11/10/2024
TODAY OUR BREED EXPERT looks at why some collies cope less well with being left alone
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING SEPARATION ANXIETY IN THE BORDER COLLIE
Although we may all have to leave our dogs alone at home sometimes, some Border collies will definitely react less well to this experience than others. At which point it can help to better understand why, which is what I aim to do in this feature.
First, it is important to appreciate how the experience of being more suddenly left alone by an owner impacts on a dog’s mind. First, it will immediately affect their need to preserve emotional comfort and security. Some dogs become extremely – if not excessively - attached emotionally to their owners, meaning separation from them will always be more traumatic.
The second is the dog's strong craving for 'sameness' and continuity in their lives and environment, which is immediately disrupted the moment owners leave and remove their more familiar and reassuring presence from the home. The last is the dog's strong desire to control their own space and freedom of movement. Which again is immediately thwarted if the dog is left confined, as well as alone, in any smaller place - i.e. the home - they cannot escape.
Also, being left alone for any period can be incredibly boring and frustrating for any dog, let alone those, like collies, with a higher need for mental/physical occupation.
INBUILT DEPENDENCY
Sometimes it is just one of the aforementioned factors that drive a dog's higher levels of anxiety or panic when left alone, but often it can be all of them at once. But you cannot ever hope to better resolve distress of this kind in your dog – which can then result in ‘venting behaviours’ like whining, barking and destructiveness - until you first understand what is causing it.
Separation anxiety also brings us back face to face with the consequences of how we have bred dogs, for centuries; to stay that much more puppyish and dependent in their mental outlook and behaviour all their lives. So that they are always that much easier for us to control, train and live with. But the downside is a dog who then emotionally crashes whenever left alone.
Puppies or dogs who constantly have to follow you everywhere when you are home – even to the bathroom – and have relatively little ability to self-occupy, think or act more independently for themselves or happily cope with being in a different space or place to you, are clearly more owner-dependent, and thus nearly always the dogs who will have greater separation issues later.
ARE THEY REALLY ‘COPING’?
I personally think it is safer to assume that most dogs who live with owners in the home suffer some level of psychological discomfort or distress, when left alone, so then it is just a question of how long they are left for, so that the discomfort isn’t too lengthy, or sufficient to propel them into more destructive habits to vent their anxiety.
I am always fascinated by people who say their dog 'copes fine' when they leave them alone at home for any length of time. Because if you are not actually THERE, how do you know? Coming back to a home that has not been trashed or fouled in your absence is not necessarily evidence that your dog 'coped fine' as many dogs are internalisers, rather than externalisers; i.e. they turn all their stress and anxiety more inwards, than outwards into more physical reactions.
A study filming different dogs who were left alone by their owners also found that there was actually little difference in the cortisol – or stress – levels found in dogs who reacted more strongly to being left (i.e. barking, whining, trashing things) and those who were far quieter but still equally stressed.
MAKING TIME ALONE MORE NORMAL
The first really helpful thing you can do to make your dog cope better, psychologically, with periods left alone, is stop giving them constant access to yourself, and your presence, 24/7 when you are at home. This may make us feel good, or needed or loved, but all it does for a dog is further encourage and ingrain emotional over-dependency on us. And also consistently feed an expectation in our dog that this state of ‘constant access’ should be the 'norm'. Meaning any more sudden removal of your presence from the home will always be that much worse for them to bear, by contrast.
There should always be regular periods during the day or evening when your dog has to settle in their own quarters, and on their own, so that this instead becomes more of a norm - using a dog gate to separate the dog from you if needs be. Such exercises far better equip dogs, psychologically, for the later process of separation, and should be begun from earliest puppyhood.
If you try this, alternatively, with an older dog who has already been allowed to develop an expectation of access to you, and the rest of the household, 24/7, then you are likely to immediately get a far more distressed reaction. So you have to stick at these regular time alone periods until the dog is better able to tolerate separation without such a more distressed reaction. Also ONLY go back to your dog on the other side of the dog gate once they are settled and quiet again, however long this takes initially. Or the more distressed behaviour patterns will never end.
PUSHING THE PANIC BUTTON
Owners may also constantly press the 'panic button' in their dogs' heads by always doing exactly the same things just before they leave the home. Like giving the dog a treat, or saying they won't be long etc. All these things are mainly for an owner's benefit. To the dog they are simply cues alerting them to the fact that they are just about to be left on their own again for an unpredictable amount of time and immediately their anxiety begins to rise, before you even go out the front door.
Also be aware that dogs, unlike us, have no understanding of the concepts of movement and time - i.e. that when we go out we will not be long, and will always come back. Thus every new departure can become a fresh panic situation for the separation-anxious dog that only resolves itself once an owner returns.
Be better aware, too, of all the other things you will regularly do before leaving home – like lock up, get your coat and keys – which immediately alert your dog to your imminent departure from the home. So you can try doing these things many times over, in front of your dog, every day, without actually leaving home, until these actions or rituals gradually stop triggering stress in your dog, as a result of their past associations in their mind. And they are less likely to immediately panic when you do actually leave home after doing these things.
HOW LONG IS TOO LONG?
How long dogs should be left – or whether they should ever be left alone at all – can also strongly depend on the psychological limits – and limitations- of individual dogs, though my own upper limit for leaving dogs alone is two hours. Beyond that I seriously worry about the levels of stress they could be exposed to, and would organise a minder for them instead. Dogs who have been well exercised, physically and mentally, before being left, are also more likely to settle.
Although this feature has just briefly touched on the different reasons why collies experience separation issues, far more on how to train them to cope better with the separation experience appears in BOOK THREE of my BORDER COLLIES: A BREED APART trilogy on BEHAVIOUR - INSIGHTS, ISSUES & SOLUTIONS, should anyone need further help.
All text © Carol Price 2024
Carol Price collie books: In the UK from: https://performancedog.co.uk/?s=carol+price In the USA from: https://www.dogwise.com/ # and https://www.cleanrun.com/product/border_collies_a_breed_apart_book_1_secrets_of_the_working_mind/index.cfm In Canada from https://4mymerles.com/collections/books In Australia from: https://gameondogs.com.au/ And in the Netherlands and Belgium from: https://mediaboek.nl/border-collies-a-breed-apart-book-1.html
