I have never owned a dog with separation anxiety, thank goodness. The condition is hard on the dog who suffers from the condition and hard on the dog’s caretakers, too, including owners, vets, groomers, pet sitters, and dog walkers. Care must be taken to prevent triggering the dog’s panic at being left alone—in severe cases, even just long enough for the person caring for the dog to use the restroom!
There are many degrees of the condition, of course, and some dogs may experience only a little distress when left alone or when without their special person or people, while others may seriously injure themselves or do extensive damage to their environment. So, whether the case is mild or extreme, I support all dog owners in taking all precautions when they get a new dog or puppy to immediately employ a strategy to make sure their new pup learns to be content to be left alone. (This article describes how to put a separation anxiety-prevention protocol into place with a new pup.)
The most important part of teaching a dog or puppy to be left alone is actually doing it! Calmly, deliberately, and incrementally, sure, but it’s critical to actually leave him home alone while you take short (and randomly timed) excursions from home from Day One. The sooner your dog realizes that you often leave but you always come back before he needs you to be back, the better.
I recently attended a social get-together with a number of positive-reinforcement based trainers, and the topic of separation anxiety came up. The question was asked: Post pandemic, are we still seeing a lot of sep-anx cases? I could not stop laughing when one trainer friend described what she was seeing in a number of clients could be better described as FOMO (fear of missing out). “I have a number of owners who are concerned that their dogs are developing separation anxiety,” she said, “but what I am seeing are just dogs with FOMO! They are expressing their desire to go with their owners when they leave; they calm down immediately when they actually find themselves left behind.”
I loved that description, and have seen it myself. My dogs love to come with me every morning when I take my grandson to school, but on days when I have errands or an appointment to go to after dropping off the kid, I leave them home, and FOMO exactly describes their efforts to scramble out the door after I have told them they are staying home, and their sad-sack faces after I have called them back and told them to STAY! Anxious, they are not. They do show signs of serious FOMO—but they can live with that, and so can I.
I took a dog in from a Daycare during Covid. She had terrible Separation Anxiety and would scream whenever I left. Had to keep her in a crate because I rented. She pooped in the crate. Had to bathe her when I got back. Wish I could have trained her appropriately but was not trained at that time.
I’m going to switch to my computer, instead of husband’s tablet. Download Whole Dog Journal. I enjoy reading and learning about my dogs. I’ve always have a dog in my life. As an infant a German Shepard was my watchman. He carried me around by my diaper. One time Mom was hanging up clothes on the clothes line. Here comes Shipley pulls me out of the creek near by. My Mom loved that dog dearly. I’ve never bought a dog, but some how Jesus leads the animals to our home. I’m allergic to cats, but they love me to. Sometimes a present awaits for me at the door. Usually a mouse. On the farm I had 10 dogs and 29 + cats. The cattle were happy to see me. I would get up on there backs and brush them. They loved it. What memories!!
I have an anxious dog. Pretty useless article.
Recently had a foster who was great when I would leave but did not want to stay behind if I took my pup along. She had no problems leaving him behind though. FOMO describes it exactly – and I want to encourage people. After two weeks with me and being left behind randomly, sometimes alone, sometimes with my dog – she had improved. Howling had stopped, leaving me “presents” had stopped and barking was down to just a few. I had a camera on her and could see that she would give up quickly. I placed her in a home with cats – she has no problems, cause her cat friends never leave.