Fear, is a very rudimentary emotion, necessary for survival. However, prolonged fearful states can have negative effects for both humans and animals. The most prevalent types of anxiety in dogs, are general fearfulness, noise sensitivity, and separation anxiety. Here, we will discuss separation anxiety in detail.

What is separation anxiety?

Separation anxiety can be observed in approximately 20% of dogs. It is actually the physiological response of a dog, being separated from the "pack" or otherwise being unsure of when his basic needs will be attended to. Dogs experiencing anxiety, will present with many of the symptoms associated with anxiety in humans, including rapid heart beat, increased respiration, increased bowel and bladder activity, and sometimes compulsive behaviors meant for self comfort. Other symptoms are self-preservation behaviors, such as "calling for help" through vocalizations, and trying to physically chew or dig through barriers.

Is it spite?

On the left is a typical scenario of a dog suffering from separation anxiety.

Dogs can understand cause and effect between two situations, when the situations overlap or are separated by not much more then a second!

Humans are able to "reason" beyond this and understand that block 8 (punishment) is the result of what happened in blocks 5 and 6 (slipper chewing). Dogs are unable to make this connection unless it is bordering or within the same block. For instance, dogs will understand that block 8 (punishment) is associated with block 7 (owner coming home and NOTICING damage, not the ACT of damaging which is separated by a full event). We should not expect a dog to reason to the same degree as us.

This dog is likely to repeat the same chewing behavior when left alone the next day, since nothing was done to alleviate the actual anxiety. The dog will not know he is doing wrong while chewing and will only realize he is about to be punished when the owner returns home.  The dog will then associate this exact scenario, of the owner and presence of damage with punishment, and his body language will anticipate punishment.  The owner will perceive this as the dog  must "know what he did" and therefore must be "spiteful".  But, this is not the case.  The dog is simply anticipating punishment, which he did not understand how to avoid, and is hence showing his submission.  New, unwanted behaviors, such as submissive urination, may arise on the owner’s return home.

The problem also can’t be fixed by attempting to booby trap potential chew items or using bark collars for vocalizing. If anxious energy is blocked in one form it will appear in another (such as eliminating bowels or bladder).

The only way to prevent or improve separation anxiety is to break the cycle at where the anxiety begins (in block 1). “Dog starts feeling anxious” should be changed to something like “Dog doesn’t mind much”.

How do we do this?

First, we have to make sure, that we have everything required for our foundation in place:

• If the dog is in good health and on a good diet, the dog will be more comfortable being alone in general and more likely to hold a healthy, smaller stool and normal bladder, not overly inflated by thirst.

• If our attitude is good, we do not need to worry about the mistake of coming home and losing our temper on our dog, which will only cause more side effects and problems.

• If we've studied some learning theory, we will already have a background in techniques, that can help change bad associations.

• If our leadership exercises are in place, we're already on track to making the dog feel that he is in a predicable world and that he will be provided for. Having your dog on a predicable and provided-for schedule, is a crucial step.

• If we have been attending to our dog's drive balance, he will be less likely to have any destructive behaviors, exasperated or related to the fact that he has pent up energy and a need for an outlet.

• If we are managing our dog properly, the dog will have a comfortable and safe area to relax while you are away.  For instance if the dog is in a crate, is it unreasonably small without the ability to stretch out or stand up?  Does the dog have a bucket of hanging water, something to chew, and ideally something soft to lay on?  A TV left on or relaxing music can also help to keep the separation more stimulating.  Always ask yourself, "Can I do better for my dog?" and "Would I find this reasonable accommodations if I were a dog?".  Sometimes what seems like "separation" anxiety is at least partially the dog feeling reasonably trapped in an unnecessarily cramped and unaccommodating environment.

• If we are on a good housebreaking plan we can rule out any anxiety that is related to simply being enclosed in a small area and not primarily from separation.  A good housebreaking plan also helps to rule out destructive chewing simply from the fact that the dog "doesn't know any better".

If these things are in place, we have addressed all the underlying variables, that will feed a separation anxiety problem. Moreover, we have also addressed common factors, which may result in similar behaviors, and which shouldn't be mistaken for anxiety. These include, destruction caused by drive balance issues, and "accidents" caused by urine marking behaviors.

With the foundation set, we can further simplify the plan by addressing the point, where the anxiety starts, when the dog is left alone.  Here we pull from what we learned in "learning theory" to tackle this with various techniques depending on the extent of the anxiety problem:

Conditioning - This is primarily the technique, that is used to prevent an anxiety problem. We will be creating a good association with the action of the owner leaving the dog alone.  Make the association a good one when you leave.  For instance always give a special chew or toy just before you leave.

Counter-Conditioning - This plan can be worked with a dog that is already showing signs of anxiety when left alone so we are changing the association to something good. It is basically the same plan as conditioning but we need to monitor to see if any progress and often needs to be combines with a third option desensitizing.

Desensitizing - We add desensitizing to the plan, when the dog is just too anxious to care about any treat or activity, we have been providing to counter-condition him, when we leave.  This involves slowly acclimating to the scenario of being left alone.  This is done by starting the process of leaving, but try not to proceed to the point where the dog becomes anxious.  Then, slowly add steps to the process of leaving as the dog does not show an anxious response.

For example:

1. Act like you are going to leave by grabbing your keys (or jacket or any trigger), then put the keys back.  Do this over and over until you are sure the dog doesn't seem to react.
2. Grab the keys and go to the door, but don't leave.  Put the keys back and repeat until you are sure there is no anxious response.
3. Do all the above and open the door.  Repeat the same process as above.
4. Open the door and walk out the door and come back in.  Repeat all above.
5. Keep going through the steps of leaving in this manner until you can get into a vehicle turn it on and come back in with no signs of anxiety.
6. Once you get to this point you drive away and come back for short than longer and longer increments until you can reach about 30 minutes with no anxiety.
7. After you reach 30 minutes it is generally safe to make larger jumps in time of one hour and more.

Medication - In bad cases of separation anxiety, medication prescribed by a qualified veterinarian can help take the edge off enough to make progress, and then normally can be weaned off.  If you are having trouble getting over the hump with your dog and have all your foundation in place, this can be a reasonable part of a severe separation anxiety case that requires anything more than counter-conditioning.

Flooding - This is really a last resort, when desensitizing just isn't a realistic option for the owner's schedule and there seems to be no progress being made.  Flooding consists of making sure the dog is safe and going through all the steps of counterconditioning and desensitizing the best that you can although the dog is still showing an anxious reaction.  When a dog is showing an anxious reaction during the process while we leave the dog alone, technically it is considered "flooding" and no longer desensitizing.  Dogs can overcome anxiety while flooding is used if we make sure we have addressed all underlying issues, but it can be a much more stressful process for both the dog and the owner.

Safety needs to be an important consideration, because dogs that show a severe anxiety are prone to injury from attempting to dig and bite through barriers.