Separation anxiety is commonly used to describe a dog who gets so stressed out when his owners leave him home alone, that he starts getting destructive and tearing up the house.
However, a lot of the time people use this term inaccurately, saying that their dog has separation anxiety when the situation really be described as separation FUN. Dog gets bored when he’s left home alone, so he decides to throw himself a party, doing all those things he’s not allowed to do when his owners are home – tearing up the sofa, eating out of the trash, etc.
So how do you know if your dog has true separation anxiety or just separation fun?
What exactly is separation anxiety?
This means a dog who doesn’t know how to cope with being away from his family. It’s a severe emotional reaction to being left alone. The dog cannot calm down, and may panic and cause severe damage to anything that stands between him and his people
Signs of true separation anxiety
-Dog is “clingy” and never lets you out of his sight when you are home
A dog who follows his master everywhere may be flattering to the master, but this is a sign of an insecure and overly attached dog and almost always means you’ll be dealing with SA
-Dog destroys his crate/kennel
-Damage is concentrated around doors and windows because he’s trying to find his way to you.
-A normally housetrained dog has accidents indoors. People often think that ’cause the dog goes in the house when they’re home alone, the dog is trying to “spite” them. Dogs don’t think like that. It’s more accurate to say that the dog is freaked out and not thinking straight.
-Unlike humans, dogs stop eating when they’re stressed. A dog with moderate to severe SA will not raid the trash can.
-The dog knows when you’re getting ready to leave and starts getting anxious
Signs of canine anxiety include: Frequent lip licking or yawning, scratching, an unusual amount of shedding, pacing, lots of sniffing, jumping up
Click here for a more comprehensive list of SA symptoms
If your dog doesn’t have at least a couple of these symptoms, chances are you’re just dealing w/ separation fun.
Congratulations! That’s much easier to fix. Check out this video on destructive chewing or this video on keeping your bored dog entertained and out of trouble.
If your dog does fit the separation anxiety profile…
Give your dog a job
My dog, Jonas, is six years old. I fostered him when he was a few months old and ended up adopting him. He had all kinds of anxiety issues, including really bad separation anxiety. I would put him in a crate when no one was home to watch him, because that’s what you’re supposed to do. This dog would destroy any crate I put him in.
I would come home to find the crate in ruins, and Jonas running around hyperventilating with blood all over his face and paws, because he’d hurt himself in his escape attempts. So in short, Jonas was a mess.
But then I got him involved in agility training.
We went to classes every week, and I’d train him at home every day. After a few weeks of this training, the separation anxiety was almost completely gone. He still didn’t like being left home alone, and we still had to work on it, but he stopped hurting himself and destroying things. And I could stop buying new dog crates.
The moral of this story is that dog sports training can really help dogs with anxiety issues. The daily training and getting out of the house to see new people and places gives them something to focus on and really helps with confidence. So if you can get your dog involved in agility, or frisbee, or freestyle or something, great. It doesn’t even have to be formal training. Just build a homemade agility course or teach him some frisbee tricks and play at the park on a regular basis. A dog with a job is a happier dog.
Teach Fido to stand on his own four feet
Next, you have to teach your dog that it is ok to be by himself. The world is not going to end just because you’re out of his sight for ten minutes. Your dog needs to learn the appropriate way to behave when you’re not around.
So, practice being separated. And do this while you are home.
First, you’re gonna need a dog crate, or a pen, or some other way to keep him confined indoors, away from you.
Second, you need a toy that you can fill up with treats, like peanut butter, or cheese. This should be something that your dog only gets when he’s in the crate. We want to associate the crate with the really good toy, see.
Put your dog in the crate (pen, other room, whatever) with the toy, and leave the room. Just casually walk out, and in a a few minutes, casually come back in and don’t make a fuss over him. Do this a few times a day, gradually increasing the amount of time that he’s left alone in the crate. Once in a while, if your dog is behaving nicely and not whining or trying to bust out, refill the treat dispensing toy.
You want the dog to learn that good things happen when he’s in the crate. When you do let him out of the crate, again, don’t make a fuss over him. Let him out, ignore him for a few minutes, and then say hello to him when he’s calm.
So work on these two foundation steps, giving your dog a job and practicing separation. In part two, I’ll show you how to practice leaving your dog home alone. And we’ll talk about some other ways to deal with separation anxiety.
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