If you think your dog might be displaying signs of separation anxiety, what is the very first thing you should do?

The signs of separation anxiety in dogs are not always easily discernable. If you think your dog might be displaying signs of separation anxiety, or if you’re worried that your dog is actually suffering from separation anxiety, the first thing that you want to do is make an appointment with your veterinarian. You should do a vet check to rule out any possible medical reasons for the behaviors (excessive barking, urinating, defecating, etc) that you are seeing.

 When you go to the vet, you’ll want to let your veterinarian know how long the behavior has been going on and when it happens. You might even want to chat with your vet about the possibility of medication for your canine. Sometimes people are really worried about anxiety medication, looking to try everything else prior to exploring meds as an option. However, with respect to separation anxiety in dogs, there are some instances where medication is appropriate in combination with behavior modification.

With meds, we are never looking to change the dog’s personality or to completely sedate them, but to allow them to relax enough so that potentially they could work on some behavior modification. Again, having that conversation with your vet is an important piece of the puzzle. 

Who can decide if a dog actually has separation anxiety?

If your pup is having trouble being left alone, and displaying perhaps other signs of separation anxiety in dogs, that is actually something that a veterinarian would need to diagnose. 

How do you know if a dog has separation anxiety, or might be suffering from something else like isolation distress?

If you’re worried about your dog having separation anxiety, after you’ve done a vet check, then you want to parse out whether or not you might truly be talking about separation anxiety or the more common type of anxiety known as isolation distress.

Separation anxiety is a big umbrella term for this behavior problem. But true separation anxiety, where a dog is experiencing something similar to a panic attack, is fortunately, rarer. True dog separation anxiety is when the canine is only comfortable with one specific person. From a management perspective, that is a really difficult situation. With isolation distress, we’re talking about a dog who’s able to relax as long as there is any human present. Again, from the management side of things, this makes it a little bit easier to work on suspending absences while addressing the problem, or the underlying issue of the anxiety the dog is experiencing.

What are some signs that your dog might have separation anxiety?

Possible behaviors associated with separation anxiety in dogs include (not a complete list):

• barking, howling, whining, eliminating in the house, chewing inappropriate objects when alone, panting, pacing, crate escape attempts, confinement escape attempts (from x-pen or a room), drooling/wet muzzle

Often online you might see questions about a dog who’s eliminating inside and people wonder if it’s a house-training issue. People might be talking about their dog barking on and on for a long period of time when home alone and folks are asking how to stop the behavior. Or, someone might be asking for online help about their dog’s destructive behavior. However, many times people might not put together the pieces that all of these behaviors may amount to a dog actually suffering from separation anxiety.

If a dog is eliminating or vocalizing, or being destructive, or even pacing and panting, we want to first address the underlying cause or reason for the behavior. This is the key before thinking about trying to stop or reduce the behaviors. Even more important would be to figure out why the behavior is occurring in the first place. If it’s a result of the dog suffering from separation anxiety, then you would want to address the anxiety and try to help the dog feel more relaxed and calm.

If a dog is showing signs of separation anxiety should the pet parents watch remotely to see what is going on in their absence? 

Yes, one way to take a good look at what’s going on with your dog is to watch what’s happening remotely. If you don’t have a camera you could do a FaceTime to Facetime with your smartphone and another device like a laptop or an iPad.  You could also do that same setup with a Zoom to Zoom or Skype to Skype meeting between your smartphone and another device.

What you would want to do is set up your device in the house in a place where it’s safe from your dog. Perhaps leave it on a counter where you can see what’s going on. If you anticipate that your dog is going to go right to the door when you depart, you would want to set it up so that you have a view of the doorway. Ideally, you’d have a view of the dog coming to the door. You also would want to set up this observation at a time when you can come back. If you’re leaving to go to work all day, that would not necessarily be the optimal time to look in on your dog. If the dog is suffering and is vocalizing or being destructive, you’d want to be able to come back to relieve that anxiety asap. 

Are some signs of separation anxiety in dogs more significant?

Sometimes people will say, “Well, my dog is only barking.” Or  “My dog is only pacing and doing a lot of panting.” Or “I come home and his muzzle is wet like he’s been drooling all day, but he’s not destructive.”

What you want to recognize is that any type of behaviors that are displayed as a result of a dog having anxiety are still things that we would want to address. Even if the dog hasn’t reached the point where they’re eating the doorframe and thus escaping from the home that doesn’t necessarily mean that the separation anxiety is any less of a problem for that dog.

Just like with people, long term chronic stress can produce both physical as well as psychological issues. Addressing the underlying reason for the behavior, in this case, separation anxiety, is equally important.

Whether or not the separation anxiety is demonstrated with behaviors that are hugely problematic or seemingly more benign, stress is stress, and you still want to resolve the reason for the behaviors and try to help get the dog some help and relief.

What do pet parents do if they want to stop the behaviors around separation anxiety?

As I’ve mentioned above, if your dog is showing signs of separation anxiety, what we really want to do is address the underlying cause of the separation anxiety in the dog and use only positive reinforcement. The behaviors frequently are a symptom of the underlying stress. If your dog is fearful, anxious or stressed due to separation anxiety or isolation distress then you want to address that anxiety. You want to help him feel more relaxed, calm, and comfortable when he doesn’t have access to a person. Trying to stop or decrease the behavior doesn’t get at the root of the problem.

Let’s say a dog is being destructive, and someone decides to put the dog in a crate. While the dog isn’t able to chew up the couch while crated, he may decide to try to break out of the crate, he might turn to self-injurious behaviors, or he might begin to exhibit other types of behavioral problems. Maybe he’ll eliminate or maybe he could hurt himself trying to escape from the crate. Just avoiding the destruction hasn’t determined the reason for the destruction.

In the case of separation anxiety in dogs, if the behavioral problems are a result of an underlying anxiety issue, then you need to address the anxiety. Once the anxiety is appropriately resolved, typically through a desensitization protocol, subsequent problem behaviors or behaviors that are problems as a result of the anxiety go away, too.

Separation Anxiety in Dogs Series Episode 3 – Signs of Separation Anxiety in Dogs

Get relief from the desolation of your dog’s separation anxiety.

Have you been thwarted by previous training attempts? You need a highly-trained specialist—an expert who devotes her days to resolving dog desolation distress.

I offer a distinctively successful approach to separation anxiety issues with daily guidance and extensive encouragement. If you and your dog are suffering from your dog’s separation anxiety, sign up for my Separation Anxiety Program. I’ll help dissolve your despair.

Schedule your first session today

One of the animal behavior questions I get asked most often is, “How can you help with separation anxiety in dogs?” Separation Anxiety in dogs is one of the most common behavior problems. If your dog is distraught, appears nervous, or shows other signs of anxiety when you leave your home, or he does not have access to you, there are many ways you can help your dog be more at ease when left alone.

If you are trying to resolve separation anxiety in dogs, how can positive reinforcement training help?

Training with Positive reinforcement is when we add something to the situation in the hopes of increasing or having behavior repeat. So an example would be if, let’s say a dog was to lay down, and we wanted to encourage that behavior. If we wanted to see more instances of the dog laying down we might give the dog a treat each time the dog performed this behavior. We’d know if the treat was reinforcing to the dog if the laying down behavior was repeated.

How do you know if your dog has separation anxiety?

If you’re questioning whether or not your dog may have separation anxiety, which is similar to a panic attack in humans, the first steps are to rule out other possibilities. As with any time we have a behavior issue, we want to eliminate any possible medical cause for the behavior. So, a vet check is step one.

Then, if we have a dog that is vocalizing a lot (aka, excessive barking, howling, whining) or eliminating (defecating or urinating) in the house or destroying things (chewing furniture or ripping curtains), we want to make sure that these behaviors are not attributed to something else. For example, if the dog is barking a lot, we want to make sure that it’s not attention seeking behavior. If the dog is going to the bathroom in the house, we want to make sure that the dog has understood where to go to the bathroom. In other words, we want to be sure it’s not a house-training issue. If the dog is being destructive, we would want to make sure that it’s not a boredom problem.

Often with puppies, too, we are specifically trying to rule out other choices. We want to make sure that the problem is not related to the dog being a puppy. For example, we would want to differentiate between puppy chewing behavior and chewing behavior caused by the underlying issue–anxiety.

When working on separation anxiety in dogs, why you should not punish the behavior?

Anytime that we have unwanted behavior, we want to avoid punishment. We don’t want to try to stop or decrease the behavior. Instead, we first want to understand why the behavior is occurring. Anytime we have an unwanted behavior, step one is to discern why the problem behavior is there. What is motivating the behavior to continue to repeat? Step one also would involve a veterinarian check. We want to rule out the fact that the behavior is present, potentially, because of some medical reason.

Is the dog uncomfortable? Is the dog suffering in some way? Just like with a person if you were in pain, you might act more cranky than if you’re feeling happy. Thus, ruling out a potential medical reason for the problem would be the spot to start. And if the dog were suffering, we certainly wouldn’t want to punish that behavior.

After ruling out a medical reason for the behavior, we would also want to look at other possibilities. For example, if the dog was barking a lot, is the barking due to something that is bothering them? Is it attention seeking behavior? If the dog were eliminating (urinating or defecating) in the house, we would want to make sure that this wasn’t a house-training issue. Punishing a dog for eliminating in the home could cause them to hide and continue to do the behavior.

If the dog was destructive, again, punishing the behavior could result in apathy, aggression, escape-avoidance, or generalized fear. Nothing that we want in any animal, but in particular, if we already have a dog that’s fearful and anxious, with regard to the dog’s suffering from separation anxiety.

What to do if you arrive home to a big mess?

If you arrive home, and you have a big mess, the first thing that you’ll want to do is ignore the situation completely. Because if you haven’t caught the dog in the act, then the dog is not associating your behavior with the mess. Instead, the dog is saying, “Wow, my person came home, and they look really upset. I have no idea why,” which is very confusing.

So, although a lot of times, people may say the dog looks guilty for “bad behavior,” generally that is what’s called appeasement behavior. The dog is looking at you. Perhaps you have a stern, angry face. Maybe you’re upset by what you see, and the dog is reacting to your behavior, rather than feeling, “guilty” in that situation.

To recap, if you come home to a mess you want to clean it up and maybe see if you can puzzle out what’s happened. I would suggest trying to watch remotely. You could do that with a camera. You could also do that by connecting your smartphone and your computer to do either a FaceTime or a Skype to Skype, or a Zoom to Zoom session. See if you can get some eyes on what’s going when you’re not there.

When working with separation anxiety in dogs, how can positive reinforcement training help to build trust and confidence?

Anytime we use positive reinforcement training, it helps to work on the human-animal bond. It helps to build confidence and trust. When it comes to dog with separation anxiety there are other behaviors outside of a specific desensitization and counterconditioning protocol that can aid in the overall relationship.

Other behaviors include options like a “non-follow” or a “settle” behavior. For example, I had a client I was working with on separation anxiety and each time the people moved, the dog began jumping and nipping. We needed to separately address these behaviors by reinforcing an incompatible behavior such as “four paws on the floor.” We did this by using positive reinforcement to mark and reinforce the dog’s paws on the ground. This training complemented our separation anxiety protocol work using desensitization.

Why does my dog experience separation anxiety when I leave the house but is fine in other instances?

With separation anxiety, like many behaviors, dogs don’t generalize well. Too, the answer is often, “it depends.” I’ve had clients where dogs were comfortable at somebody else’s home alone, but at their own home, they panicked and had excessive anxiety. A dog may be okay at home and then they begin to show signs of separation anxiety. Often, there is something in the environment that has changed which prompts the behaviors associated with separation anxiety.

Sometimes dogs are comfortable in one setting but not in another. Again, it’s up to the individual dog. It’s dependent upon the context. There’s no right or wrong answer here but basically, just like Dr. Susan Friedman says, “It’s a study of one.” We want to look at the individual dog, and the individual environment and see where the dog actually can feel relaxed and calm, or not. Then we work from that spot to help dogs with separation anxiety to feel more comfortable when home alone.

What behaviors can be shaped that help with separation anxiety in dogs?

When working on dogs suffering from separation anxiety we can also work on training a number of behaviors in combination with a specific separation anxiety protocol. Behaviors such as “settle” or “station in one spot–on a mat or dog bed” are examples of complementary calm behaviors. And we can teach the dog to relax, again, not in the context of you departing, but separate. Then, eventually, that can help to overlap and find its way into a separation anxiety protocol.

We can also teach four paws on the floor. Frequently I’ve had clients where, when they’re about to depart, and we have a dog who’s suffering from separation anxiety, some of that anxiety is demonstrated in jumping up at the person as they’re trying to leave. So, a separate behavior that you can work on, unique but again complementing the separation anxiety protocol, would be reinforcing four paws on the floor.

Additionally, you could teach other confidence-building behaviors. Things like a hand target, which can help a dog to recognize, “I can get reinforced for this behavior. If I choose not to do this behavior, nothing bad or scary happens. But, if I do choose to do this behavior, opportunities for reinforcement exist.” Teaching things like a hand target, settle, four paws on the floor–again, any behaviors that you can reinforce and continue to build up that trust and human/animal bond outside of a specific desensitization protocol for separation anxiety– can be beneficial.

When trying to resolve separation anxiety in dogs, should you put your pup in a crate?

If your dog’s suffering from separation anxiety a lot of times, anecdotal information will suggest crating the dog, or leaving them with a long-lasting food puzzle like a stuffed KONG toy. Both crates and KONGs have places in training and behavior modification. However we often might find confinement issues comorbidly with dogs suffering from separation anxiety. Meaning that now, not only do we have a dog who’s anxious about being alone at home but they’re doubly anxious because they’re in a confined space without the ability to exit.

Also, if we’re crating the dog because of destructive behavior or inappropriate elimination, what we want to do is go back and look at the underlying cause, which in this case may be anxiety. We address the root of the issue, which would then alleviate the reason for the crating.

In the case of a KONG, or another type of long-lasting food puzzle, with separation anxiety, frequently what we might see is a dog who either has anorexia, which in dogs is defined as anxiety and not eating. We leave an otherwise high-value food puzzle, and the dog doesn’t touch it while he’s home alone. Or, we have a dog who scoffed it back, and after about 10 or 15 minutes, we see the symptoms re-emerge. This happens because we haven’t addressed the underlying issue.

That’s not to say that food puzzles and KONGs can’t have a place if we’re also using a desensitization protocol. But by themselves, usually, they don’t lead to the resolution that we’re looking for.

Helping separation anxiety in dogs with positive reinforcement training.

The first thing that we want to look at, as with any type of behavior modification, is management. We want to manage the situation so that the dog doesn’t continue to rehearse the unwanted behavior. In the case of separation anxiety, unwanted behavior happens when the dog is alone. Therefore, what we want to do is suspend absences, outside of a specific protocol. While at first the idea of suspending absences might sound overwhelming, there are many resources which talk about how to accomplish this. The reason suspending absences is so important is because otherwise, it’s kind of like taking three steps forward, and five backward.

This is because there is no way to communicate to the dog, “I’m only leaving for two minutes, this time.”Our behavior of suspending absences allows the dog to gradually start to feel more relaxed about not needing to be on edge because a departure may be imminent at any moment.

Suspending absences and pre-departure cues

Suspending absences would be step number one after ruling out any medical issues. The next step would be to look at pre-departure cues. Pre-departure cues, which we abbreviate PDQs, are things like, the obvious ones such as shoes and car keys. They may be a purse or a jacket, but they can also be things like filling your to-go coffee, filling up the dog’s water bowl, or starting to put your dog in a crate with some treats.

The dogs can generalize, sometimes back to even brushing your teeth. For example, I had a client whose dog, upon opening his sock drawer, began to show signs of feeling anxious and recognized that a departure was soon going to happen. Identifying those pre-departure cues is key. When we work on a separation anxiety protocol for dogs, using desensitization, the start would be to remove the pre-departure cues and then start to add them in slowly, one at a time.

Some departure cues are more relevant

The reason we would do that is because some cues may be more relevant to that dog. Some dogs may, for example, not react at all when you put your shoes on. But, if you pick up the keys, that causes an immediate sense of panic. In those cases, we maybe be slow down and/or work on desensitization or sometimes even counter conditioning. This means pairing the experience with something that the dog values to create a positive association. We do this in order to help that dog to relax more in response to that particular pre-departure cue.

Desensitization protocol

Then we work on a specific protocol of desensitization. It generally takes about 30 minutes a day. We work on a variety of stuff geared specifically to the individual dog with changing criteria, depending on the dog’s response. Basically, we’re looking to help the dog not to react to your movements which indicate departure. These might be things like standing up, walking to the door, touching the doorknob, and then coming back and sitting down. If the dog responds to that step with a significant response, or significant reaction with his body language that would indicate anxiety, then we may need to repeat that step or even break down the criteria further. Maybe we have to walk halfway to the door, for example.

Whereas, if the dog is relaxed during that step of the exercise, then we might be able to take the next push in our criteria; a next step to walk to the door, open the door three inches, or halfway, close the door again, come back and sit down. Gradually, over time, using a specific desensitization protocol, we can help the dog to feel, “Ho hum,” “That’s boring,” and to feel not anxious anymore about those types of movements.

Eventually, with the pre-departure cues incorporated as well, and eventually, during the overall departure and then, adding duration with that departure, we arrive at a situation where we can have a calm dog relaxed at home for a longer period of time. This allows the people in the family to go about their normal daily life activities.

Separation Anxiety in Dogs Series Episode 2 – Getting Help with Separation Anxiety in Dogs

Get relief from the desolation of your dog’s separation anxiety.

Have you been thwarted by previous training attempts? You need a highly-trained specialist—an expert who devotes her days to resolving dog desolation distress.

I offer a distinctively successful approach to separation anxiety issues with daily guidance and extensive encouragement. If you and your dog are suffering from your dog’s separation anxiety, sign up for my Separation Anxiety Program. I’ll help dissolve your despair.

Schedule your first session today

What is separation anxiety in dogs?

Separation anxiety in dogs is a really difficult behavior problem for both the animal and their caregivers. Separation Anxiety often leaves people feeling isolated and alone. When it comes to dog separation anxiety it is not the doggie being insolent or vengeful or angry or bored; rather, separation anxiety is a panic disorder.

The dog is actually, for lack of a technical term, “freaked out” when being left home alone or not having access to a person or people. Unfortunately, this dog behavior disorder is really difficult, not only from the point of view that we’re watching the dog genuinely suffer from the behaviors that they end up displaying as a result of separation anxiety, but also having the people feeling so disconnected with struggling with this issue.

The pet guardians feel isolated, and frequently they feel like they can’t leave the house for fear of what will happen. Also, they feel like maybe nobody quite understands because oftentimes there’s a lot of anecdotal information around separation anxiety, which is an attempt to be helpful but often isn’t something that’s going to help them to arrive at a resolution. To be certain, separation anxiety is a challenging behavior to work with.

What is separation anxiety in dogs defined?

Specifically, separation anxiety in dogs is a panic disorder. It is when a dog feels stressed, anxious, and fearful about being left home alone and or being left without access to a person or people. True separation anxiety is actually more rare, which is a good thing. Oftentimes what it is that we’re talking about and witnessing in dogs is isolation distress.

Under the significant umbrella term of “separation anxiety” in dogs, isolation distress is when a dog feels comfortable as long as there’s a human body present. With true separation anxiety, we’re talking about a situation where a dog is only comfortable if there’s one specific person present.

How do most caregivers find out that their dog has separation anxiety?

Oftentimes, caregivers might find out that their dog is suffering from separation anxiety by way of puzzling things out. Frequently, there may be complaints from neighbors about noise, about vocalizations, and continuous barking. Also, they might have gone to the vet because their dog would have broken out of a crate or done some other type of self-injurious behavior.

Alternatively, the pet parents might go to the vet because their dog has ingested something due to destructive behavior in their absence. It’s not uncommon for an anxious dog that has been left alone to perhaps chew a piece of a wall.

So it’s a collection of behaviors that lead us to look at what separation anxiety in dogs truly is, which again, it is a panic disorder. In terms of how to find out, a veterinarian (or vet behaviorist) is the one who actually can make the diagnosis about if the dog is specifically suffering from separation anxiety.

Why is separation anxiety in dogs such a difficult behavior to treat effectively?

Separation Anxiety in any dog is so difficult because people are often feeling immensely isolated. Frequently any type of trip out of the house corresponds with some sense of guilt at leaving the dog at home feeling so anxious, as expressed by their body language and oftentimes barking or other types of vocalization. It can feel frustrating because perhaps they have tried to put their dog in a crate, to crate train, without effect—other than the dog breaking out of the crate.

Oftentimes we frequently find confinement issues exist co-morbidly with separation anxiety. As such, we may have a dog that is not only suffering from a panic attack at being left home alone, but now they’re in an enclosed space, and we haven’t addressed the underlying issue, which is the excessive anxiety.

Unfortunately, when a dog suffers from separation anxiety, it can feel isolating and make people feel alone. Friends and family, while providing good intentional advice, it may not be good advice that helps them arrive at a solution and a situation where the dog is able to relax when alone.

Along with the sadness and frustration, the pet parents may be suffering financially from having to replace destroyed items in their home, they may be at risk of having to move out of their home if there have been noise complaints, or again, if there’s destruction happening in a rental situation.

For all of these reasons, separation anxiety in dogs is something that’s really, really trying for both the human and the animal involved. For these reasons, it’s also beneficial to work with someone who is a professional and who specializes in working with cases of dogs suffering from separation anxiety. Engaging a certified separation anxiety trainer will also provide the guardian someone in their corner who can cheerlead and help walk them step by step on working on protocols to help the dog to feel more comfortable when they’re by themselves.

Why is separation anxiety in dogs such a tough behavior to unravel or fix?

Separation anxiety in dogs is really difficult because oftentimes people may approach either a dog trainer or veterinarian with complaints about the behaviors that the pup is exhibiting. For example, barking or howling nonstop for hours on end or they may be complaining about the destruction that’s happening or elimination– urination and defecation inside of the house.

And it may be only after further investigation that we realize these things are happening only when the dog is home alone or without access to a person. Therefore, sometimes puzzling out the fact that all of these behaviors, the collection of behaviors that we’re talking about, these unwanted behaviors are actually pointing back to the underlying issues that we need to address which is the separation anxiety, the anxiety of being home alone, or again, unable to access a person.

Are there different levels to separation anxiety, such as, moderate or severe?

We can categorize separation anxiety in dogs in terms of mild, moderate, and severe. However, the categorization only helps in terms of thinking about what people are able to recognize.

For example, most trainers can quickly identify a case of more moderate to severe separation anxiety, based on the level and frequency of destruction that we’re seeing when the dog is home alone. Whereas, if we’ve got a case of more mild or moderate separation anxiety, oftentimes, we first need to rule out other potential causes.

For example, if we have a younger dog or even a dog that’s not that young, we want to make sure that we’re not talking about boredom. Moreover, we want to make sure again, in the case of a younger dog or a puppy, that we’re not talking about puppy behaviors, i.e., is the dog chewing because they’re teething, or are they chewing because of anxiety?

Of course, our first step is to rule out any potential medical reason for the underlying cause. Again, if the dog is chewing something, we want to make sure that there’s not an irritant in their mouth. We want to make sure that it’s not a medical reason for the behavior with regard to mild or moderate separation anxiety. Also, if there’s barking going on, we would want to rule out if the dog is barking for attention, again, for some medical reason, versus the underlying cause has been anxiety.

If the dog is going to the bathroom in the house, we would want to rule out whether house training is an issue. So if house training is in place, and the dog doesn’t have accidents outside of the alone time, then we again would want to explore a little bit more and make sure that the reason for the behavior is due to anxiety versus a lack of training.

In your professional capacity as a certified separation anxiety trainer, what is the worst case of separation anxiety that you have come across?

Often I think people consider a worst-case scenario in terms of visually what we can observe, a.k.a., some severe destruction. There are the dogs who have literally eaten through a crate and escaped oftentimes injuring either their paws or teeth in doing so. I had a client whose dog had such severe separation anxiety that he ate the doorframe, and therefore, the dog was able to escape from the home.

Again, this was solely as a result of the anxiety associated with separation disorder.

On the other hand, I’ve encountered clients who may not have demonstrated that outward same level of, for example, destruction, but they’ve been suffering from their dog having this type of anxiety for many, many years. And I would consider that continued repetition of the unwanted behavior as a result of the chronic stress associated to be a really difficult case as well.

Separation Anxiety in Dogs Series Episode 1 – What is Separation Anxiety?

Get relief from the desolation of your dog’s separation anxiety.

Have you been thwarted by previous training attempts? You need a highly-trained specialist—an expert who devotes her days to resolving dog desolation distress.

I offer a distinctively successful approach to separation anxiety issues with daily guidance and extensive encouragement. If you and your dog are suffering from your dog’s separation anxiety, sign up for my Separation Anxiety Program. I’ll help dissolve your despair.

Schedule your first session today