Separation Anxiety: Feeling sorry for your "rescued" dog?

A very common behavioral challenge that animal rescues face with dogs they take in is "separation anxiety." Pet Haven partners with the Canine Coach who has been an incredible resource for us. Maureen Haggerty, owner of the Canine Coach, has written a terrific article on Separation Anxiety, a common struggle for rescue dogs.

Here are some excerpts:
"As foster families and new adoptive families we have to help our dogs from developing separation anxiety. One way is to not fall into the trap of feeling sorry for our “rescued” dogs and the desire to give them an abundance of attention and everything they want. Don’t do this to your dog."

"... And keep your departures and arrivals very low key. Keep it to simple “goodbye” and “hello”, again, not to paint a dramatic contrast to when you are home versus gone..."

For the full article, which I highly recommend, click here.

As president of Pet Haven, I have been blessed with 3 rescued dogs (all adopted from Pet Haven - all big black dogs too!). One of them, Mister, has separation anxiety ... i'm happy to say though it has been getting much better. This past April he got into quite a bit of mischief while we were out. His sister, Ahnung (she has her own blog!) wrote about it. For what can happen IF you don't address separation anxiety, read Mister's story here.

Note: The photo above is "Sonoma", an energetic, playful girl who gets along with kids, dogs, cats and just about everyone!! To learn more about Sonoma check out her bio. Sonoma does not have separation anxiety ... she just wanted the opportunity to show her pretty face and let everyone know about how special she is AND that's she up for adoption!