If this year is anything like last year, my local Animal Care & Control will pull dozens of extra dogs off the streets in the week following Independence Day. They won’t be scrawny “street” dogs. They will be well-groomed, well-fed, well-loved family pets. Dogs who simply mistook the noisy celebrations for the apocalypse, freaked out, and ran away from home.

Even dogs with no history of phobias, anxiety or escape attempts have been known to lose their marbles on the Fourth (and New Years, and any other holiday celebrated by blowing things up).

To keep your pup from joining the ranks of newly-minted shelter dogs, here is a last-minute plan for prepping Fido for the coming not-apocalypse:

1. Make sure Fido is wearing proper ID – Snap a tag with your name and phone number to your dog’s collar and check that the collar is secure. Also, is your dog microchipped? If not, you might want to see if you can get that done at your local shelter this weekend. Many shelters/pounds will chip your pet for $15 – $25. This is a really last minute thing but well worth it. Microchipping is the best way to make sure that you’ll be reunited with your pet if he ever gets lost.

2. Prepare an escape-proofed area - like a bedroom, bathroom, or laundry room. Put Fido’s crate/bed, toys and water in here. Make sure that there’s nothing important he can chew up. If Fido is not used to being in this room, spend the next day or so letting him hang out in here, so that he doesn’t think it’s weird when you lock him up here Sunday night.

3. Prepare some food-filled toys – To keep your dog calm, you’ll want to give him something to keep his mind off the loud noises. What better way than to make him work for his dinner? Put together 3-5 (or more if you’re feeling ambitious) “smart toys:” Put peanut butter in a Kong (freeze it to make it last longer), fill an old sock with kibble. Click here for more smart toy ideas.

4. Exercise Fido a couple hours before celebrations start - What’s worse than an anxious dog? An anxious dog with energy to burn. Take him for a walk or play fetch. Nothing too strenuous (you don’t want him passing out), but 30-40 minutes of moderate exercise is good.

5. On the evening of the Fourth… As you’re getting ready to head out to your festivities, hide the smart toys in the dog-proofed area. One toy should be easy to find, the rest should require some work. Before you leave, stick Fido in his room. Key word: “casually.” If Fido senses that you’re stressed, he will freak out long before the first firework is launched. Be relaxed and upbeat: “Okay, buddy, time to go to your room. Oh, look! There’s a toy on the floor! With treats! Looks fun. Okay, Fido, seeya later!” Close the door securely behind you. If people will be in and out of the house, make sure that they know not to let the dog out.

Photo credit

(this is part two of a series. Here’s part one)

OK. So now if you’ve been doing your home work, you’ve given your dog a job, and you’ve had your dog practice being separate from you, and not being glued to your side all day.

(Really, that stuff is important. So no rushing ahead and trying to do this next part without doing that part. You’ll fail)

The next step, is to practice leaving the house. Let’s stop and think: what is it that triggers your dog’s anxiety? What sets him off? Chances are that he starts getting nervous when you are getting ready to go out. He knows your routine. He knows that there are certain things you do, like putting on your shoes and grabbing your jacket, that mean you are about to leave.

We want to desensitize your dog to this routine. So you’re gonna need a day or two to work on this, like a weekend. Some time when you’re off work or school.

Start with your dog in his crate or confinement area, like you’ve been doing. Next, start your “getting ready to leave” routine. Whatever it is that you always do when you’re about to go out, do that. Then walk out the door without even acknowledging your dog…

…and immediately walk back in. Give your dog no attention. Put your keys away, take off your jacket, and go about your day.

Repeat this step as much as you can possibly stand it in one weekend. The more you can do it, the better. You want your dog to get the message that, “hey, me getting ready to leave is like no big deal. Seriously, STOP FREAKING OUT.”

When your dog is okay with you stepping out the door and coming right back in, slowly increase the amount of time before you come in – 5 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute, five minutes, ten minutes, and so on. Once your dog is okay with this, then you can work on longer absences of up to an hour or two.

Some Do’s and Don’ts:
Do leave the tv or radio on when you’re gone, if this seems to help your dog chill out.
Do exercise your dog before you leave. A tired dog is a happy dog. Or at least a less anxious dog.
DO look into DAP There is a product called Comfort Zone with DAP. It releases a chemical that is supposed to be comforting to dogs with anxiety. I have no experience with this product so I can’t vouch for it, but other trainers have used it with success.
Do NOT make a fuss over your dog when you leave or come home. Remember we want Fido to understand that you leaving and returning is not a major thing.
Do NOT ever, under any circumstances, get angry, yell, hit, shake, or otherwise punish your dog when you return home. I don’t care what your dog has done. Punishing your dog when you return home is only gonna make him more anxious. Because he thinks “Oh my god, I don’t know why, but my owner is always angry when she comes home. WHAT AM I GONNA DO?!”

Calling in the cavalry
What if this doesn’t work for you? What if no matter how much you work on this stuff, nothing changes and your dog is injuring himself because he physically cannot calm down when you leave? It’s time to seek professional help from a trainer or vet. No matter how great the advice you get from a blog, it can’t really take the place of a real live pro who can actually meet you and your dog and give you the best advice for your situation.

Look for a trainer who uses positive training methods and has experience with separation anxiety. Check out the APDT’s trainer directory.

Also, discuss the problem with your vet. They can help you decide if your dog could benefit from medications. Just remember that medications can help, but they must be combined with the type of training I’ve talked about to be effective. There are no magic pills.

When seeking help from professionals, keep in mind that trainers are not vets and vets are not trainers. If a trainer gives you medical advice, get your vet’s opinion as well. Same goes for vets giving training advice.

Another option is to get a veterinary behaviorist. They are awesome because they actually ARE vets and trainers. They can give you solid medical and training advice. For more on veterinary behaviorists and how to find one, see the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior.

Good luck, and if you have questions, feel free to contact me.

Some links to check out:
Dog Star Daily – Great resource for SA and other training/behavior issues.
List of SA symptoms and solutions
SA article from Best Friends’ Animal Sanctuary

The thing is, this is an extremely important to-do. Especially if you have little kids who would like to keep their fingers. It’ll take you all of five minutes a day and provide peace of mind for years.

You know the old wisdom to leave the damn dog alone when he’s eating? If you are 5 years old, this applies to you. But I’m assuming you’re a grown-up-type person, so I’m going to ask you to kindly ignore that advice.

This exercise is designed to prevent “resource guarding,” which is when a dog becomes protective of his food, growling or snapping when you try to take it. We’re going to teach your dog that people touching his food is OK, and actually a good thing.

But wait, you say. My dog hasn’t shown any signs of resource guarding. Do I still have to do this? Yes! You do. Resource guarding/food aggression can show up later in life. As with most bad habits, it is MUCH easier to prevent the problem now than to try to cure it later.

First of all, you’ll want to feed your dog meals two or three times a day. If you are free-feeding -that is, leaving food out all day for Fido to pick at- it’s time to stop that. Feeding meals makes it clear to Fido that his food comes from YOU, and not that magical bowl on the floor that is somehow always full.

Second, hand feed your dog. I hear you snickering. But seriously, when you feed Fido his breakfast, take a minute to feed him some kibble by hand. This is where the “play with your food” part comes in. Fill the bowl. Before you put it on the floor, have Fido do some tricks. Reward each trick with a piece of food. You only have to do this three or four times, and then you can put the bowl on the floor.

You don’t have to do this part for very long. Just the first couple weeks or so, to establish in Fido’s mind that you are the provider of food.

Third, occasionally give your dog some “gifts” at dinner. Feed your dog his regular food, be it kibble or canned food or whatever. When he’s eating, take his dish away and put something really good in it (piece of boiled chicken, cheese, deli meat, etc), then give it back. This teaches Fido that when people take his dish away, good things happen. Pretty soon, he’ll be eagerly anticipating you taking his dish away!

And that’s it. Pretty easy, yeah? This simple process will go a long way to preventing dog bites in the future. And if you have young kids, this isn’t just a “nice thing to do,” it’s pretty much the most important thing you can do. The last thing you want is for your toddler to escape your supervision, wander up to your eating dog and get bitten in the face.

After you’ve worked on this stuff with your dog and feel pretty confident that the dog is comfortable with it, have your kids do it, too. Just make sure to supervise closely and make sure your child understands the rules.

Photo Credits

Whatever we call it, what do we do about it? The usual advice from well meaning friends, strangers and TV shows is exercise. Exercise, exercise, exercise. And they are right – to a point. But exercise is only part of the puzzle. The solution requires more than that, including these two “tricks” that don’t get talked about as much but that are just as important.

Reward your dog for doing nothing
What do you most want from your hyper dog? You want him to be calm and stay out of trouble, right? But when your dog does this, you ignore him. He gets all the attention when he misbehaves.

Think about it.

You’re going about your day. Fido is lying on the floor, maybe chewing a dog toy or just watching the goings-on. Good dog! This is EXACTLY what you want him to be doing! But you are busy doing other things, so you don’t really notice him.

An hour later, Fido gets bored. He goes and looks for something to do. Maybe he tries stealing food off the counter, or barking at the neighbors, or jumping on the kids. Now he suddenly has your full and complete attention!

Any behavior that is rewarded is likely to be repeated. Don’t wait until Fido is misbehaving to give him attention. Instead, make an effort to notice those times when he is “doing nothing:” sitting quietly, chilling out on the floor. Reward him with a treat, petting, or a toy.

Ditch the food bowl
A lot of hyperactivity is caused by the dog being bored out of her mind. Equally important as exercise, dogs need lots of mental stimulation to be happy. “Mental stimulation” simply means something to do that requires brain power.

So give your dog a job.

Dogs love to work, and if you don’t give them a job, they will find their own. They’ll choose unpleasant things like barking at visitors or rearranging your flower bed. The best way to employ your dog is to have her work for her food. This is a natural task, after all. There are no bowls full of kibble in the wild.

In the morning, ration out a day’s worth of dog food. Instead of dumping it in a bowl at mealtimes, use it for short training sessions throughout the day. Also use it to reward your dog for doing nothing, as talked about above. Whatever you don’t use for training should be put into food-dispensing toys, like Kongs or Buster Cubes. These toys are great because they force Sparky to use her brain, something that, unfortunately, most pet dogs don’t get to do very often.

For some homemade treat-dispensing toy ideas, check out my video: Keep Your Hyper Dog Entertained and Out of Trouble
…and this post: 14 Quick and Easy Ways to Keep Your Dog Occupied
For a demo of some “store bought” treat toys, check out David the Dog Trainer’s video, Food Puzzle Toys