Separation Anxiety in Dogs
The most common behavioural problem that I get called to work on is separation anxiety.
This usually stems from one of two influences: a traumatic experience or the energy of the household. Likely, this is due to the rise in anxiety in humans because of the rise of living costs, stress in our lives, and 'busyness'. Many pet parents don't know that animals are highly sensitive to the energy within their household and quite often gets their anxiety from the people in the house.
I’ve worked with animals that can’t be left alone because they will destroy the house. Some start to bark or howl as soon as the owner leaves and others refuse to eat, go for walks, or socialize while their owner is away. I understand the guilty feeling when you have to leave them for longer periods of time, but a well-adjusted animal should be okay being alone as long as their bladder isn’t full.
Trauma Approach: To be delicate with the animal’s likely sensitivity to proximity, I typically begin with Reiki to work through traumatic experience from a distance. It is important at this stage for the owner not to accidentally reward clingy behaviour in order for the animal to gain confidence and independence. Once animal is through majority of trauma, bi-monthly 'tune ups' of either Acupressure or Reiki until animal is comfortable being alone.
Household Approach: The first step in this case is to always speak with the owner about energy and how sensitive animals are to it. The therapy approach includes both Acupressure and Flower Essence for the animal to aid them in moving through the anxiety and not picking up on their owner's energy.