How to Resolve Dog Separation Anxiety: Solutions & Training Plan!

Most people discover that their dog has separation anxiety the hard way.

Usually the discovery comes in a few different forms. Maybe the neighbors complain of constant howling and barking. Or perhaps your dog has dug into the doors or chewed through a window sill. You may even come home to find your dog has escaped his crates and broken teeth in a panic.

Separation anxiety can be emotionally exhausting to deal with, both for the dog and the owner. It’s not a sign of how much your dog loves you — it’s essentially a panic disorder.

Luckily, the treatment for separation anxiety is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is systematically teach your dog that being alone isn’t a cause for alarm. The problem is that this training is often slow going and disruptive to our work and social lives.

Resolving full-blown separation anxiety can be a long road, but the good news is that separation anxiety (SA) is one of the more serious behavior problems with the highest rates of success.

Let’s look at how to resolve your dog’s separation anxiety disorder, from start to finish!

Why Do Dogs Get Separation Anxiety?

We’ve bred dogs for thousands of years to enjoy human companionship.

Most of our dog breeds, especially the ones that are popular today, exist because they provide companionship to us. Our dogs love being around us, so is it any wonder that some dogs get separation anxiety?

But not all dogs develop this kind of panic when left alone. So why does it happen?

Separation Anxiety Risk Factors

There are a few risk factors that make dogs more likely to develop a separation anxiety disorder:

1. Coming from a pet store. In a study of over 400 dogs, researchers found that dogs from pet stores were 30% more likely to display “separation-related behaviors” than dogs from breeders. The researchers suggest that adverse early life experiences at the pet stores may have affected the puppy’s brains, making them more vulnerable to stress later in life.
   
2. Hyper-attachment to the owner. Maybe. Dogs are social animals and some dogs just love staying super close to their owners — they are constantly touching or they follow their owners to the bathroom. We often call these dogs “clingy,” “hyper-attached,” or “Velcro dogs.”
   
   A 2001 Tufts University study found that dogs that are “clingy” are more likely to have separation anxiety. But this might be a chicken-or-the-egg sort of situation where clinginess is a symptom of SA rather than a warning sign.
   
   That said, a study in 2006 on dog-human relationships and separation anxiety found no such link between clingy dogs and separation anxiety disorder.
   
3. Living with just one owner. The same 2001 study also found that more dogs living with a single owner suffer from separation anxiety disorders than dogs that live with multiple owners. In fact, having just one owner made a dog 2.5 times more likely to have separation anxiety than a dog with several owners!
   
4. Being a rescue dog. Rescue dogs and dogs that had been previously abandoned were more likely to suffer from separation anxiety according to the 2001 Tufts study referenced earlier. After being abandoned, a dog may be more fearful that you will leave and never return!
   
5. Recent changes in the home. The same Tufts University study found that about 16% of owners could recall a change in the home (such as a divorce or move) before their dog started suffering from separation anxiety. However, 10% of owners also reported recent changes while noting that their dogs hadn’t developed anxiety.

Research seems to dictate that rescue dogs, pet store dogs, and single-owner dogs all seem to be more likely to suffer from some form of SA.

Experts Weigh in on What Does NOT Cause Separation Anxiety

We’ve discussed a bit about what causes separation anxiety in dogs. Now let’s talk about what does not cause SA, despite what you may have heard anecdotally.

For one, it’s a myth that spoiling your dog or sleeping with her makes her more likely to develop separation anxiety. This just isn’t supported by the research, so spoil away!

Malena DeMartini, author of Treating Separation Anxiety in Dogs and instructor of the $99 Mission Possible Separation Anxiety course, says:

One that I hear so commonly from friends and family is that people have caused separation anxiety by coddling their dogs. That’s just really not true.

Separation anxiety is a panic disorder, and letting your dog sleep with you or join you on outings does not cause separation anxiety. It’s actually pretty hard to “create” a separation anxiety dog.

Just like people with anxiety, depression, or panic disorders can have these problems in the best possible homes, separation anxiety seems to have a strong genetic component.

It’s also worth noting that dogs are not exhibiting separation anxiety out of any purposeful anger or disobedience. Remember, dogs with separation anxiety have an anxiety disorder. There is no intention or ulterior motive behind your dog’s actions.

Dr. Jen Summerfield, a veterinarian who specializes in tough behavior cases and has first-hand experience with separation anxiety in her own dog, chimed in that:

The most common misconception I see is that the dog is acting out of spite, or because he’s “mad” that the owner left him alone. SA [Separation Anxiety] dogs can sometimes be very destructive, or they may get into garbage and make a mess, or have housetraining accidents while the owner is away.

These are really frustrating problems to deal with, so it’s easy for owners to assume that the dog is intentionally causing trouble to get back at them for leaving. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth!

Also, don’t assume that bringing home another canine buddy for your current fur pal will resolve the issue.

A 2014 study on preventing separation anxiety in shelter dogs found that having another dog in the house did nothing to prevent dogs from developing a separation anxiety disorder.

To conclude, dogs probably develop separation anxiety disorders thanks to a combination of genetic factors, early life experiences, fears, and traumatic experiences as an adult.

Like with most things, SA is a combination of nature and nurture.

Signs of Dog Separation Anxiety

It’s time to observe your dog and see how she responds when you take off.

Set up your laptop, phone, or another recording device one day while you’re out of the house (or monitor your dog live via a Furbo or Petcube camera).

Dogs with separation anxiety may display signs of distress, with common symptoms that include:

• Panting or pacing constantly while you’re gone
• Fully dilated pupils
• Howling, excessive barking, or whining
• Jumping or scratching at the door
• Excessive drooling that’s more than usual
• Digging at the door
• Breaking teeth or nails trying to escape
• Refusing to eat or drink or play while alone
• Self-harm
• Destructive chewing towards doors and crates
• Inappropriate urinating and elimination (when they’ve already been house trained)

With canine separation anxiety, a dog’s anxious behaviors usually will get worse, rather than better, when you’re gone longer.

In comparison, dogs who are just bored or under-exercised won’t look as frantic and panicked.

Dogs with separation anxiety are also unlikely to focus their destruction on food thievery. If your dog is stealing food, destroying the couch, or getting into the trash, she’s probably bored or under-exercised. For these dogs, try upping their daily walks to ensure they get plenty of exercise and see if you notice an improvement!

Dogs with separation anxiety disorders often direct their destruction at escape. They destroy crates, doors, and windows as they try to find you.

Be prepared for what you might see when you watch the video of your dog alone — it can be really tough to watch. Watching video of a dog with full-blown separation anxiety is one of the most sobering things that I do as a dog behavior consultant.

Here’s an example of what a separation anxiety disorder can look like when a dog is left home alone:

If you watch video of your dog alone, it’s generally easy to figure out if your dog has separation anxiety. Once you’ve identified the problem, it’s time to get to work fixing it.

Dog Separation Anxiety Solutions: Fixing Your Dog’s Separation Anxiety

If you know that your dog has separation anxiety, I have good news for you: You really only have one job.

The bad news? That job isn’t easy.

Your main job is to teach your dog that being alone is no big deal.

Most separation anxiety protocols revolve around one idea: systematic desensitization. You need to begin by only leaving your dog alone for as long as he can handle, slowly building up his tolerance (kind of like starting to train for a marathon).

You only have so much bandwidth when it comes to training your dog, so don’t waste your time with treatments that aren’t going to help.

At the end of the day, the gold standard for separation anxiety is desensitization training.

Desensitization is simply exposing your dog to an amount of alone time that she can handle, then gradually increasing that time period.

Start with just leaving your dog alone for a few seconds (or even just stepping away from your dog if that’s all she can handle), then gradually build up the tolerance until your dog can handle a more extended period of alone time.

Unfortunately, if your dog can only be left alone for 30 seconds before she panics, this is no small task. This is where canine behavior medication can come in handy.

Dog Separation Anxiety Medication: Do Meds Help?

Veterinarian Dr. Chris Pachel has some great things to say about separation anxiety medication and how it can complement a training plan. He points out that if a dog can’t handle being left alone, it’s easy to end up with a “one step forward, two steps back” treatment plan.

Sure, you might be able to get your dog to tolerate 20 minutes of alone time over the weekend. But you undo all of that on Monday when you go to work.

Behavior medication can help take the edge off for dogs that otherwise would backslide behaviorally every single day.

Behavioral medications like Xanax and Clomipramine will help get through the bumpy early bit of separation anxiety training. Since you often can’t leave your dog alone for more than a few minutes at first, behavior medication is indispensable to having a real life without traumatizing your dog.

Behavior medication helps your dog to start to learn that being alone is OK. Just be sure that you wait to administer any medications to your pet until you get the green light from your vet.

A study in 2000 showed that giving dogs Clomipramine sped up the resolution of separation anxiety — reducing symptoms as much as three times faster than the placebo group!

Dr. Jen Summerfield is another big advocate of behavioral drugs for treating SA. She says:

“I’m a huge fan of medication as a first-line treatment option for dogs with SA [separation anxiety]. Separation anxiety is a type of panic disorder – so at a physiological level, it’s very much like a person who’s having a panic attack.

A dog who is panicking can’t learn anything useful and isn’t likely to be interested in treats or toys. So until we can get that panic response under control, it’s often hard to make much headway on teaching the dog to be calmer when the owner is away.

From a quality of life standpoint, I also really believe that these dogs are suffering. If we can do something to make them feel better in the short term while we work on the problem, why wouldn’t we want to do that?”

Appropriate medication shouldn’t sedate your dog or make her act like a zombie — it just prevents panic.

While natural remedies may seem appealing, the truth is that pheromone collars and other holistic treatments rarely cut it in the case of panic disorders, though they might take the edge off, according to one 2005 study. However, for most dogs, only real medical drugs will have enough of a calming effect.

Once your dog is appropriately medicated (thanks to a vet), it’s time to get started with the learning.

Dog Separation Anxiety Training Plan: Step-By-Step Desensitization Guide

Here’s what your desensitization plan should look like for beginning to resolve your dog’s separation anxiety.

1. Determine What Your Dog’s “Threshold” Is. This is the level at which your dog starts to become distressed once you leave the house (or even the room). This might be right away, or it might be after a few hours of your absence. Film your dog to see exactly when this happens.
   
2. Build Upon Your Dog’s Threshold. If your dog’s stress level is so high that she can’t tolerate you being gone for even a second, you’ll have to practice closing the door partway, then returning. Then closing it fully and opening it again immediately. Then leaving for two seconds.
   
3. Don’t Be Afraid of Making it Easy. If your dog gets upset at any level, make it easier. Going slow is far better than going too fast, as it’s easy to have a single mistake that sets you back weeks. If you see your dog reacting poorly, dial back the time. Going backwards and reducing the time spent alone before adding more is very normal (and recommended)! Your time chart will likely be full of small ups and downs in time spent away.
   
4. Watch the Trigger Stacking. Dogs can get more and more stressed throughout a day or week, just like us. If your dog has already had a rough day or week, take it easy on the desensitization training for a little bit.
   
5. Repeat But Take Breaks. It’s fine to do multiple exits with your dog, but keep it to three rounds per session, and leave one hour in-between each session. Don’t overwhelm your dog!

Second by second, day by day, you’ll be able to build up your dog’s tolerance. Most people find that after the first few minutes of alone time, their dogs improve a bit more quickly.

You can put together your own dog separation anxiety training plan if you’d like. Here’s a peek at what your desensitization plan might look like:

Date of Training	Amount of Time Left Alone	Dog’s Response & Reaction
1/4/2019	5 sec	Crying, scratching at cage
1/4/2019	2 sec	Whining lightly, no scratching
1/4/2019	3 sec	Single whine
1/5/2019	2 sec	No whining

Alternatively, you can print our dog separation anxiety training plan worksheet for free here!

Other Important Tips:

• When you return, calmly ignore your dog. Don’t give praise or attention, just walk back into the room as if everything is normal. The goal is to make your coming and going very boring and uneventful, not a mini-party!
• Try not to leave your dog alone for longer than he can handle. It’s really tough, but try not to leave your dog alone for longer than what you’ve successfully completed with the training plan. The person home doesn’t have to be you — it can be a friend or neighbor, but avoid any Home Alone-style activity.
• Vary the time spent — mix in shorter periods. You want to structure your timesheet to oscillate (aka, ups and downs in terms of time your dog is left alone). It’s not fun to learn something when things are always getting harder, so give your pup some easy wins. This will improve your pup’s confidence and work better in the long run!

You want incremental progress. But slow and steady wins the race for SA, along with most other forms of behavior modification.

What About When I Need to Be Away For Several Hours?

The really tough part about separation anxiety is what to do when you have to leave your dog for longer than she can handle. In an ideal world, you won’t leave her for too long at all, but most of us live in the real world, not an ideal world.

If you know you’re going to be leaving your dog for too long, use medication or get help — maybe even both.

A dogsitter or friendly dogwalker may be able to take a load off while you get a much-needed break from your constant canine shadow. Dog day care may be another option for dogs that can handle being around other pooches. Medication can help reduce the negative effects of leaving your dog for too long.

You may also want to consider talking to your employer about the option of working from home for a while.

Again, this all sounds daunting. But separation anxiety actually has a pretty high rate of “success,” unlike some of the other behavior issues that I work with regularly.

Some dogs with separation anxiety are never fully “fixed,” but they’re often able to live fully regular and happy lives with a bit of management or ongoing medication.

What Won’t Help When it Comes to Curing Separation Anxiety in Dogs

There are a lot of common dog training myths around separation anxiety, do let’s dispel some of those misunderstandings and discuss what does not resolve canine anxiety.

Nothing in Life if Free (NILIF)

You’ll often hear of trainers recommending the Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF) protocol to treat separation anxiety. The idea with NILIF is that a dog only gets reward, attention, or treats when they do something you, the owner, wants.

Some compare it to making your dog “say please”.

When applied, to treating anxiety, the somewhat convoluted idea is that the NILIF technique will teach your dog to look to you for “guidance” and “leadership,” and that somehow this will reduce anxiety.

NILIF isn’t a bad concept; it can be helpful in some situations (like demand barking). But I really don’t recommend using this strategy to treat separation anxiety, because “structure” and “leadership” won’t fix anxiety and panic!

Separation anxiety specialist Moira Hechenleiter Vergara adds:

“Setting up the rule “nothing in life is free” as a training measure won’t solve the problem, and furthermore could make it worse. A dog who is experiencing Separation Anxiety is in constant stress, and adding a new stress – such as not paying attention to him anymore – can promote more stress, making things even worse.”

Keep in mind that a panic disorder cannot be remedied by obedience training, because panic is not a behavior, but rather an emotion that can drive unwanted behavior (like house soiling, crying, and destruction).

Desensitizing to Departure Cues

Many often-recommend treatments — such as desensitizing your dog to departure cues (like picking up your keys or putting on your shoes and coat without leaving) and counterconditioning (offering treats while you’re gone) — did not help dogs in a 2011 study more than simple systematic desensitization.

So, if you have limited energy, focus on the one goal: building up your pup’s tolerance for being alone.

Malena Demartini adds:

“A lot of people spend a lot of energy on adjunct treatments like leaving the TV on, using a thunder shirt, and getting adaptil collars. While these treatments might fall into the “can’t hurt” category, they actually can hurt because they take so much emotional energy and time away from the actual desensitization work that needs to be done.”

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with desensitizing your dog to departure cues, don’t let that distract you from what matters – getting your dog comfortable with being home alone.

How to Prevent a Dog From Getting Separation Anxiety

Like with most behavior problems, there are some steps that you can take to prevent your dog from developing separation anxiety.

While it’s no guarantee (since genetics and early life experiences surely play a role), there are a few things that you can do to protect your dog from developing this panic disorder.

Assuming that you’ve done your best to pick out a dog or puppy from a good source, you’ve already stacked the genetics and early life experiences in your favor.

1. Teach Your Dog That It’s OK To Be Alone

With any new dog, it’s important to start teaching your dog early that being alone is normal and good.

Even if you don’t have to, start leaving your puppy alone with food and engaging items (or — best of all — frozen food-stuffed toys) for brief periods of time.

Put your puppy in a crate or canine x-pen while you shower, grab the mail, or run to the gym.

These smaller absences, paired with food treats, will help teach your puppy that you being gone is totally normal. If at all possible, start slow with short absences rather than going straight to a full work day of alone time!

Going straight from being with you all the time to long periods of your sudden absence can be very stressful for a canine!

2. Distract Your Dog With Treasure Hunts When You Leave The House

You can also make alone time fun using a modified morning routine. Before you leave for work or school, put your dog away in a crate or the bathroom for a few minutes. Then hide her food, cow’s ears, dental chews, stuffed peanut butter toys, and other tasty treats all around the house.

Dogs who don’t have separation anxiety will love spending time looking for food. If your dog won’t eat while you’re gone, you already have a problem.

3. Use Technology To Remotely Reward Alone Time

Finally, technology can help teach your dog to be alone with comfort and grace. The Treat N’Train, Petcube, or Furbo both allow you to reward your dog remotely.

This allows you to teach your dog that you being gone actually makes treats happen.

These tech gadgets differ a bit in the specifics (the Furbo, for example, is a treat dispensing pet camera and includes a barking sensor, while the Treat N’Train is slightly cheaper, doesn’t have a camera, and works better with soft treats), but they are all excellent options for preventing canine anxiety or treating mild separation anxiety.

This video from The Verge gives a nice oversight of how Furbo works and some of its core benefits:

Just don’t rely on gadgets to fix moderate to severe anxiety — most dogs who are really suffering won’t eat the food even if it’s given to them.

How Do You Know If Your Dog Has Separation Anxiety?

You come home from work and find a nasty note from your neighbor complaining about howling from your dog — again.

Or you return home from class to find that your dog has peed all over the house, destroyed the curtains, unstuffed your couch, or dug through the door. Does your dog have SA?

Separation anxiety is a bit hard to pin down. Most animal behavior experts will draw lines between separation anxiety, separation distress, isolation distress, and other nitty-gritty terms based on if the dog is attached to one person, all people, or if “any warm body will do.”

For the purpose of treatment, though, it doesn’t really matter much if your dog suffers from separation anxiety versus isolation distress. Either way, your dog panics while you’re gone.

Separation anxiety can be a terrible, full-blown panic attack when the dog is alone (or at least away from her owner).

There’s another reason to put separation anxiety firmly in the category of panic or anxiety disorder: As many as 88% of dogs with noise phobias also have separation anxiety.

In the words of the authors of the 2001 Tufts study:

“This suggests that the interaction of multiple pathologic responses to noise likely reflects an altered dysfunctional underlying neurochemical substrate or is the result of one. “

In other words, dogs that struggle with both SA and noise phobias might have unusual brains that respond to stress differently.

One of the heartbreaking things about separation anxiety is that most dogs with this issue are wonderful, loving pets –– as long as they’re with you.

You’d never suspect that most dogs with SA have any “behavior issues,” because they’re often model citizens — until they panic when left alone.

Remember, your dog with separation anxiety isn’t mad that you left. She’s petrified and has a panic disorder.

That’s why treating this problem with dog behavior medications and big words (like systematic desensitization) is far more important than implementing the standard basics like structure, leadership, or exercise.

Is it Separation Anxiety or Boredom?

There are a lot of similarities between the symptoms of separation anxiety and a bored, untrained, and under-exercised dog.

If you just look at the results — elimination in the house and destruction when you’re gone — it can be hard to tell the difference between an anxioous dog and a bored dog.

Most animal behaviorists and trainers (myself included) recommend filming your dog while you’re gone to diagnose the issue.

Dr. Jen Summerfield agrees. She says:

“While it’s true that dogs who don’t get enough exercise or mental stimulation can be inclined to get into mischief while their owners are gone, this should NOT cause obvious signs of anxiety like whining, howling, panting and pacing, excessive salivation, escape attempts, etc.

If you think your dog might have SA [separation anxiety], the most helpful thing you can do right off the bat is get some video of them while you’re away! It’s usually fairly easy to tell based on the video whether the dog is anxious or just bored.”

Will Bark Collars Help With Dog Separation Anxiety?

It’s really tempting to put a bark collar (shock or citronella) on your dog if she’s disturbing the neighborhood.

However, this can be a really bad idea. Malena Demartini says:

“People often get caught up with the outward symptoms and outward manifestations. But people need to remember that we can’t fix the barking without fixing the anxiety, because those are just the symptoms of the underlying anxiety. If you are frightened of something, and every time you start to show your fear, someone whacks you up side the head, how is that going to affect your fear?”

In Demartini’s experience working with hundreds of dogs with separation anxiety, she’s found that bark collars — whether they’re shock collars or citronella collars — won’t really fix the anxiety.

They may stop the barking, but this can also lead to the dog destroying things, having accidents, or injuring itself trying to escape.

Ultimately, while the incessant barking may be one of the more frustrating aspects of SA (especially for your neighbors), and effort to resolve the barking will only be treating the symptom (barking) instead of the underlying solution (your dog’s panic at your absence).

Demartini even tells the story of “the sweetest little dog ever” who barked nonstop when alone thanks to his anxiety. When his owner started using a bark collar, he stopped barking.

But soon afterwards, when his owner approached him before leaving, he started attacking her and biting — hard. He was so upset about the bark collar that instead of just being scared when left alone, he actually became aggressive towards his owner.

True behavior modification takes time, patience, and compassion. Quick fixes like bark collars will end up hurting your dog in the long run.

To Crate, or Not to Crate For Separation Anxiety?

One more thing to keep in mind if your pup has SA is where to leave her while you’re gone. It seems intuitive to leave her in a crate, where her destruction or mess is contained.

In fact, most dogs with severe separation anxiety will be more relaxed if they’re left outside of the crate.

It may take some time and training to wean your dog off of the crate, but sometimes eliminating the crate entirely is the way to go.

My own dog, Barley, started suffering from some separation anxiety when we started living out of AirBnbs instead of a regular apartment. The constant moving really messed with his routine! When we stopped crating him and stepped up our hidden treat game, his SA almost evaporated.

That said, sometimes it’s just not possible to leave your dog out of the crate. In that case, you might want to look into an extra durable dog crate for dogs with separation anxiety. Crates like these can keep your pup and your stuff safe.

Keep in mind that some dogs who are really determined can actually hurt themselves more on these heavy-duty crates (by digging, breaking teeth, or nails), so be careful here.

If you do plan on leaving your dog in the crate, make sure to properly crate train your dog so that the crate becomes a relaxing safe space rather than something associated with fear and punishment.

This can be done through crate training games and starting with just a few minutes in the crate at a time before slowly increasing the duration. You absolutely don’t want to leave your dog crying in his crate, as this does nothing to build a positive association with the crate. Locking an unhappy dog in the crate simply reinforces the idea that the crate is a scary, stressful place to be.

Another option that can be less stressful for anxious dogs is to gate off a dog-proof area of the house (like the kitchen or bathroom) so that your dog has more space and won’t feel quite as trapped as he may feel enclosed in a crate.

Will Toys, Treats, or Exercise Fix My Dog’s Separation Anxiety?

Maybe. The jury is still out on this one.

Dr. Jen Summerfield advocates using hidden treats as her main SA treatment method, citing their simplicity for owners. Pairing hidden treats with anti-anxiety medication is enough for many dogs.

But other studies have pointed to treats having little effect on separation anxiety. In my personal experience with dogs (in situations where owners shunned medication), treats did not help much. The dogs were simply too panicked to eat for even the slightest absence.

Instead, we just focused on slow and steady desensitization.

Likewise, exercising your dog to the point of exhaustion won’t fix her separation anxiety. It might reduce the energy that she puts into an escape, but it won’t fix the underlying panic.

That being said, boosting your dog’s exercise regimen certainly won’t hurt, and is likely still a good idea for keeping your dog safe and burning off some of that excess anxious energy.

Your Best Bet For Fixing Separation Anxiety? Desensitization, Drug Therapy, & Treat Combo

Hidden treats and interactive puzzle toys cannot hurt anxious dogs, in my experience. But they might not help enough. Dogs that are really panicking just won’t eat stuffed Kongs or play with a puzzle toy.

If you opt for hidden treat distractions instead of desensitization, you’ll probably need anti-anxiety medication as a compliment. If you opt for a really well-thought-out desensitization plan, you might not need treats or drug therapy.

I always urge owners to do all three: desensitization, medication, and treats. I often find that most owners are comfortable picking two of the three.

If you follow the advice in this guide and are still struggling, consider getting in contact with a veterinary behaviorist (not your standard vet) who can help you create a specialized drug and desensitization training plan to help with your dog’s panic disorder.

Separation Anxiety in Dogs FAQ

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What helped your dog overcome separation anxiety? We’d love to hear your tips and tricks below!