Separation Anxiety

  Tips to help my dog with separation anxiety. I work full time as a teacher and my partner mainly works from home. However, he has recently been going in to the office more in the mornings. It is a bit sporadic when is asked to come in. Some weeks he may not have to go in at all and others, a couple of mornings. My dog (before the pandemic) was fine when we left the house for a few hours and would just sleep. Since then, she has developed separation anxiety where she will bark after the first hour. She is fine when we leave as she knows she gets a biscuit and will go to bed but after a while when we haven’t returned that is when she will start to bark. Does anyone have any tips that they have used and has worked for them?

Hello!   It can be hard adapting to a changed routine.   First things first, what time does he go out to the toilet?  (The dog, obvs).   I can imagine a situation where your partner usually lets the dog out in the mornings, but because it's so early the dog doesn't want/ bother to go at that time, but may then miss the toilet break - or even the wandering around the garden break - or come to that, perhaps the company -  after a while.   Sometimes getting up early and forcing a mega-early dog walk can help with routine.  Otherwise, dog-sitters, friendly neighbours or dog-walkers may be a good idea.  A lot of people's working situations have returned to the office after Covid, so hopefully other owners will come and put their twopen'orth in here too!