Doubtless you have heard the saying "your dog's bored" before, because dog boredom is frequently used to justify all kinds of dog behaviour problems.
Problems like your dog being destructive and chewing up the house, your shoes or the couch especially when you leave your dog home alone.
In reality dog boredom is used to explain away many of the symptoms of separation anxiety in dogs. Symptoms like barking or whining non-stop, or digging up the garden, or maybe your dog running away. Because of this reason a large amount of the tips you see to stop your dogs separation anxiety is based around entertaining your dog, or at very least distracting them, which could help, but is not going to get to the roots of the issue and offer a cure.
Should You Feel Guilty if Your Dog is Bored?
The worst thing about being told your dogs behaviour problems are caused by boredom is that its going to get you feeling guilty like you are not doing enough for your dog, either walking then enough or paying them enough attention.
The reverse is generally correct for dogs with separation anxiety, but that does not stop us feeling anious when we go out and leave them and the consequence of that will instead be to extend a dogs anxiousness.
A Short Walk and a New Toy is Not Always the Answ er
It may also get you focussing on the wrong things when you're trying to cope with your dogs anxiety. If it was just boredom, you could leave your dog alone with lots of toys and they should be fine, but that doesn't happen in fact as many of you already know.
When we start to look for a reason to explain bad dog behaviour we frequently make the error of humanising dogs, then we come up with an explanation that is sensible to us but does not fit with natural dog behavior.
In studies of the wolf pack, quite naturally a wolf will use up a lot of hours everyday sleeping and lazing around without any evidence of boredom or turning to harmful behaviour!
Anway, the solutions we are frequently given to dog boredom, is to start walking them more frequently, leave them on their own for less time, give them toys to play with or feed them. But if you're attempting to stop your dog from scratching up your carpets, or chewing up your cushions while you're out and none of these approaches work it could just be that you did not have a bored dog in the beginning.
Dog Separation Anxiety Training
Sadly , separation anxiety in dogs cannot be cured with a quick walk and a chewing toy. However if your dog is suffering from separation anxiety there are ways to get shot of it. Most vets would agree that a dog separation anxiety training programme is the best option, although there are a selection of other products that may assist in reducing a dogs anxiety along the way.
Problems like your dog being destructive and chewing up the house, your shoes or the couch especially when you leave your dog home alone.
In reality dog boredom is used to explain away many of the symptoms of separation anxiety in dogs. Symptoms like barking or whining non-stop, or digging up the garden, or maybe your dog running away. Because of this reason a large amount of the tips you see to stop your dogs separation anxiety is based around entertaining your dog, or at very least distracting them, which could help, but is not going to get to the roots of the issue and offer a cure.
Should You Feel Guilty if Your Dog is Bored?
The worst thing about being told your dogs behaviour problems are caused by boredom is that its going to get you feeling guilty like you are not doing enough for your dog, either walking then enough or paying them enough attention.
The reverse is generally correct for dogs with separation anxiety, but that does not stop us feeling anious when we go out and leave them and the consequence of that will instead be to extend a dogs anxiousness.
A Short Walk and a New Toy is Not Always the Answ er
It may also get you focussing on the wrong things when you're trying to cope with your dogs anxiety. If it was just boredom, you could leave your dog alone with lots of toys and they should be fine, but that doesn't happen in fact as many of you already know.
When we start to look for a reason to explain bad dog behaviour we frequently make the error of humanising dogs, then we come up with an explanation that is sensible to us but does not fit with natural dog behavior.
In studies of the wolf pack, quite naturally a wolf will use up a lot of hours everyday sleeping and lazing around without any evidence of boredom or turning to harmful behaviour!
Anway, the solutions we are frequently given to dog boredom, is to start walking them more frequently, leave them on their own for less time, give them toys to play with or feed them. But if you're attempting to stop your dog from scratching up your carpets, or chewing up your cushions while you're out and none of these approaches work it could just be that you did not have a bored dog in the beginning.
Dog Separation Anxiety Training
Sadly , separation anxiety in dogs cannot be cured with a quick walk and a chewing toy. However if your dog is suffering from separation anxiety there are ways to get shot of it. Most vets would agree that a dog separation anxiety training programme is the best option, although there are a selection of other products that may assist in reducing a dogs anxiety along the way.
About the Author:
Dog anxiety is increasingly common in dogs, and has affected the author's own rescue dog. Visit her blog to make certain you can spot the difference between dog behaviour problems and dog boredom.