All the things I wish I knew before I got my first ever puppy!
THE OBVIOUS SIGNS
BARKING & HOWLING
If you have neighbours close by you may want to warn them the first few times you leave your pup. The first time we left Cooper alone he cried and cried and cried, thankfully our neighbours are absolutely besotted with him, but it turned out that they actually sat down their side way talking to our outside garage door trying to calm him down!
DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR
Most commonly it will be aimed at the door that you exited out of, but it can be also be the furniture, the skirting boards- pretty much anything your dog can get hold of!
ACCIDENTS INSIDE
Sometimes dogs can get so worked up that they end up going to the toilet inside, both number 1 and number 2’s! Not something that you want to be coming home to! Although it’s also important to remember that puppy’s bladders are not fully developed so you can’t expect them to go long periods of time without needing the loo!
VOMITING
If your dog gets really worked up they can make themselves vomit. When dogs vomit they tend to eat it after… I’m not sure if thats a good or bad thing in this instance…good that they’ve cleaned up after themselves, but not great if you don’t realise they’ve done it and you have remnants of dog sick all over the place.
If you want to keep on your neighbours good side and still have some furniture left, it’s worth learning a bit about separation anxiety and what to look out for! All dogs get separation anxiety to some degree, but some breeds are a lot more prone to it than others!
When you first start leaving your dog alone for longer periods of time I’d highly recommend getting some kind of camera to keep an eye on what they’re up to. There’s plenty of different brands to suit all different budgets.
It’s going to be daunting for any puppy to be left for the first time, first they’re taken from their mother and siblings and given to you, then you leave and they’re on their own again. Some amount of crying at first is to be expected, but separation anxiety is something some puppy’s won’t necessarily grow out of.
THE NOT SO OBVIOUS SIGNS
This is where having cameras become useful. Obviously no one wants their dog to be in distress, but if your dog is experiencing any of these things, unless you see them on camera, you won’t know it’s happening.
