Home Alone

Marty and Laura tackle separation anxiety, a tough topic for folks trying to manage returning to office life while keeping their pooch entertained.

A lot of “pandemic dogs” that have never had 30 seconds of being by themselves, find a new way of life more challenging.

“So there are some things that you can do to help prepare them for being left alone,” Marty said, “whether it’s to go to work or something more significant. And some of them are pharmaceutical and some are non-pharmaceutical. It’s okay to use pharmaceuticals if you need them because it can shorten the learning curve. So I don’t want people to feel guilty or bad or any of those things if they feel like a pharmaceutical assistant to shorten the dog’s learning curve is appropriate.

“A lot of dogs figure out pretty fast if they’re going with you that day or you’re leaving them for that day or they’re going to daycare what’s going to happen based on the pair of shoes that you put on, believe it or not, or which bag you pick up, or whether you’ve got this jacket or that jacket on. 

“It’s called back chaining when they figure those things out is they first see you leave, and then they see you put on the shoes that you wear when you leave, and then they see you put the jacket and the shoes on before you leave, and then they see you pick up the keys. And so they start to back chain. So very quickly, you can see that they’re developing anxiety as you’re prepping to leave them or take them along.”

For a deep dive on this topic, check out this archived episode from Pure Dog Talk.

The Marty & Laura Show is produced by Pure Dog Talk Inc., with sound design and editing by Premium Audio Services.