Dog Behaviour: Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety is one of the top reasons why people give up their dogs. The most common symptoms are excessive panting and barking, salivating, pacing, destructive chewing, urinating and defecating in the house, and an overall high anxiety level. Some dogs have one symptom and others have several. It can be caused by the following:

1. The dog has a poor confidence level
2. The dog may be too strongly bonded to the owner
3. The dog may have had an unstable upbringing or multiple homes
4. The dog may not be used to staying alone
5. The owner may be leaving the dog for very long periods of time
6. The dog has a genetic predisposition to this problem

Identifying the Problem

If you think that your dog may be suffering from this problem, try asking yourself the following questions.

1. Does your dog seem anxious as you are getting ready to leave the house? Does he look depressed, follow you around, appear restless, pace or salivate?
    
2. Does your dog bark when left alone?
    
3. Does the dog get overly excited when you return home, possibly taking a long period of time before he settles down?
    
4. Does your dog destroy the house when you leave?
    
5. Is your dog relieving himself in your home when you are gone? (If he is relieving himself while you are home, this could be more of a house breaking issue).
    
6. Does your dog follow you everywhere and consistently bother you for attention?
    
7. Does your dog have a previous history of having one or more homes?
    

If you have answered yes to more than one of these questions, your dog is most likely experiencing separation anxiety.

Solutions for Mild Separation Anxiety

The key to solving separation anxiety is desensitizing your dog to being left alone. Try the following exercises: 

1. Only give low key greetings on leaving and on arriving home. For severe cases you may even have to ignore the dog when entering or exiting the home. When the dog has completely calmed down you may acknowledge him.
    
2. Teach the dog to accept being in a crate or room when you are home so that when you leave he will feel more secure in his environment and won't become destructive. You must get the dog use to this before leaving him alone for long periods or it will increase the dog's anxiety. If you need instructions on crate training, please contact the shelter. We do not want your dog traumatized by putting him in the crate and closing the door.
    
3. When you're at home, practice having the dog a distance away from you or in different areas of the house so that he is unable to follow you around. To teach your dog to accept separation by being in the room with you, teach a stay command and have the dog lying a distance away from you. Start with the dog quite close and gradually increase the distance when the dog is reliably holding position. When you are close, work distance and length of time separately.
    
4. Once your dog is comfortable about being separated from you in your home, try leaving the home and returning in short intervals. Start off for a few seconds and only build up the time if your dog is not displaying any signs of anxiety. You may have to repeat many, many times before getting success.
    
5. Provide lots of mentally stimulating toys such as a kong or activity balls. Put these in the room or crate 20 minutes before you leave so that the dog is preoccupied when you leave.
    
6. Increase exercise prior to departure. A tired dog is more likely to remain calm when you leave.
    
7. If your dog is having accidents in the house, put elimination on a verbal cue so that your dog can empty its bladder and bowel prior to departure. You may have to change the dog's feeding schedule to accommodate perfecting the elimination schedule.
    
8. Train your dog daily whether it be obedience or trick training. This provides mental stimuli for your dog. Ask your dog to perform a command such as come, sit, down, etc before giving attention. This is really important when the dog is pushy and demands attention from you. The dog needs to learn to work for attention rather than getting it on demand.
    

Solutions for Severe Separation Anxiety

For severe cases, a more intensive training program should be implemented.

1. During the training period, it is best not to leave the dog alone or you might undo what you have accomplished, or make very little progress.
    
2. Dogs are great at reading environmental cues that predict when you are leaving the house. Therefore you have to practice all of your pre-departure rituals in order to desensitize the dog to your leaving. Example: you get out of bed in the morning, you let the dog out, feed him, eat breakfast, take a shower, blow dry your hair, put on make up, get dressed, pick-up keys, put on your coat, and finally leave the house. When you are doing all of these tasks, observe when your dog starts to get anxious. Once you have identified the anxiety, practice this area of preparation over and over again your routine until the dog doesn't look anxious anymore. Example: If your dog gets anxious at the point when you blow dry your hair, go through the routine until you get to this point, then stop it once you have finished your hair. Your dog will suddenly realize that you are not leaving the house and will begin to relax. Do this for several days and then move on to the next step of your routine (which would be putting on your make up).
    
3. A lot of effort has to be made in the beginning stages before leaving the house. This is very labour intensive but is critical for success. Once you have gotten your dog relaxed with the beginning stages of leaving, the rest is easy. All of a sudden everything will come together when you leave.
    
4. Once your dog is no longer anxious about your morning routine, then try leaving for short periods of time and returning.
    
5. When working with separation anxiety, long training sessions are much more effective than short 10 minute sessions, unlike in obedience training.
    
6. In severe cases it is often helpful to obtain an anti anxiety drug from your veterinarian. This drug will take away the panicky feeling your dog experiences when you leave the house or shortly before your return to that house. This drug therapy can be used in conjunction with changing your behaviour around the dog (as discussed in the last couple of pages). In tough cases it can be quite successful. If you feel your situation would benefit from drug therapy, discuss the pros and cons with your veterinarian.
    
7. You may also need to look into dog day care options if you are not able to work on the problems due to a work situation
    

A lot of people think that they can solve the problem by getting another dog to keep the existing dog company. Although this seems like a logical solution, it rarely ever works because a dog who is suffering from separation anxiety is wanting human companionship, rather than animal companionship.

The key to controlling this problem is to be very consistent and patient. This problem is emotionally driven and must be dealt with in a delicate manner.

If you are working on this problem, please contact a trainer who specializes in behavioural problems and your veterinarian. It is always advisable to have the help of a professional whenever you are dealing with behaviour issues.