Help a Dog with Separation Anxiety

Dogs suffering from separation anxiety can bark excessively, destroy home furnishings, and urinate or defecate around the house. In moderate and severe cases, dogs can even injure themselves during escape attempts. When helping a dog get through separation anxiety, you should consider whether or not it exhibits these behaviors only in isolation. If your dog only shows these symptoms when you’re leaving or while it’s alone, you can rule out other possible conditions, such as incontinence issues or juvenile destruction.[1]

Steps

Treating Minor Cases of Separation Anxiety

  1. Rule out other causes. Notice when symptoms take place. If they occur when you're coming or going, separation anxiety could be the cause. But if your dog exhibits problem behaviors when you're just sitting put, it's most likely something else.
    • If your dog uses the bathroom where it's not supposed to while you're home the cause probably isn't separation anxiety.
    • Consider visiting a vet to rule out incontinence or digestion issues, or visit a trainer for help completing potty training.[1]
    • Similarly, excessive barking or howling could be signs of incomplete training, especially if you didn't have a hand in training your dog when it was a puppy.
    • Most dogs go through a period of excessive chewing as juveniles. Do your best to make it understand which toys are for chewing and which items belong to you.[1]
    • Make sure you don't leave shoes, clothes, or other tempting objects out during your dog's juvenile period, from a few months before its first birthday to a few months after.
  2. Make leaving and arriving home routine and unexciting. Don’t make a fuss when leaving and don’t greet your dog immediately when you come back home. Give it a few minutes, then calmly pet it. High-arousal departures and arrivals can lead to an inability to deal with being alone.[2]
    • Don’t make your exit with lots of fanfare or with a big gestures.
    • Try to avoid giving recognizable cues, like grabbing your keys loudly, that signal you’re leaving.
  3. Take your dog on a long walk before you leave the house. Making sure your dog gets plenty of exercise helps to reduce anxiety, especially for larger breeds. Taking a long, brisk walk will tire it out and make it more likely to settle down. Engage in other playtime activities, such as fetching and other games that offer both physical and mental exercise.[3]
    • Make sure your dog gets at least 30 minutes of exercise every day.[1]
    • Go different places when you take it on walks so it’s exposed to new sights and smells.
  4. Leave an item carrying your scent with your dog. Your scent will help comfort your dog and will help keep it calm until you return. Dogs’ primary sense is smell, and reassuring smells can offer safety cues. Leave an unwashed but unsoiled blanket, towel, or article of clothing with your dog before you go.[4]
    • If your dog is crate trained, leave the scent item in its crate with the dog.
  5. Give your dog a puzzle toy with a treat or food. Invest in a toy that can hold a special food item that’ll take your dog 20 to 30 minutes to figure out. It’ll keep your dog occupied while you’re away. Further, it’ll recondition your dog to associate your departure with a nice treat.[5]
    • Examples include hollow rubber toys that can hold anything from a dog biscuit to peanut butter.
    • Some can even be frozen, which will prolong the amount of time it takes for your dog to access the treat.
    • Whenever choosing chewable toys, always go for the highest quality and most durable products in your price range. The ASPCA recommends Kong products.[5]
    • Treats are a great solution for mild cases of separation anxiety. However, in moderate or severe cases, dogs often won’t eat, so puzzle toys and treats might be ineffective.

Dealing with Moderate or Severe Cases

  1. Recondition how your dog interprets signs that you’re leaving. Your dog will come to associate jingling keys and putting on a coat or shoes with your departure. Recondition its associations by putting on a coat or picking up your keys, only to then sitting on the sofa. Teach your dog that these cues don’t always mean that you’re leaving.[1]
    • Your dog won’t have such highly emotional responses to these cues, and will thus suffer less anxiety when you actually leave.
  2. Practice gradual absences. Build up your dog’s tolerance to your absence with gradual training. Tell your dog to stay, then put on your coat, grab your keys, and go into the bathroom or another enclosed room. Wait a few minutes, then reenter the room and take off your coat. Remember to remain calm and make your return uneventful.[1]
    • Practice out-of-sight exercises within your home until your dog stops barking, howling, or otherwise seems comfortable when you leave the room.
    • Progress to exercises outside of your home, starting with exiting the house and going into the yard for a few minutes.
    • Eventually, drive around the block or walk down the street: increase your departure by a few minutes each time.
    • While doing these exercises, make sure your dog has time to calm down after you reenter the house before you leave again.
  3. Put your dog in a designated safe space. If your dog is not crate trained, confine it in a room with closed door or using sturdy baby grates. Preferably, the area should have a window, and shouldn’t be too closed in or isolated. Leave it with scent objects and favorite toys to keep it busy.[4]
    • If your dog has already been crate trained, it will associate the crate with safety, so this can serve as its safe space.
  4. See a Dog Behaviorist. If your dog has a serious case of separation anxiety, it might be a most effective to consult a dog behaviorist or trainer. Make sure you communicate that the issue is related to separation anxiety, and not a matter of lack of formal training.
    • If your dog suffers from separation anxiety, formal or obedience training won’t specifically target their needs, so be sure you tell the trainer your dog’s particular behavioral issues.[4]
    • Make sure any trainers you consult are Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists (CAAB or ACAAB), or a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT).[1]
    • Check their website, card, or other business materials they have available to check their qualifications.
    • Ask your vet or local humane society for a referral.
  5. Consult your vet about prescription anti-anxiety medications. Sometimes training and reconditioning will simply not help. Talk to your veterinarian and ask them what they recommend. They might offer a prescription anti-anxiety medication.[3]
    • Alternatively, your vet might recommend natural supplements, such as chamomile, St. John’s Wort, or Valerian that help ease anxiety in dogs.[3]

Avoiding Ineffective Solutions

  1. Do not punish your dog. Punishing or scolding your dog will only make matters worse. Anxiety responses are not due to spite, lack of training, or disobedience. Rather, your dog is upset and is trying to deal with a high level of stress.[1]
  2. Don’t treat anxiety by just leaving the radio or TV on. Leaving the radio or TV on can distract a bored dog while you’re away. However, if your pet truly suffers from separation anxiety and isn’t simply bored, the extra noise won’t help. An exception would be if you’ve trained your dog to recognize TV or radio noise as an safety cue, in which case you should continue using these as part of your training routine.[6]
  3. Don’t use a crate unless your dog is already crate trained. Crate training should begin early and can be a great way to ensure your dog won’t get into anything destructive or self-harmful while you’re away. Dogs evolved as den animals and typically enjoy safe, confined spaces. However, if your dog is not already crate trained and doesn’t already associate the crate with safety, don’t start putting it in a crate to deal with separation anxiety.[4]
    • Your dog will still engage in anxiety responses within the crate, and could harm themselves by trying to escape.
    • If your dog has not been crate trained, create a more open safe space in a room with a closing door.

Tips

  • Don’t leave your dog alone for more than 8 hours.
  • Always consult a veterinarian if the problem persists or if your dog engages in self-harming behavior.
  • If you know you’re going to spend several hours away from home per day, avoid getting a dog that been abandoned or experienced neglect.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/common-dog-behavior-issues/separation-anxiety
  2. ↑ https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/training/ill-be-back-really-preventing-separation-anxiety
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.akc.org/content/dog-training/articles/puppy-separation-anxiety/
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/separation_anxiety.html
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/common-dog-behavior-issues/separation-anxiety
  6. ↑ http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/separation_anxiety.html
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