing video meetings. And with travel restricted, many owners aren't leaving their pets behind this summer during vacations as they normally might.

But now some workplaces, schools, and universities are beginning to reopen. That means people and pets may feel anxious about being apart after months of togetherness.

How are you managing the separation anxiety that you and/or your pet(s) have? Check out this post for tips, and share yours here.

[ManicProgressive]

We haven't gone back to work yet, but our puppy is mostly attached to me (I feed him).  😉  

But I was lucky to read about this separation anxiety issue even before I got the dog. 

We do crate him in my office, so he's alone in a room without us overnight.  And we are occasionally all out of the house -- my husband might be shopping while I'm out walking or something.  And he seems just fine.  I will start increasing his time alone if I think we will be going back to work soon.  

I do have a lot of teachers friends who got hit hard with this.  😞  They are all back to work and their poor pups are home alone for the first time ever.  Many hire dog walkers for lunch time.   But even a 3-4 hour stint alone can be tough when they aren't used to it. 

[jv48068317]

I was advised by a trainer to use Kongs filled with frozen treats.  It keeps them busy.  My rescue although crate trained was not socialized and had been in rescue for 13 months of her life and placed with 3 others before I got her.  Too much to cope as I imagined everyone treated her differently.  At 22 months and not knowing about previous experiences I adopted her.  When I left her alone I started the Kong routine and special toy in crate.  The crate got bigger as she needed room.  Always walked her to tire her out and relieve herself first, then crated.  Sometimes left radio on in other room to make her think I was there.

Sneaky but, it worked for me.  Liked frozen stuff in layers.  Peanut butter, canned dog food, layered.

[spikestar]

I'm an animal communicator and I've been finding that my dog clients are the most impacted when their people return to work/school.  I've been recommending the flower essence Separation, from https://www.greenhopeessences.com/ to help support them.  Thundershirts are also helpful for many dogs for separation anxiety, although it might be too warm in some locations to leave them on during a long workday.  It also helps to give you dog a "job" to do when you aren't home (or your hedgehog, cat or bird....).  It doesn't have to be a job as we humans think of it - it can be to keep the squirrels off the window ledge or guard the refrigerator.