013 How Can You Really Tell If It’s Fear or Frustration?

Description: When your dog barks, chews, or destroys when he’s home alone, how can you be certain that it’s separation anxiety and not something else? Lots of dogs do these things when they are left, but not all of are anxious behaviours.

 

Today's topics is whether your dog have more frustrations than it has fear. The things that your dog gets up to at home when they are alone are not all cause by fear. Behaviors can look very similar to anxious behaviors.

In this episode, we will try to understand and identify whether it's fear or frustration.

 

Topics:

• [01:13] Separation related behaviors (e.g barking, chewing, destroying) look similar to anxious behaviors
• [01:55] News about a Jack Russell dog that kept neighbours awake with its "continuous" barking and how its owner have been fined almost £3,000
• [05:03] Checklist to determine your dog's behavior
• [05:31] #1 Knowing the age and breed of the dog to get a sense of the dog's energy level
• [06:55] #2 Is his braking and chewing a new condition?
• [07:19] #3 Any recent life changes for this dog?
• [07:58] #4 If you've been working with separation anxiety training, how long have you been working?
• [08:11] #5 How different is your dog's separation related behavior at different times of the day, after exercising and so on?
• [08:55] #6 Have you tried medicating your dog and how much difference did it make?
• [09:20] #7 How persistent is your dog's barking, chewing etc
• [11:36] Persistence and duration are important - anxious dogs are more likely to persevere with the behaviour
• [12:52] Separation anxiety dogs often tend to dig or chew close to windows or doors
• [15:09] Separation anxiety dogs can get frustrated too
• [17:03] Young puppies can definitely be difficult to diagnose

Links

• Owners of 'nightmare' barking dog fined nearly £3,000