What is separation anxiety in dogs?

(and how do we fix it?)

What is separation anxiety? If you live with a dog who barks or howls for hours when you leave, destroys or soils the house in your absence, or starts panting, pacing, or whining as you head out the door, you may suspect that your dog has separation anxiety. Confusion over the precise meaning of this term, however, can leave you stumped when it comes time to resolve the behavior issue.

In this blog post, you’ll learn about the different behavior problems people lump under the “separation anxiety” umbrella, and how to address this challenging behavior issue in your own dog.

Separation Anxiety: Umbrella Term or Something Specific?

Separation-related behavior problems include vocalization (barking, howling, and whining), inappropriate elimination (urinating, defecating, or having diarrhea indoors when your dog is normally housetrained) and destructive behavior (chewing your belongings, digging at carpets, scratching doors, and destroying blinds or windows). “Separation-related behavior problems” or “separation-related problem behaviors” are umbrella terms used to describe a variety of issues that result in these unwanted behaviors.

Clinical separation anxiety, on the other hand, is a specific diagnosis given by a veterinarian to describe a panic disorder in which a dog becomes very anxious when separated from one primary person. If you are living with a dog with clinical separation anxiety, their anxiety will not be relieved by any other company, human or animal. For these dogs, a room full of friends will not prevent the panic they experience when their primary human departs. If your dog panics when one specific person leaves, talk to your vet ASAP! This disorder is a welfare emergency and many dogs require a combination of training and anxiety medication to overcome it. Even if you elect not to use medication, your vet will want to rule out medical issues such as pain or illness that could be contributing to anxious behavior.

If you are living with a dog whose behavior problems manifest when they are fully alone but are calm with any company, read on to learn about other behaviors under the "separation-related behavior problems” umbrella.

So what’s under the “separation-related behavior problems” umbrella?

Not all dogs who vocalize, eliminate indoors, or become destructive when alone have clinical separation anxiety.

Other causes for separation-related behavior problems:

• Isolation Distress: These dogs are anxious about being fully alone, but their fear is relieved by any human company. For some dogs, even the company of another pet is sufficient to resolve the behavior issue, though these dogs are in the minority.

• Frustration (“FOMO”): These dogs are frustrated to be left behind when their humans leave. This frustration may stem from a lack of predictability in their routine, too little choice and control in daily life, or an inability to access entertainment and meet their needs at home.

• Boredom: Dogs evolved to work and live alongside us, spending much of their time outdoors with the freedom to explore, engage with their environment, and watch a variety of stimuli including wildlife, other domesticated animals, and their human companions. The cultural shift to keeping our dogs confined to yards, homes, or crates for the majority of their days results in boredom which drives behavior problems including excessive barking and destructive behavior.

• Confinement Anxiety: Many dogs panic when left alone in a crate or confined to a small room, but are perfectly comfortable when free to roam the house or apartment. While often promoted as a “quick fix” for separation anxiety, crates can actually make the problem much worse! Allowing a dog with a history of destructive behavior to roam freely can be an unsettling prospect, but an on-camera assessment gives us the chance to evaluate your dog’s behavior with supervision.

• Medical issues: Medical issues such as urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal distress, and incontinence can be mistaken for separation-related indoor elimination. Pain, including dental issues and joint pain, can cause anxiety and discomfort leading to behavior issues. Cognitive dysfunction in aging dogs can lead to confusion that causes distress when alone. If your dog is displaying new separation-related behavior problems, tell your vet!

Identifying the cause of your dog’s separation-related behavior problems will help you to address them more efficiently and effectively, so you aren’t wasting time, energy, and money on training efforts doomed to fail. If you need help figuring out the “why” of your dog’s behavior problems, I would love to help; please book a free call so we can get you both on the path to relief!

Resolving separation-related behavior problems

Identifying why your dog is having a hard time with separation or alone time can be tricky, but the good news is that the training protocol I follow works for a variety of separation-related behavior problems. Your dog is an individual and your unique path to home alone success won’t look like anyone else’s, but in general the road to separation-related stress relief includes the following key components:

Absence suspension: Take a break from “too long” time apart

Whether your dog is panicked, frustrated, or bored, we don’t want them experiencing any more difficult absences. For dogs whose separation-related behavior problems are rooted in fear, each “scary” absence confirms their suspicion that this is a dangerous event they need to be frightened of, increasing hypervigilance and anxiety before and during periods of isolation. Frustrated dogs, too, will grow more frustrated as they are repeatedly put through difficult absences out of their control. For dogs who destroy the couch, chew shoes, or bark for hours because they are bored, each absence is a new opportunity to practice these coping skills and strengthen the habit of turning to destruction or mischief to relieve their boredom.

Whatever the cause of your dog’s problem behaviors when they are alone, it is crucial that we immediately put an end to the rehearsal of these behaviors if we are going to change habits long-term. Recruiting friends, neighbors, pet sitters, or a professional daycare to keep your dog company while you need to be away will keep your dog, your belongings, and your home safe while you teach them new skills and build better habits.

Gradual exposure: Practice “easy” absences

Identifying the point at which your dog starts to struggle with your absence and practicing absences which consistently end before this point will allow your dog to practice feeling and behaving well while you are gone. For many dogs with separation-related behavior problems, the struggle starts as soon as you close the door or even before! It is common for dogs to need help overcoming their anticipatory anxiety if they have a long history of hard absences. Splitting your departure into its many components and practicing approximations of each small piece can help get dogs past this anxiety or frustration and let you get out the door without fear or stress. (Please note, however, that I don’t recommend waiting to practice leaving until you’ve worked through pre-departure cue desensitization.)

If you are like many of my clients, you may be saying “I’ve already tried that!” Indeed, many of the dogs I train have already been working through some version of this training for weeks or months without success. During initial assessments, I frequently encounter dogs who are not really comfortable with the absences that have been practiced but rather are “holding it together” through repeated difficult departures; these dogs are practicing feeling stressed, not practicing relaxing while home alone! Determining your dog’s starting point can be tricky, especially when you are eager to build up to multi-hour absences; our human rush to build duration can backfire if we push dogs past what they are truly comfortable with. While it may feel counterintuitive, dropping the difficulty of our training well below the point where dogs show even minor anxiety can help dogs to move past “barely coping” and reach a point where they are really, truly comfortable being home alone. If you’re feeling stuck with training your dog to be home alone, don’t lose hope! I’ve helped many clients and their dogs get “unstuck” with my experienced outside perspective, and I would love to help you, too. Please reach out if you are feeling frustrated and need some guidance.

Stress resilience: Setting your dog up for success

Chronic stress is devastating for our dogs’ bodies and minds, and a dog who is experiencing substantial stress is going to struggle to learn new skills. Identifying and resolving other sources of stress in your dog’s life will allow them to excel in training and make quicker progress towards your goal of leaving them alone for hours, fear free.

By making small changes to your routine with your dog, including exercise, enrichment, and improving inter-species communication in your relationship, we can build your dog’s stress resilience. Resilient dogs bounce back more quickly from difficult experiences and handle new challenges with greater ease, so they are able to progress through separation anxiety training more efficiently.

It gets better!

Whether your dog is fearful, frustrated, or bored, a personalized training plan built around their specific needs and tailored to your unique lifestyle can help them overcome this challenging behavior issue. Not sure how to make progress with your dog’s home alone training?