Separation Anxiety in Chihuahuas

There can be no doubt in our minds how much our precious pups love us. They rush to greet us when we come home from work or school, sit in our laps the moment we sit down, and remind us to pet them if we get a bit lax.

Sometimes, that love can become a bit too much. Sometimes dogs love us so much, they get anxious when we leave. This can result in destructive behavior, such as:

• Destroying things
• House soiling
• Barking, howling, crying
• Digging or biting at doors, walls and other perceived barriers

The most practical solution to these symptoms is to put your pup in a kennel when you are gone. This immediately stops your pup from destroying things, soiling the carpet, or digging at the doors. What it doesn’t do is stop the barking, howling and crying, nor does it help with the emotional response your pup is feeling.

To truly solve separation anxiety in chihuahuas, you need to help them cope with their favorite human being gone.

How to Solve Separation Anxiety in Chihuahuas

Let’s first start by saying it is natural and normal for any dog to experience separation anxiety. In the wild, a dog who is separated from their pack is in a very bad position. It’s more difficult to hunt alone. There’s fewer protections from larger predators. There’s no one to snuggle up to and help protect them from the cold.

Dogs still have a strong pack instinct in their genetics. When they are separated from their pack, it is instinctual for them to try and reunite. It is completely abnormal for a pack animal to be separated from the pack for any length of time.

This doesn’t mean you’re out of luck, but that you’re going to have to train the behavior. It’s simply not natural or instinctual for your pup to be alone.

Conditioning Your Pet to Be Alone

Teaching your chihuahua to be alone requires some prep work. You need to break up the process into small enough steps your dog can manage it, while also giving your pet coping mechanisms for when you are gone.

A kennel can be helpful during this process, but you can also construct your dog a cozy cave if you don’t want to use a kennel. The goal is to create for your dog a comfortable, enclosed space your dog can feel secure in.

In the wild, dogs that do separate from others briefly, usually do so by creating and going into a den. A den is a small cave they dig out for themselves, just barely big enough for their bodies. That’s one of the reasons why a kennel is so useful–and also why dogs tend to seek out places like closets or under beds when they’re frightened.

You can condition your dog to be comfortable in a kennel by feeding them all their meals in the kennel. You can also toss treats to the back of the kennel so they have to go inside to get them. If you’ve made a chi-cave instead with a cozy bed or maybe a tipi or tent over the top (the cave style is relaxing for dogs) do the same thing.

Teaching your dog a place command is super useful here, because you’re clearly indicating you want the dog to go to the bed. You can do this by saying ‘place’ when ever you toss a treat into the kennel or feed the dog there. The dog is going in anyway to get that food, so he’ll eventually associate that word with going in.

Adding Distance

Once your dog is comfortable going into this space on command, try taking a step back. Ask your dog to go back even if you step away. (Shutting the door will trap your dog but won’t help teach your dog place or reduce anxiety, so leave it open and just redirect your dog back if they move.)

When your dog won’t move from his place if you can take one step back, take two. Keep adding distance until you can get to a door.

Once you can get to a door, give your dog something tasty and long term to work on, such as chew or a kong stuffed with delicious canned food or treats, walk to the door, go out and shut it. Immediately walk back in.

I like to set up a camera in the room and record the dogs reaction for the part I can’t see. I want to see if they stop working the chewy, their jaw snaps shut, they leave the kennel to go check and see what’s happening, etc.

If you have one and set it up, review your dog’s expression and see what’s happening. If not, when you immediately come back, where is your dog? Still in place with snack? Great! If not, keep working around the door for leaving and try again with shutting the door to the room you are in after a few more sessions.

You may have to break going through the door into steps, such as touching the handle of the door, and then jiggling the handle, and then opening it then not going out, until your dog is comfortable with this rather tense part of leaving.

Adding Time

Once your dog is comfortable with you being out of the room for long enough to shut the door and immediately come back in, it’s time to add time. You’re going to start by delaying coming in by exactly one second, and then building up to 5 seconds, 10 seconds, etc.

You may be asking yourself, “What good does this do? I don’t need to leave for 10 seconds, I need to go to work!

The answer is, you’re teaching your pet with very shorts amount of time that you will come back. Every time. You’re also helping your dog experience being alone, very briefly, and not feel bad about it.

Keep adding time until you can leave the room for a minute or two and your dog is fine. If your dog isn’t fine and starts scratching, whining, or letting you know they’re not fine, go back to a stage where they were fine and keep expanding time.

Adding Tension

You may discover that your dog is totally fine with these training sessions, and you can add any amount of time they are fine. The second you try to leave the house though, they start fretting and freaking out. This is because you are probably leaving several cues behind that you’re going to be abandoning your dog forever (in your dog’s mind.)

When you get ready to leave the house, you’re cueing your dog that you’re leaving. Things like picking up the keys, putting a coat and shoes on, grabbing a purse or wallet. All these things tell your pup you are leaving for a long time.

You can help by adding these things to the goodbye routine we’ve set up. Have your pet go to place with your keys in the room, stay in the room but pick up and hold the keys for this session. How does your dog react? Do they start fretting?

Where ever you are in training, you’ll want to back off pressuring for distance (leaving) and time, while working with other pressures like keys, coats, shoes etc. Add these things in while staying in the room, so your pup can desensitize themselves to your leaving.

Gradually add leaving the room and shutting the door with keys, coat and purse while your pup relaxes in their place.

Putting It All Together

Finally, put your dog in place with a long term activity, and walk out the door as if you’re leaving. Immediately turn around and come back in. If you have a camera, review your dog’s response. How did they do? Did they immediately get anxious? Rush to see if you were coming back? Or did they stay and work on their snack?

If they keep relaxed, you can add more time to the practice of leaving the house, building up from there until you can get in your car, drive around the block, and come right back. Eventually, you can leave for as long as you need to and your dog will know you’re coming back.

Supportive Care

Some dogs are more anxious than others. It makes sense to many dogs why they should stay home when there’s a kong or a chew. They’re busy working on it. Sometimes, very anxious dogs need a little bit more help than that.

If training efforts seem to fall on deaf ears, here are some supportive options to help tame your pet’s anxiety:

• Tire Your Pup Out

There are only a few times when a dog may ‘stay home’ when the rest of the pack moves on. When a dog is exhausted, it makes sense for him to rest while the other dogs go hunting or patrol territory.

Taking your dog for a long walk before leaving can help tire your pup out, so it makes sense in their little doggy mind why they should stay home.

If your dog is physically fit and thus exercising them ‘enough’ is a challenge, don’t forget mental stimulation. A few sit/down drills can exhaust your dog mentally and help them relax more.

• Speak with Your Vet
  Medication is available for separation anxiety. If your dog doesn’t seem to respond to other supportive care methods and training, medication can help in two ways. The first is of course, immediately making your pup feel better about you leaving. The second is that it can aid in training.
  
  If your pup feels calm, and realizes they feel calm while you are training, it can make them feel better about you leaving even if you decide later to wean them off medication.
• Make Leaving Fun
  We’ve already given you one recommendation for helping your pup with leaving—kongs and long lasting chews. There’s also a few other things you can do to make it easier.
  
  Try hiding treats around the house before you leave. This gives the dog something fun to do—investigating the house and searching for treats—while also making your time away less stressful.

Separation Anxiety is a complicated problem. If you try all these strategies and still find your pup panicking when you leave, consider hiring a veterinary behaviorist to help you deal with this behavior. Veterinary behaviorists are veterinarians who specialize in behavior, and they can help you get a handle on the situation quickly.

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