DogTV May Be the Cure for Separation Anxiety

If your dog is anything like mine, he or she probably hates being left home alone. My dog Blue is your typical Labrador retriever who is happiest when he is close to you, or at least keeping an eye on you, so every time I leave the house he puts on a serious guilt trip – sad eyes and all. I am lucky that he is very well-behaved and balanced when he’s left to his own devices, but some pet parents aren’t so lucky.

Some dogs suffer from separation anxiety, depression or boredom when left home alone, which can lead to destructive behavior, increased vocalizations or physical symptoms such as pacing and vomiting. If this sounds all too familiar, I would like to introduce you to a new tool that is an ideal babysitter for your home-alone pooch: DogTV.

Here at the Escondido Humane Society, we became the first and only animal shelter in San Diego County to provide the special programming for our animals. We introduced DogTV in our adoptions and evaluation kennels in March and saw an immediate improvement in our higher-energy, anxious canine residents. Here’s how it works:

DogTV – the first programming of its kind – is scientifically developed to reduce stress, add pleasure and improve a dog’s development. The programming is organized into three segments: relaxation, stimulation and exposure.

The relaxation content is designed to relax your dog, reduce stress levels and keep him or her calm through soothing sounds and visuals. The stimulation segment utilizes active camera movements, animations and moving objects to help encourage playfulness. Exposure uses special sounds and visuals to comfort and habituate your dog by exposing him or her to different day-to-day stimuli. All three segments work together to provide just the right balance – all from a dog’s point of view.

Cox Cable and Time Warner are offering DogTV to their customers for $4.99 a month. Cox subscribers can find it on channel 2635; Time Warner is on channel 148. For more information about DogTV, visit http://dogtv.com/.

If you don’t have access to DogTV, here are some tips for dealing with separation anxiety when you leave your pup home alone:

• Never make a big deal out of arrivals and departures. Don’t make a dramatic exit, and calmly greet your dog when you return home.
• Leave your dog with an article of clothing that smells like you, such as an old T-shirt that you’ve slept in recently.
• Establish a safety cue (a word or action that you use every time you leave that tells your dog you’ll be back).
• Create a “safe place” to lessen your dog’s ability to be destructive. A safe place should have a window to keep them distracted, and be sure to give them toys to occupy their time.

If your dog’s separation anxiety is too severe for these solutions, consider letting him or her spend the day at a doggy day care facility or with a friend until you return home.

One thing that you should never do is punish your dog for their behavior. The destruction and house soiling that often occur with separation anxiety are simply part of a panic response, and punishment will just make it worse.

If none of these tricks work, you also can seek counsel from a trainer or behaviorist to help resolve your dog’s issues.

As pet parents, we always want to do what’s best for our dogs. Separation anxiety can be stressful on us, too, because we know our dogs are suffering. But there are ways to cope, so I hope these tips offered some insight on how to deal with your dog’s stress when you leave them home alone.