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The definition of separation anxiety is fear and apprehension expressed by a puppy
when removed from its mother or any similar reaction in later life caused by separation
from familiar surroundings or family.

It is the leading cause of most behavior problems in dogs. Puppies form a social bond
with their litter mates and their mother during the formative weeks. It is a time when they
are learning about bonding and security and honing their social skills.

If a puppy is taken from the litter at too early an age, it may become anxious and
frightened at the separation from its family. It will try hard to create a new relationship
with its new owner. Sometimes trying too hard and become clingy. They may become
extra dependant on the new owner and this is where behavior problems may arise.

You will know if you have a dog with separation anxiety disorder, because he will be
showing at least one of the associated behavior problems such as whining, barking,
howling crying, digging, scratching at the door or window, chewing furniture, urinating
or defecating in the house and generally soiling or destroying the house or yard.

These behaviors may also be the symptoms of a totally different problem. We need to
find the root cause of the problem before we can apply the correct solution.

Understand the root cause before you can apply the treatment.

If you are unsure, take him to your veterinarian for a check up.

The one thing that you must realize is that your puppy is not trying to misbehave
intentionally. He does have a behavioral disorder but it is treatable. Both the
suggestions outlined below and obedience training should help to overcome that
disorder. The remedy may seem harsh at times because it is a total reversal of what he
is used to but it will stop the problem.

All too often we unintentionally reward our dogs for their behavior. If, every time that
our puppy starts to misbehave when we leave the house, we come back and give him a
treat or biscuit we are actually rewarding the misbehavior. Puppies are not slow at
picking up on this and soon you will be the victim of emotional blackmail.

If the problems only occur when you leave the house and you are given over excessive
greetings on your return, your dog is most likely suffering from separation anxiety.


Symptoms Of Separation Anxiety:

Your puppy is very clingy and follows you everywhere. Every time you go into another
room, he is right there beside you. I’m not talking about a curious puppy that is trying to
get into everything you’re doing, I mean the one that lays down and watches you, when
you get up and move, so does he.

If you shut the door on him when you go into another room, he will start whining or
barking or scratching at the door to get to you. If you go in the bathroom, he wants to
get in to you or he will run to the next person in the house and try to tag on to them but
usually he is attached to one person.

Your puppy will lie as close to you as possible when you are sitting down and may also
be physically touching you with his chin or paw resting on your foot.

If he’s allowed on the furniture, he will be on the sofa as close as he can get to you. He
may even try to get onto your lap.

If you leave the house, he will destroy something while you are away.

When you return home, he is over excited, and I mean over excited.

Expressing other behavioral problems such as whining, barking, digging, chewing
furniture, urinating or defecating in the house.


What contributes to separation anxiety

Many puppies that are nervous and insecure are usually predisposed to dependency.
They need to have someone close to continually reassure them. This is often because
they have been removed from their litter too early or have come from a shelter. I don’t
mean that shelter dogs are nervous; I mean that a puppy is less likely to be nervous if
he has had an upbringing without trauma.


Trauma comes from deprivation of attachment such as:

  • Early removal: When a puppy is born, he has a natural attachment to his
    mother and litter mates. Early removal can have devastating effects. The
    deprived attachment needs to be replaced by you.

  • Change in environment which can be anything from moving house to being
    boarded in kennels.

  • A change in lifestyle: such as the loss of a family member through death,
    divorce or even a child leaving home for college. It could also be the loss of
    another pet or anyone that the dog had an attachment with.

Very often a dog can sense when the owner is going to leave the house and the dog is
already getting anxious and building nervous energy. All dogs show separation anxiety
differently. One dog may be predisposed to one problem behavior while another may
have several. Anxiety will usually peak within the first half hour of being left alone and
this is when the most damage occurs. They have to release that nervous energy.

Nervous energy can be spent in digging, chewing, barking and general destruction of
your house and home. What is probably happening in your puppies mind is that if he
digs deep enough or chews through the door, we will be able to get out and look for
you. He doesn’t want to be separated again.

Very often nervousness upsets the stomach and weakens the bladder, hence the
urinating and defecating. He doesn’t mean to do it, it just happens. Don’t punish him,
he’s already feeling pretty miserable.

The owner may sense the dogs nervousness and give the dog extra reassurance
before he leaves. This is mistake number one.


Don’t Add To The Problem

Your dog gets anxious every time you leave the house because he is going to be alone
and he remembers a traumatic time when he was alone. You unwittingly give your
puppy separation anxiety every time he sees you picking up your keys and putting on
your coat.

He knows what is going to happen now. Not only is he going to be on his own, but he is
also going to get shouted at when you come home even though he tells you over and
over how much he loves you and how good he wants to be.

You sense his problem and go into the long farewell routine hoping that you can
reassure him and hoping that all will be good when you return. The problem here is
that you have just got him all worked up and energy is pumping through him and then
you get up and leave.

Now what can he do? Perhaps he was supposed to come with you but the door is
locked, he can either call out to you or try to dig his way under the door. That doesn’t
work either but his energy level is still high and now so is his frustration.

To prevent this situation, your puppy;

  • must not be hyped up and full of energy. Get rid of the extra energy by spending
    some playtime with him with the expectation that he will sleep better.
  • must not be bored. You can help prevent boredom by providing lots of toys such
    as kong toys that have treats in them.
  • must feel secure when you are not there. Train him to be alone without being
    scared.

Your dog needs to get plenty of mental and physical stimulation which will go a long
way to stopping most behavior problems and help remove the separation anxiety.
Physical stimulation comes from plenty of exercise at least three times a week,
preferably every day. Stimulate his mind with games such as hide n seek with his
favorite toy or better still with obedience training.


Remove The Anxiety.

What is the best separation anxiety treatment ? Probably the best method of training to
stop separation anxiety is gradual departures.

We have just learned the following information.

    1. We now know how to check for separation anxiety

    2. We have determined that your dog is suffering from it.


    3. We also know that he becomes anxious with certain triggers from you (keys,
    coat etc.)


    4. We know that anxiety peaks at around 30 minutes.

    5. We know that extra stimulus before we leave is bad.

Our training plan is this.

    1. We will separate from the puppy for short periods

    2. We will slowly extend the time.

    3. We will introduce the triggers

Leave the room for a few moments and come back. If the puppy tries to follow, close
the door quietly and don’t speak to him. If he makes a noise, ignore him. After a
moment or two come back into the room and ignore him.

Don’t make coming into the room seem like a big deal. Continue to do this until he
stops whining and stops fussing around you when you come in. Extend the period
ONLY when he has got over the anxiety of you being gone a few seconds.

When I first did this we installed temporary gates in the doorways so that he could see
me when I went to another room. I would step over the gate, go into the other room,
pretend to get something or look out the window and then come back. Although he
couldn’t get to me, he could see that I wasn’t going anywhere.

If you get a gate, and your puppy is standing there watching you, try to move to an
area of the room where he cannot see you but come back into view a second or two
later.

Within a while you should be able to extend the time slowly if the dog is not stressed.
Signs of stress are over anxiousness when you leave and extended greeting when you
return.

When you get to the 30 minute mark you are almost where there will be no separation
anxiety, but not quite, you can begin to extend the time by larger increments. When you
get to the one and a half hour mark, you have just about made it and can probably
leave for longer periods.

Your departures should always be quiet and without fuss. Your returns should also be
quiet and without fuss. Remember, you are trying to remove a lifetime of anxiety so
don’t expect this to be a five minute training session. It may take several weeks.

At anytime you can introduce the triggers that have been giving him separation anxiety
If the trigger was seeing you putting on your coat or shoes, then put them on for a little
while as you are watching TV or doing your housework or whatever and then take them
off.

If the trigger is the sound of your keys being picked up, then pick them up and put them
in your pocket and go and sit down. A little while later you may want to take them out
and put them on the coffee table and still later put them back on the peg. The idea is to
disassociate the keys, coat, shoes or other trigger with your leaving.

Also at anytime you can start him on obedience training. Obedience training will
stimulate his mind and get him to respond to your commands. One point to note, do not
use commands such as stay or on your bed only with your leaving. It must not become
another trigger.

It is ok to leave the radio or tv on but do not turn them on just before you leave. Again
this will become another trigger. Always keep enough toys around that he can just pick
up and play with.

In extreme cases, you could ask you veterinarian to prescribe anti-anxiety medication
but I would personally only using them for travel. Medication settles the nervous system
for a while; it does not address the root cause of the problem.

If you know that your dog is suffering from separation anxiety, one of the first training
lessons you need to know is how to crate train. A crate will alleviate a lot of the
destruction but don’t just buy a crate and put your dog in it expecting it to stop the
anxiety because it will not. Separation anxiety alleviation and crate training go together.

To summarize

  • Separation anxiety is a disorder and needs to be treated.

  • It can be treated with correct behavioral training.

  • Make sure the dog gets plenty of daily exercise.

  • Use obedience commands all the time.

  • Use the exercise outlined on this page

  • Do NOT punish your puppy for doing something that you did not train him not to
    do.

  • Punishment will only increase the anxiety not remove it.

  • Don’t use punishment, use correction.

  • Correction MUST be associated to the behavior AS IT HAPPENS, not three hours
    later when you get home.

Return to Obedient-Dog-Behavior from the Stop Separation Anxiety page
Separation Anxiety Disorder