Can You Resolve Separation Anxiety Quickly? 6 Tips For Effective Separation Anxiety Training.

Addressing separation anxiety in dogs takes time, patience, and consistency, so there’s no quick fix—but with the right approach, you can see gradual improvement.

When we talk about Separation Anxiety, we are talking about a range of behaviours that present when the owner is absent often called separation related behaviours. By definition, separation related behaviours are behaviours that only happen when the owner isn’t home, or if they do happen at other times i.e. when the owner is around, there’s a greater intensity and frequency to them when the owner is absent.

Separation related behaviours are split into three sub categories. Boredom/frustration, Fear of being left alone at home and fear of being separated from their significant other.

Dogs who don’t like being separated from their person will find it impossible to be home alone because their person isn’t there. Dogs who hate isolation will be fine as long as anyone is with them. These dogs are often described as suffering from isolation distress, and dogs who don’t like being home alone because their owner isn’t there are described as having separation anxiety.

Signs of Separation Anxiety

1. Excessive barking, whining, crying and howling.
2. Chewing or destroying floors, walls, and doors, particularly around entrances.
3. Frantic attempts to escape, sometimes to the point of self-harm.
4. Soiling (especially when the dog is otherwise house-trained).
5. Getting anxious well before the owner leaves.
6. Not eating when home alone.

Addressing Separation Anxiety

1. Stop Over Threshold Absences: It’s really important that you don’t expose your dog to absences that are greater than they can currently cope with. What that means we are not going to leave our dogs with separation anxiety to go over threshold. Every time your dog is left alone, they will go into that panic state. This floods the brain with stress chemicals and inhibits learning, which means your dog will never be able to learn that being left alone is safe.
2. Become an Expert in Your Dog: As we have discussed, the key element of exposure training is ensuring that your dog remains under threshold. What you need to do if you are the owner of a dog who is suffering from separation anxiety, is become an expert in your dog’s body language. This is so you can recognise early signs that your dog is becoming stressed and come back before they go fully over threshold.
3. Systematic Desensitisation: We gradually expose the dog to the thing that they are frightened of, but at an intensity that doesn’t produce fear. That’s home alone time of a duration that is so small, the dog can handle it. We need to teach the dog through very tiny steps that home alone time is not threatening or scary. We’re going to begin with mild exposures and we’ll increase the duration, but all the time we’re keeping the intensity down to ensure they remain under-threshold.
4. Consider Professional Help: A dog behaviourist or trainer specialising in separation anxiety can provide expert advice and guidance, on how to navigate separation anxiety training. Click the button below to find out how I can help you with separation anxiety training.
5. Get a Vet Assessment: Whenever you see a change in behaviour in your dog or the development of a new behaviour problem, it is vital to get them checked by the vet to ensure there isn’t any medical problem that might be contributing to the behaviour change.
6. Read Up On Separation Anxiety: Julie Naismith’s book ‘Be Right Back’ is a really reader friendly book, written for owners who have dogs with separation anxiety.