Does your puppy hate being away from you? This is for you!

It’s very common for people raising a puppy under 6 months old to think…“

My puppy has separation anxiety if I’m not in their presence..."

⤵ This “anxiety” often looks like:

Getting up to follow you every time you move

Fussing as soon as you walk away from them and they aren’t able to follow

Whining, yipping or barking if you’ve given them time in the kennel or pen and aren’t laying there beside them

Getting antsy and unsettled if you aren’t touching or giving them attention

This isn’t anxiety.

This is FOMO (fear of missing out), and frustration.

Your puppy came from a pack of siblings, and everything was “pack-dynamic” (aka, one pup does something, and EVERYONE follows suit).

Puppies in a pack do 9/10 things they do because their brother Harold did it first. Everything is cool (or not cool) because someone else wants it, doesn’t want it, was happy about it, or fought it. They follow, they watch, they move like a school of fish.

This is normal, however, once they’ve left their siblings and are starting a new life with you, it is important you don’t allow them to follow your every move, or dictate what your next move is going to be based off of how they’ll react.

This will not raise them to be a strong, confident, and well-balanced adult dog.

Being fussy about separation is normal with an untrained puppy that is learning all these  habits from scratch. They don’t know better, and they haven’t learned any impulse or emotional control yet.

However, if you cater to these habits that are at this point purely FOMO & frustration, it will create an anxious dog down the road.

So your puppy doesn’t like being alone.

Is this a shock? No way!

They are a companion breed, and their desire to be close to people is one of the main traits that make them so good at it!

However, you’re not going to be glued to them every minute of every day for the rest of their lives. You have work, commitments, a social life, events and plans, and you need to teach them in these first imprinting months of their life that appropriate limits, boundaries, and separation are normal and okay.

Them fighting something doesn’t immediately = anxiety.

It does however mean they are adjusting, growing, and learning a new skill, and that often comes with a great deal of frustration on their part.

✖ Frustration that they can’t do what you told them not to do

✖ Frustration that they can’t have that thing, that person, that experience

✖ Frustration that they don’t control every outcome

✖ Frustration that there are any limitations when they want none.

Let them learn the lesson you’re trying to teach them.

You can’t view your separation training as something you need to “save” them from, sweeping in every time they cry and laying down next to the kennel with your fingers dangling through. 

This doesn’t help them grow their separation muscles, it keeps them dependent on your presence to be okay.

"Will separation training make my puppy less bonded to me?”

NO WAY. It will just make them more content and settled when you aren’t around. Your dog deserves to feel good when you’re around, and when you’re gone, and that only happens because you taught them how.

FOMO & frustration are normal motions for your puppy to go through. Giving proper direction and training ensures they move through it and don’t get stuck there :)

A few things to work on if your puppy is filled with reckless FOMO 😉 ⤵

✔ Set up a penned area where they can see but not have you and practice several sessions every day in this area. This helps them learn to occupy themselves and be content with less freedom

✔ Do daily kennel time. Start small, work up to longer durations. Eventually a 1-2 hr nap  mid day is an excellent idea.

✔ Don’t talk, interact and give them attention and affection when they are demanding & fussing. Wait for calm and settled behaviour, then reward.

✔ Be conscious and put limits on how often you allow them to follow you around. They won’t ever choose not to, so it’s important you do.

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We hope this helped you reframe some of that puppy fussing and understand how to combat it!

-The RLD Team