If your Border Collie normally knocks things over, jumps around the house, chews your things or barks nonstop every time he is left at home alone, he might be suffering from separation anxiety. Separation anxiety comes about when a dog gets scared, nervous and/or agitated every time they are alone.
Dogs that suffer from separation anxiety cannot be blamed for the damage they make while they were left alone. This is because they are afraid and under stress. The best way of relieving your Collie from some of the stress and fear is by giving him something to chew to keep his mind busy.
If you’re wondering why some dogs suffer from separation anxiety while others don’t, the answer is not as simple as you may think. Sometimes, separation anxiety can simply be caused by boredom or by something complicated such as trauma suffered when they were younger.
However, the bright side of this is that you don’t necessarily have to figure out what caused your dog’s separation anxiety. Instead, you will have to show him that whenever you leave, the world isn’t going to end. You can initiate this by simply taking a step at a time and letting your Collie become comfortable before you move to the next step. While doing this, make sure you don’t leave your Collie along for long periods of time, hoping that he’ll get over the separation anxiety.
It will be good if you only left the house for a few minutes at a go and ensure that every time you leave, your Collie sees you. Every time you return home, your Collie will begin feeling better about you leaving the house. You can slowly start increasing the amount of time you spend away from home as your Collie continues getting more comfortable with your absence.
Border Collie Separation Anxiety Tips
The following are some tips you can use to help a Border Collie suffering from separation anxiety.
- Don’t act like it’s a big deal whenever you leave or enter the house. Most dog owners like it when their dogs jumps in excitement whenever they come back home. What they don’t realize it that you making your dog think that your absence is a big deal. If you hype up your dog to miss you, they are likely to suffer from separation anxiety.
- Always leave your dog busy when away. Make sure you give your Collie a chew toy or other things that he can play with. If your Collie is busy and/or focused on toys he won’t notice your absence or even miss you.
- Exercise your Collie before leaving. If your Collie is exhausted, he is less likely to move around the house while you’re away. If your Border Collie is exhausted by the time you’re leaving, he probably won’t care about your absence. Al he’ll be thinking about is getting some rest.
- Let your Border Collie have a short training session before you leave. This works similar to the exercise tip, but will also exhaust your dog’s mind. A 10-15 minutes training session can really exhaust your dog’s mind, which will help make them calm while you’re away.
- Leave the TV or radio on while you’re away. If your Collie can hear soft music playing or voices talking, he will be at ease because he’ll forget that he’s all alone. This is a good way of helping your dog get over separation anxiety.
