Here are all of the dog separation anxiety training products that we recommend
Treating Separation Anxiety in Dogs: Causes and Solutions
In this ultimate guide to separation anxiety training I’ll cover:
- What is Separation Anxiety in Dogs?
- Signs of Separation Anxiety
- Why Do Dogs Develop Separation Anxiety?
- What Is Not Separation Anxiety?
- Separation Anxiety and Isolation Distress: What’s The Difference?
- Separation Anxiety Solutions
- What Happens if Separation Anxiety Goes Untreated?
- Separation Anxiety FAQs
- Get Professional Help
What is Separation Anxiety in Dogs?
Dog anxiety comes in many flavors. One of the most common forms of dog anxiety that I work with is dog separation anxiety and isolation distress/separation distress.
Separation Anxiety is a stressful and traumatic experience for dogs that can also ruin the quality of life for a dog and parent. If your dog follows you everywhere and acts like your shadow, or if your pet exhibits stress or destructive dog behaviors when you are not home, your dog likely has separation anxiety.
Some parents think that it’s endearing and cute when their dog is attached to them at the hip and follows them everywhere, but what is not understood is that the dog is displaying those behaviors out of fear, not love. A dog with anxiety lacks the coping mechanisms and confidence to self-soothe independently. Dogs with anxiety are also typically untrained, insecure and have different levels of fear, anxiety, and stress.
When it comes time for a parent to go to work, socialize, or anytime the dog must be left alone, the dog becomes phobic, causing significant behavior and health problems. In addition to anxiety being traumatic for the pet, separation anxiety is a very serious disorder that affects a parent’s quality of life as well.
Many studies have shown that when a parent leaves their pet alone, emotional, physical, pathological, and detrimental conditions ensue, shortening the lifespan of your dog. For example, “It was predicted that dogs with fear and anxiety disorders would have decreased lifespan and increased disease frequency and severity. Dogs with extreme non-social fear and separation anxiety were found to have increased severity and frequency of skin disorders.”
If a dog or puppy’s separation anxiety goes untreated, these disorders increase your pet’s susceptibility to other diseases and health problems and subject a pet to the increased likelihood of stress, recurrent health issues, and infections in their lives.
It’s not enough that your dog is “OK” only when in your home when you or another person are present. Your dog will experience times in their lives when they are without you or another person present and are in dog boot camp, at dog boarding, at a pet sitter, or with friends. There are hundreds of real-life examples where your dog will not only be without you present but without any person present.
- Veterinarian visits
- Vacations
- Boarding
- Daycare
- Parents who work outside of the home
- When you do chores such as showering, going to the bathroom, taking out the garbage, going shopping, etc.
- Whenever a parent leaves home, and a dog can’t come (dog unfriendly businesses and unsafe environments, etc.)
If your dog is not OK with being left alone, your dog will be stressed and in a state of trauma each time they are left by themselves. This is not OK, safe, or compassionate, and destroys a dog’s quality of life.
Signs of Separation Anxiety
As with other dog anxiety and stress signals, dogs may exhibit any combination of the following biomarkers and signs of separation anxiety in the absence of the parent or when the parent is present:
- Panting/breathing patterns changing and/or elevated
- Increased pulse/heart rate
- Yawning
- Tongue-flicking
- Licking
- Drooling
- Sweaty paws
- Salivation
- Dilated pupils
- Inappetence – Lack of appetite/interest in food when a pet parent is gone
- Lack of interest in toys/games when a parent is gone
- Vocalization (whining, barking, yelping, howling, crying)
- Destructive behavior (chewing, tearing, biting, digging, destroying items)
- Shadowing behavior – following a parent around nonstop (shower, bathroom, closet, room to room, etc.)
- Hyperattachment to parent
- Excess excitement upon pet parent’s return (whining, jumping, running in circles)
- Escape behaviors
- Trembling, tense muscles
- Displacement behaviors
- Repetitive behaviors (Canine Compulsive Disorder)
- Pacing
- Vigilance/Hypervigilance
- Shaking
- Piloerection
- House soiling/Incontinence
- Coprophagia
- Door orientation/fixation
Why Do Dogs Develop Separation Anxiety?
All behaviors are a combination of nature and nurture, even genetic ones such as Separation Anxiety Disorder. Phenotype and genotype shape all animal behavior. Some of a dog’s anxiety is caused or exacerbated by a parent and others are hereditary and genetically inherited. In order to focus on the solutions to a dog’s separation anxiety, it is mandatory to do a functional behavior assessment and to consider the behavior of the dog before, during, and after separation, antecedent arrangement, behavior, and consequences (ABC) of each unique family and dog.
What causes separation anxiety? Research has shown that separation anxiety in dogs is correlated to the gender of the pet parent, how many people live in the home, and the age and ontogeny of the dog. It goes on to state that, “Dogs from a home with a single adult parent were approximately 2.5 times as likely to have separation anxiety as dogs from multiple parent homes.” and that neutered dogs may be more prone to separation anxiety compared to their intact brethren.
Research also shows the correlation between thunderstorm phobia and separation anxiety. If your dog has either one of these phobias, chances are they will have both.
Although dogs are not pack animals, they are social gregarious animals like us, and abrupt change, lack of stability, and routine is uncomfortable and destabilizing for dogs. Because there is no conclusive evidence pointing to “one” reason or thing that causes separation anxiety however here is a list of the possible (likely) culprits of contributing factors that cause separation anxiety in pets.
As always every behavior is a combination of phenotype and genotype (nature/nurture).
- Dog’s genetics
- Change in a dog or person’s schedule. Dogs are routine animals, and a slight change may affect them significantly.
- Change in residence. This is a significant change in a dog’s life and comes with stress and uncertainty. It upsets their routine and may trigger separation anxiety.
- Change in partners or household residences. One or more people move out of the home.
- Environmental stressors
- Dog’s unhealthy extreme attachment to people and their social nature
- Lack of dog training and consistency
- Lack of enrichment in a dogs environment
- Lack of socialization and play with people and dogs
- Poor breeding/congenital/inherited
- Stress
- Lack of systematic desensitization and counterconditioning (SD/CC)
- Lack of habituation to absences and departure cues
- The age of a dog
Keep in mind that dogs who come from shelter environments, rescue organizations, who are rehomed, or who are older tend to have the greatest propensity to display separation anxiety.
What Is Not Separation Anxiety?
There are many dog anxiety behaviors and medical ailments that might look like separation anxiety but are not by themselves separation anxiety. It’s important to remember that separation anxiety is measured in degrees on a continuum so while some dog behaviors may indicate a dog is stressed, the behaviors and stress might not be extreme enough to reach phobic anxiety levels when a dog is diagnosed with separation anxiety.
The following dog behaviors and conditions do not by themselves indicate separation anxiety.
- Barrier frustration
- Dog Barking
- Separation distress/isolation distress
- Medical incontinence
- Urine Marking
- Incomplete or unsuccessful puppy potty training
- Generalized dog anxiety
- Dog boredom/loneliness
- Dog reactivity
- Pet medical problems
- Contextual anxiety (fireworks, thunderstorms, construction, etc.)
General dog anxiety, fear, storm/noise phobias, fear aggression to dogs or people, and potty training issues oftentimes look like separation anxiety but may be different behavior problems that are not by themselves labeled dog separation anxiety. Also worth noting is that separation distress is different from separation anxiety (more on that below).
Separation Anxiety and Isolation Distress: What’s The Difference?
The difference between both of these disorders is the level of fear and who is around (if anyone) when the dog exhibits these behaviors.
Fear and behavior are measured in degrees on a scale. They are both measured on the behavior/emotional continuum. Separation anxiety is a full-on panic attack displayed only when the primary caregiver is not present and is on the extreme phobic end of the stress, emotion and behavior scale.
Whereas isolation distress is still very traumatic however occurs when a dog is left alone without any person or pet to comfort them.
Equally important is the terminology difference between “separation” and “isolation.”
Isolation distress, (sometimes interchangeably referred to as separation distress) is the trauma a dog is in when left alone without any person or pet present. However, the dog can cope and be soothed when left with another person, any person, or dog.
A dog suffering from isolation distress doesn’t want to be left alone at all. However, the dog doesn’t have to be with any specific person or dog. Whereas when a dog suffers from separation anxiety, no random person or pet will soothe a dog beside the primary caregiver to who the pet is unhealthily emotionally attached. This is an extreme form of unhealthy codependency.
In other words, if you can have a pet sitter or friend hang out with your dog and everything is OK when you leave, your dog may have isolation distress. However if your dog is manic when you leave and no amount of other people or pets can soothe him or her, your pet has separation anxiety.
How To Test A Dog For Separation Anxiety
- In order to test a dog for separation anxiety, first make sure you are the primary caregiver, the one your dog is (unhealthily) attached to, performing the separation anxiety test.
- Prior to the test, set up a camera with both a video and audio recorder (both are mandatory) in a room in your home where your dog will be left alone.
- While you are in the room where your dog will be left alone, don’t say a word to your dog and leave your dog in the room alone, close the door, and walk outside of your home down the block.
- Observe your dog’s actions and sounds through the camera’s audio and video.
- If your dog has separation anxiety they will begin to show signs of stress either vocally, behaviorally or both.
Caveat: Please note that this is just one example of a test and that some dogs take longer to display signs of stress than others. It is worth having tea and waiting it out because sometimes a dog does not begin to show signs of anxiety for a while after the primary caregiver leaves the home. So you may have to wait a while before seeing or hearing anything from your dog.
If your dog becomes visibly or audibly stressed they have separation anxiety.
Keep in mind that a dog may be relaxed in your home when you are not present but may still exhibit separation anxiety when left with someone else in a different home when you are not there. The stress a dog has and a dog’s behavior tell if a dog has separation anxiety, not the location.
How To Test A Dog For Separation Distress/Isolation Distress
- First, enlist the help of a friend (pet sitter, dog trainer, etc.) to help you out, one that doesn’t know your dog too well. Instruct your friend to try and soothe your dog after you leave the room.
- Prior to the test, set up a camera as you did above, with both a video and audio recorder (both are mandatory) in a room in your home where your dog will be left with the other new person (your friend).
- Start with all three of you in the camera/recording room, don’t say anything to your friend or dog, and only you leave the room and go out of your home down the block. Leaving your dog with your friend.
- Observe your dog’s actions and sounds through audio and video. You can also speak with your friend later about your dog’s behavior and vocalization after you left.
- If your dog is stressed, they have separation anxiety. However, if your dog is happy and unstressed with your departure as long as they are with the other person (any person or sometimes even another pet). Then go to step 6.
- About 10 minutes after you leave, ask that person/friend to also leave the dog in the camera/recording room and to meet you outside down the block.
- Your dog has separation/isolation distress if your dog was unstressed and happy as long as another person (or pet) was with him (any person) however, he displays stress and anxiety once your friend also left the dog home alone.
If your dog has separation anxiety by default they also have separation distress but not the reverse. Your dog may have isolation distress/separation distress but not separation anxiety.
Most separation anxiety and separation distress cases go undetected for various reasons such as.
- A dog shadows a parent around the home and the parent thinks it’s because the dog loves them so much or is cute.
- The parent is never out of the dog’s sight or vice-versa at home.
- The parent doesn’t have a video and audio camera set up in all the areas where the dog will be, so a dog’s anxiety goes undetected.
- A parent doesn’t actively monitor the audio video for at least an hour after they leave the pet home alone.
Separation anxiety cases and isolation/separation distress cases may be behaviorally and medically treated differently so it’s helpful to know which one your dog suffers from.
Separation Anxiety Solutions
When I work with dog separation anxiety training in my Los Angeles Boot Camp, I look at the whole dog, not a fractionalized compartmentalization of a dog or behavior problem. When treating the dog’s emotional, mental, physical, nutritional, and behavioral illness, a successful behavior modification plan for separation anxiety will be addressed similar to how all behavior disorders are examined, through a functional assessment.
I address the dog and parent relationship and examine and implement operant and respondent conditioning, systematic desensitization, habituation, and positive reinforcement dog training, physical and mental exercise, healthy nutrition, socialization, and play but also require a parent to change their habits, environment, and when and how they give their dog attention.
Separation anxiety solutions require trial and error to see what your unique dog responds to as no two dogs or circumstances are the same. There is no one solution, whether separation anxiety is treated with behavioral medicine, behavior modification, obedience training, supplements, or all.
Because of the extreme severity of separation anxiety and the genetic component of the disorder, both behavior modification and medicine are typically needed. Simply putting your dogs on Prozac or another form of psychopharmaceuticals will generally not work nor will solely address your dog’s behavior, nutrition, training, self-soothing, and confidence-building coping ability.
On the other hand, just practicing dog training and behavior modification without behavioral medicine will also not work because when a dog’s sympathetic nervous system is activated, your dog is over their fear threshold and therefore unable to learn or process any information or think. They are in a fight, flight, fear mode, and in a state of panic.
No two dog separation anxiety cases are the same, and treating dogs with anxiety requires vast experience in dealing with thousands of separation anxiety cases, and knowledge of ethology, cognitive ethology, psychopharmacology, epidemiology, ontogeny, and as always thinking outside of the box.
A full medical history, examination, and analysis should be performed prior to administering any dog psychological medicines (anxiolytics), dog training or behavior modification protocols are implemented to rule out any medical conditions that may be the cause of your dog’s anxiety before proceeding with a Certified Behaviorist.
There are many separation anxiety products listed below to help a pet with dog anxiety. As helpful as these are, just like behavioral medicine, they do not work in a vacuum by themselves. Behavior modification is needed and oftentimes over-the-counter holistic products and remedies are effective for lower levels of dog anxiety but not as helpful for dogs with extreme phobias such as separation anxiety cases.
It is vital to understand that a dog will not likely “get over” their phobia of being left alone or grow out of their separation anxiety. In fact, in most cases, untreated separation anxiety typically gets worse, not better with time.
In addition, it is critical to remember that a pet who is experiencing separation anxiety is in trauma so don’t wait to address separation anxiety to see if it gets better over time, take action immediately. There is no one size fits all cure or panacea for unique individuals, but some indispensable tools and protocols that help and ameliorate dog anxiety and separation anxiety are:
Here are all of the dog separation anxiety products that we recommend
- Video and audio on a camera are mandatory to assess the severity, duration, and frequency of your pet’s separation anxiety when you are not home. This is a vital tool to monitor a dog’s separation anxiety and to implement and treat separation anxiety.
- Behavior modification (habituation, systematic desensitization, and counterconditioning {D/CC})
- Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and only positive reinforcement, force-free Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) with many years of experience working with pet separation anxiety. Never punish or force a dog for being fearful or scared as that is inhumane and will only make matters much worse.
- Employ your dog. Consider getting a dog backpack, giving your dog a job, and having your dog work for rewards. Dogs prefer to work for food for fulfillment and enrichment. This is explained with contra-freeloading
- Ignore shadowing around the house and pushy dogs that demand attention
- Reward calm and confident behavior in your dog’s Zen environment. Practice station training (your dog going to their bed/mat/space) with your dog as you walk around your home.
- Do not encourage shadowing behavior
- Implement a relaxation and deference protocol so your dog learns to relax and begins to defer to you for guidance
- Encourage independence obedience training and perform confidence-building exercises. These are skills your dog needs to learn.
- Practice graduated departures daily building in duration and distance each iteration. Rewarding a dog with dog treats for calm, relaxed behavior.
- Desensitize to departure and arrival cues (jacket, keys, car, shoes, glasses, hat, perfume, purse/bag/backpack, routine, alarm, times/days, TV, lights, radio). Dogs are masters at nuances and subtleties so perform a real mock trial as if you were leaving for the store, work, gym, etc.
- Avoid giving attention at least 30 minutes prior to departure and after arrival until your dog has settled down and is ignoring you
- Environmental management and enrichment
- Antecedent arrangement
- White noise such as a Vornado fan or air conditioner to block out external noises that may trigger your dog
- Visual blockers such as window tint, shades, blankets over part of the crate, etc. A dog separation anxiety crate or anxiety crate for dogs with separation anxiety will be an important discussion to have with your Certified Behaviorist and Trainer.
- Do a thorough functional assessment with your pet
- Pharmacotherapy (medicine/drugs) is not successful when used alone. Drugs do not resolve problems and only aid in the behavior modification protocol. Because separation anxiety is a genetic disorder, many pets who exhibit separation anxiety need psychopharmaceuticals. However, it’s worth repeating that meds alone will not solve separation anxiety.
- D.A.P. (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) – Research shows that DAP helps working dogs such as gundogs, to display fewer nights of whining and crying distress.
- Thunder Vest and pressure wraps
- Lavender, chamomile, or other calming essential oils research bodes well for relaxation
- Another holistic option is Rescue Remedy by Bach Flower
- Supplements such as L-Theanine, Valerian Root, and Composure
- Probiotics specifically designed to calm dogs with anxiety
- Dog/Cat heating pads
- Canine classical music (Baroque period) or reggae are shown to relax dogs
- Regular exercise, enrichment, play, and socialization with dogs and people if your dog likes that
- Use puzzles and food-dispensing toys for all meals and treats when not using the food for training and behavior modification protocols
- Avoid leaving dogs alone for prolonged periods, consider pet sitters, one-on-one dog walkers (no group walks), or dog boarding (no group boarding) but stay away from most doggie daycares
- Think outside the box. I have also used mannequins wearing a pet parent’s lightly soiled clothing in combination with video obedience training to successfully soothe pets when left alone
The best results come from a combination of the above.
Other tools that may be of help are Treat and Train, Pet Tutor, Furbo, and any other video/audio apps and software devices. These will help to train your dog by rewarding them from a distance if you are a single parent and while out of sight.
It is imperative to avoid triggering fear/anxiety. Although sometimes impossible to accomplish, try your best to avoid replicating the behaviors that result when your dog is stressed. It helps to brainstorm, be creative, and to discuss with your Certified Behaviorist the different options and scenarios where you may avoid putting your dog in any undue stress and panic.
In addition, create a safe room or Zen area of your home where your dog feels confident and comfortable and condition your dog by training him there. Conditioning your dog to go to his bed or Zen area is a wonderful and effective replacement behavior instead of shadowing you around the house.
Once your dog’s Zen area is established through thousands of repetitions, you may slowly begin graduated departures and training out of your dog’s sight with one of the video/audio tools of your choice.
What Are Graduated Departures?
Graduated departures for separation anxiety are essentially leaving your dog when they are not stressed for increasing amounts of time while being very careful not to leave for long enough to allow your dog to get stressed.
Start by leaving your dog for short periods of time, and gradually build up the lengths of time once you are sure that your dog can tolerate the shorter periods of time without being stressed.
The goal of separation anxiety training and behavior modification is to increase your dog’s quality of life by teaching your dog that it is enjoyable, or at least to tolerate, being left alone.
Graduated departures are part of a desensitizing protocol to treat dogs with separation anxiety. Graduated departures, in conjunction, independence training, desensitization towards arrival and departure cues, counterconditioning, general obedience, and anti-anxiety supplements and many times for dogs with moderate to severe separation anxiety, anxiolytics combined with behavior modification will help a dog with separation anxiety.
To help with your graduated departures, (if your dog will eat in your absence), every time you leave offer your dog the highest-value food puzzle or stuffed chew toy that will take him about 30 minutes to finish. Make sure to only provide this wonderful treat when you leave and not when you are home.
As with all social animals, empowering a dog fosters learning, comfort, and calm homeostasis. Always empower your pet and let your dog choose this safe Zen area, not you.
Research shows that adding an additional dog or having another dog at home does not help a dog who is suffering from separation anxiety. However, it may help a dog suffering from separation distress/isolation distress.
However, if a legacy pet passes away or departs, it can also cause separation anxiety to develop or to be displayed. This makes sense because a dog’s separation anxiety begins to intensify the more the environment is changed. When a life-altering event such as another dog or family member dies or leaves the home, this jarring emotional event can trigger a dog who is already predisposed to separation anxiety.
Systematic desensitization is shown to treat separation anxiety well and be an effective behavior modification protocol when it is practiced consistently and properly by a parent or behaviorist.
As mentioned in my dog anxiety article, it is important to remember that rewarding and comforting a dog who is exhibiting a conditioned emotional response (CER) or a conditioned fear response (CFR) will not encourage, reward or teach that emotion to reoccur or become stronger.
Emotions are not reinforceable, only behaviors are. You will not be rewarding a dog for shaking or exhibiting stress and fear. Conversely, you will be helping your pet. It is incumbent upon a pet parent to assuage and ameliorate a pet’s panic attack and fear by comforting your dog and by seeking appropriate help. Just as you would help assuage a child who is terrified, you should also comfort a pet.
What Happens if Separation Anxiety Goes Untreated?
When separation anxiety goes untreated, a dog is prone to developing very similar illnesses that occur when a person experiences anxiety, fear, and stress.
- Compulsions
- Reduced and altered blood flow to vital organs
- Physical Pain
- Emotional Dysregulation
- Maladaptive Behaviors
- Displacement Behaviors
- Nutrition Metabolism Disorders
- Sleep Disorders
- PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
Separation anxiety in dogs is an acute or chronic unnatural, unhealthy phobia, stress, and disproportionate behavioral response that ensues when a dog is left alone from their pet parent.
Separation anxiety often occurs with shelter dogs and older dogs who experience substantial change and instability in the family home. It takes a great deal of time and energy to help a dog with separation anxiety, and you should have reasonable expectations and time frames before calling a Certified Dog Behaviorist and Dog Trainer with extensive experience in dealing with an older dog or puppy separation anxiety.
Further, a dog’s separation anxiety can also get a parent evicted from their home or fined by the HOA or landlord. Studies reveal that cortisol levels (a steroid hormone released in response to stress) spike even for dogs that are left alone and do not display signs of separation anxiety. Separation anxiety and your dog’s clinginess are not cute or endearing and they will also immediately end your quality of life as well.
It is incumbent upon a Certified Dog Behaviorist, or competent Certified Positive Reinforcement Dog Trainer to diagnose a dog’s behavior problem not only from the parent’s account of what happens but also empirically and through videos and audio while the parent is not home, to fully assess the duration, frequency, and intensity of a dog’s separation anxiety, all subtle dog behaviors, and contextual variables.
This is vital because parents often misdiagnose and overlook subtle, yet very important behaviors that they or their dog are doing to exacerbate the dog’s anxiety and the dog’s behavioral clues that are vital to the behavior modification protocol.
Separation Anxiety FAQs
My dog doesn’t have separation anxiety at my home so why do they have separation anxiety somewhere else?
Part of the definition of separation anxiety is a dog displaying anxiety in different environments (including but not limited to being separated from a person(s), cat, dog, familiar home, etc.)
To test for separation anxiety one would have to analyze a dog’s biomarkers and behavior in many environments and under many different conditions and not just in your home environment.
Equally important is who is making this dog anxiety analysis.
Thoroughly and accurately analyzing and diagnosing a dog’s anxiety and behavior must come from an experienced Certified Dog Behaviorist because evidence shows that many parents will likely misdiagnose a dog’s behavior and even a dog’s breed.
In other words, a parent might think their dog is “fine” and has no anxiety at home when in fact the dog displays low-level displacement behaviors or is very anxious and shows a tremendous amount of anxiety.
Just because a parent perceives a dog to be anxiety free in their own home does not mean a dog will not have anxiety in other environments. There is no correlation.
A self-regulated, confident dog without anxiety will be completely at ease and calm in all environments with or without people or pets around.
Also, why a dog has anxiety in one environment and not another is not necessarily related to a person.
However, It can be, for example, if a dog is in an obvious and overtly stressful environment, not set up for their success (loud, chaotic, scary events, tons of stimuli, etc.) this could make even the most composed and calm dog nervous.
However most of the time it is a dog’s genetics and predisposition (in coordination with their biology, nutrition, lack of conditioning/training/exposure therapy, etc.) that causes a dog to be inherently fearful, stressed and have separation anxiety.
In addition, before you can say that your dog doesn’t have separation anxiety in your home, assuming you know exactly what to look for, you have to investigate and test some of the following factors.
- Testing your dog for anxiety in all rooms and areas of your home
- Testing your dog with the TV, music on/off and with the windows doors, open/closed, etc.
- Watching and listening to a dog at all times through video and audio while you are not present
- Testing your dog behind baby gates, x-pens, behind closed doors, or in dog crates, while you roam around the house and/or leave the home for different durations and times (dusk, dawn, day and night)
- Testing your dog for anxiety in a home as well as in apartments/community living and vice/versa
- Testing your dog to see how they do with other stimuli present such as (dogs, cats, squirrels, music, new people coming and going, while you’re eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, while you’re cooking and they’re in another room or behind a barrier not able to access you., gardening around the house, Etc.
A tenant in applied behavior analysis is when the environment changes so does your dog’s behavior.
There is no direct relationship between whether a dog has separation anxiety in your home vs. in someone else’s home.
If separation anxiety or any anxiety crops up in any environment that is an opportunity to diagnose and treat the anxiety.
Just as a dog’s stool changes when their food changes so does a dog’s behavior when we change their environment.
Unless we change the dog’s food (environment) we wouldn’t know if they have a reaction to that food, how they handle other foods or if their body can digest them healthily.
Just as we don’t know if a dog has separation anxiety until they stay in a different environment (someone else’s home).
Get Professional Help
If you are looking for dog separation anxiety training, how to train a dog with separation anxiety, how to crate train a dog with separation anxiety or how to crate train an older dog with separation anxiety you are best speaking with a Certified Dog Behaviorist and Trainer near you.
Separation anxiety is a very serious genetic disorder that is often exacerbated by a parent. It can be life-threatening and is a traumatizing experience for dogs. It is not to be taken lightly and left untreated typically does not get better with time; conversely, it intensifies and becomes more complex. If it is determined that your dog’s separation anxiety is severe, psychotropics can be very effective in combination with behavior modification.
As with all treatments, the sooner you get started the better. Never scold, intimidate, or punish your dog for any reason, in particular for being afraid and having fear.
Instead, teach your dog healthy coping mechanisms and confidence-building training exercises through empowering behavior modification protocols.
Be patient. Depending on the intensity of your dog’s anxiety, lasting reprieves from separation anxiety are measured in months and take a lot of commitment and time. You are not alone, separation anxiety is treatable and common, occurring in many dogs. Consistency, patience, and repetition will pay off with a skilled force-free, CDBC, and CPDT. Your dog will thank you.
We are dog separation anxiety specialists and have been successfully helping parents of dogs who have anxiety for decades! Whether from Los Angeles or from across the country, fill out this short form for an expert Certified Dog Behaviorist and trainer to help you with your dog’s separation anxiety today.
