If you’re looking for a short guide on how to crate train a dog with separation anxiety, you’ve come to the right place. Separation anxiety is a dog’s natural response to being separated from its owner or people in general. When you leave home, dogs feel that they have lost that secure feeling. They may become anxious or exhibit other types of behavior like barking or chewing. To help solve this problem, I’ll share with you some dog training tricks that can help you get through the early phases with a less hostile dog. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll have some ideas of your own on how to crate train a dog with separation anxiety.
The first thing you should know if you want to crate train a dog with separation anxiety is that dogs often have more destructive behavior when they are alone. All you have to do is gradually train your dog that being alone is not a cause for concern. The key is this training tends to be more disruptive and slow going than most dog training tricks.
Start out by simply leaving a package of dog snacks on your puppy’s bed or in his crate. Leave it there for an entire day. Then, after getting back, simply toss the snacks in a similar place every evening. That’s how we start out with the idea. By starting out like this, your dog will eventually associate being left alone with a pleasurable reward. It’s much like the process of raising a child, where you use rewards as soon as a certain goal is achieved.
In time, your dog will go back to being left alone in a crate, because he will associate it with a calm feeling. As long as you stay calm and don’t scold him, he will eventually associate being left alone with a special treat and likely will not bolt the door on you. As long as you don’t leave food or treats in there for an extended period of time, he will eventually get the message and will only bolt the door on a full-time basis when he senses you are around.
Crate training can also be used to help alleviate some of the other problems that are associated with some of the common reasons why dogs develop separation anxiety. If your dog has some form of physical or emotional trauma from being left alone in a room by themselves, then crate training can help relieve this. Many people who are living in apartments do not have a spare room for their dog. Some even leave their pet at the dog house of another person, if they think that person is caring for their pet well enough. Leaving your dog at home with a friend, or someone who shares your exact bedroom and bathroom can lead to isolation distress.
If your dog has some form of separation-related trauma like a broken bone left by a dog fighting another one during play or even a dog being locked up outside in the cold or rain, then crate training can help relieve this too. Remember, Lexi comes from the word “lei” meaning strong, and it is a strong breed of dog. While some people may think that Lexi is a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a German Shepherd, the truth is that it is actually a cross between a Labrador and an English Sheep Shepherds. Because of its size and strength, a sturdy dog such as Lexi will be able to stand up to some of the more powerful dogs in the canine world.
Because dogs with separation anxiety are so easily triggered into a fit of distress when they are left alone, you need to learn how to properly handle this in order to stop the dog’s distress. When a dog is left alone by itself for a prolonged period of time, it will experience what is called a stress response. This reaction is not unlike the response humans have when left alone in certain situations. The body releases chemicals known as glucocorticoids and neurotransmitters. These are responsible for regulating mood and the levels of cortisol in the blood increase when a person is anxious.
Crate training can help a dog with separation anxiety, and should be done while both the dog and the trainer are still calm. Dogs can become very agitated if they are left alone without any human contact for too long. This can trigger a defense response, which will cause the dog to feel even more distressed. Crate training is a great way for both the dog and owner to learn how to interact effectively together without causing any further distress to either dog or trainer.
