Separation
Anxiety
Many social animals, like people, are distressed when separated
from their companions or loved ones. Feelings of loss and frustration
are a result of love and attachment. Dogs are, by nature, social,
so they also are more likely to show distress when left alone.
Emotional
attachment is especially important for animals that depend on
group living for survival. We have all heard the phrase, “dogs
are pack animals.” While many dogs feel some level of frustration
when left alone, certain dogs express it by various behaviors
such as chewing furniture, soiling in the house, barking, etc.
Separation anxiety is related to the relationship between the
dog and owner – not the fear of being contained in a yard, house,
crate or kennel.
Containment
Phobia
Different from separation anxiety, containment phobia is a fear
of being trapped. It is the inability of the dog to move freely
from one environment to another regardless of the size of the space.
This can be attributed to an animal’s genetically pre-programmed
survival instinct to a fear of being caught.
Some
Escape behaviors include:
Repeated
attempts to break out of a dog crate
Repeated attempts to escape every kennel run
Jumping a fence
Digging out underneath a fence
Chewing and digging through a fence
Destroying exits when contained in a room
(e.g., doors, windows)
When contained in the back yard, destroying the house trying to
get in
A dog with containment phobia that is locked outside in the back
yard may destroy the house trying to get in or jump the wall, or
destroy the house trying to get out. The dog’s destructive behavior
is targeted at barriers that prevent freedom to move from one environment
to another, namely from indoors to outdoors and vice versa. It is
not the size of the space that frightens the animal but being trapped
or contained in an area.
Modify
the Environment Therapy
The good news is that with the correct diagnosis and modification,
containment phobia treatment is very successful in curbing the destruction
of home and property as well as damage the dog may cause itself
in the process. The environment must be modified because it is the
environment that triggers the phobia. In all cases, the remedy is
two-fold. First, give the dog freedom of movement. Second, have
consequences in place for the escape behavior. It is very important
that the modifications to the environment occur simultaneously.
We have to support the dog in making the right choices in the owner’s
absence.
For
detailed information on containment phobia click
here.
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