Puppies Don’t Have separation Anxiety….. do they?
This is a question that I am asked time and time again.
During the last year or so and during the pandemic, there has been an explosion in puppy ownership with many owners working from home.
Working from home has many benefits including lots of time with the new puppy!
However, whilst this has been wonderful many owners have worried about socialising their puppy and for sure whilst socialisation is important, so is home alone time.
Socialisation is a confusing area with so much conflicting information readily available.
Just to be clear, socialisation is not about exposing your puppy to lots and lots of people, dogs, other animals and all sorts all in one hit!
We are looking to gradually introduce the puppy to novel things, novel experiences and not to overwhelm them.
All too often, over exposure can be more damaging than under exposure.
We need to introduce our puppies to new experiences gradually and in a positive way whilst protecting them from negative experiences.
One very important novel experience that is often overlooked is that of home alone time.
It is not a natural state for puppies to be home alone and yet all too often we expect them to be home alone without any learning.
Puppies need to learn to be home alone and I guess we could call this, home alone socialisation.
Gradual exposure to being home alone will help puppy to feel safe. Leaving them for long periods too soon and without any learning is expecting a little too much of them.
By creating short, positive absences our puppy learns that we come back and that is safe to be home alone.
Of course some puppies may be genetically programmed to have Separation Anxiety and early life experiences before you bring them home may contribute to this.
This answers the original question yes, puppies can develop Separation Anxiety.
If your puppy is struggling with being home alone don’t wait and hope they will grow out of it, instead please get in touch and we can make a plan to help you both.