Help! I can’t leave my dog!I think my dog has separation anxiety! What can I do?
Does your dog whine, cry, bark, chew, destroy items, or attempt to escape its crate or surroundings when separated from you or alone? Do you feel like a prisoner in your own home? Have you read all the books, spent thousands of dollars on desensitization training and find yourself still only able leave your dog for a few seconds or minutes? You are not alone.
Every year, A Pleasant Dog helps hundreds of dogs who suffer from confinement or separation anxiety alone or in combination with other behavior disorders. And you know what? Separation Anxiety is still one of the toughest behavior problems we help our learners to resolve. Separation anxiety (together with its cousins confinement anxiety and isolation anxiety) is a debilitating panic disorder in which dogs vocalize, attempt to escape, chew, self harm, or stress urinate or defecate when alone or when separated from a favorite person or people. Some dogs will go to extreme measures to try to escape their surroundings: bending crate bars, breaking windows, chewing doors down, or even injuring themselves in the process.
Should I get another dog to help my dog with separation anxiety? Probably not. In most cases, dogs with separation anxiety are distressed to be separated from their owners regardless of whether or not another dog is present. While there are very rare cases in which a dog’s separation anxiety is truly isolation anxiety and adopting another dog helps, in the vast majority of cases, adopting another dog does not help dogs with separation anxiety at all.
Ok, but what can I do? While separation anxiety is one of the most studied behavior disorders in dogs, there is surprisingly little consensus on what can help a dog with separation anxiety. However, most dog professionals agree that as a panic disorder, separation anxiety responds best to a combination of training, management, and behavior medication. Behavior medication can be used to raise the threshold for panic to help dogs learn more effectively, and can also be used to help dogs sleep or rest when they must be left alone. Medication can be an essential component of addressing separation anxiety.
But what about training? Many dog training professionals practice desensitization training with dogs who present with separation anxiety. In this method, pet guardians are asked to suspend departures entirely, never ever leaving their dogs alone while gradual exposure therapy is used incrementally to help the dog learn to feel less stressed by owner departures. While this can work for some animals, for most people it is not feasible to stay home or hire a pet sitter 24/7. While we are not aware of any studies demonstrating this method, anecdotally we suspect there may be a high rate of relapse with this method.
So what can you do if you must work or leave the home and your dog has separation anxiety? Luckily for you, our owner and head trainer, Jenn Gavin, has developed a method for treating separation anxiety that implements the same counterconditioning practices that we use for other fears and anxieties with which we help other dogs. This method is outlined in her book, Pleasantly Independent, which is available for purchase at retailers everywhere or at our school for dogs (Link). There’s even an exclusive edition available through the good folks at Treat & Train (link) if you are a Treat & Train user!
In our method, we use a Treat & Train or other automatic treat dispenser to begin to associate the moment your dog loses sight of you with a tasty treat coming out of the treat dispenser. We have spent the last eight years perfecting this method to condition a new emotional response to your departures. This method is the subject of two scientific studies, one of which was an exciting case study presented at the 2024 Veterinary Behavior Symposium (link to blog post which I will write). The second study is currently wrapping up and is a cohort study whose initial results are very promising.
If your dog suffers from separation anxiety, we can help. For most dogs, we are able to achieve hours of happy separation in 12-16 weeks of practice. If you are interested in our method, you can always get started by ordering our book and working through the detailed steps listed therein. Or, we would be happy to work with you virtually wherever you may be in the world. Please reach out to our dedicated team of behavior professionals today, and you’ll be on your way to having A Pleasantly Independent Dog!
