Dog owners frequently ask how long it takes to cure separation anxiety in dogs and while it’s an an understandable question question, unfortunately it doesn’t have an easy answer. In today’s high speed society, we’re all looking for a quick problem fix, but when it comes to your dog’s behaviour problems, time and patience is the best cure.

You see, how quickly or slowly a dog gets rid of separation anxiety relies upon how severe the symptoms are, the individual personality of the dog and the opportunities it gets for learning new behaviour. All these different variables means that there’s no certain time frame you can put to the problem, which is actually a positive thing.

Now I realize that everybody wants the problems of separation anxiety in dogs to vanish as quickly as possible, but having short time frames frequently results in people putting themselves under unnecessary pressure. This is likely to have an adverse effect on the situation, making dog owners more anxious and less patient with their dogs. If they add further pressure to that by torturing themselves with questions like “why hasn’t this worked yet”, they are more likely to end up feeling a failure, or deciding that the training doesn’t work and quitting before they get the results they are looking for.

Time Pressure Could Increase Your Stress and Your Dog’s Nervousness

Another disadvantage of putting yourself under time pressure is that your pooch will be aware of your worries as they’re very sensitive to our moods and feelings. They’ll sometimes take their lead from what we are feeling also, which means that if they sense you are stressed it will add to their own anxiousness and the result will be that it takes longer to resolve the problem.

Basically, the best approach once you have found a good dog separation anxiety training program to follow is to relax and accept that there’s no pressure, and instead trust that it’ll work. Ironically, it may help reduce the training time necessary.

Learning Does not Happen in a Straight Line

Another fact about learning new behaviour or skills worth mentioning is that while training needs to be regular and consistent, improvement seldom happens in a continuously growing upwards curve (ask any sportsman or coach), instead you tend to get large jumps forward followed by a plateau where you often feel you are getting nowhere. Your dog’s anxiety training could develop in the same way, so do not give up when you hit a plateau stage, as you might be about to get one of those massive steps ahead.

A good tip is to keep a note of all the anxiety issues you want to resolve and note down your progress each week, however little, because when you are feeling de-motivated it will be a great reminder of how far you have moved forward. Stick to your training plan and you will see results so long as you are consistent and persistent in your training, and give your dog the right messages. I’ve come across many, many stories of dog owners who have used training to eliminate their dog’s anxiety problems and in the process gained a far more cheerful and stress free life for themselves and their dogs.

Author Venice Marriott is a writer and dog owner and runs a website, which provides help and information for dog owners dealing with dog anxiety. Get more information about how to cure dog separation anxiety, when you visit the site.

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