Halsey East Animal Clinic

Separation anxiety can be one of the hardest behavioral issues to tackle, let alone resolve.  Since dogs are pack animals, it's not surprising when a dog experiences anxiety at being left alone.  It's not fully understood why some dogs suffer from separation anxiety and others don't. Your dog isn't trying to punish you for leaving him alone.  It's important to realize that the destruction and house soiling that often occur with separation anxiety are part of a panic response.

With the right help, most dogs can learn to remain alone calmly for reasonable lengths of time. Conditioning a dog to be able to do this is a real kindness and an exercise in patience that will make you and your dog's life much more comfortable.

Don’t forget, there can be destruction of household items (or the house itself) due to poor training, lack of exercise or boredom.  These can be solved rather quickly and easly, but true separation anxiety is different and can be much more difficult to address.

I have personal experience with my own dog, Harrison.  When I first took possession of this black coyote, he showed all the classical signs of a dog with moderate to severe separation anxiety:

• The behavior occurred primarily when he was left alone and typically began soon after we left the house (We recorded his behavior when we were away).
• He followed us (mainly me) from room to room whenever I was home (He still does this unless he’s tired).
• He displayed effusive, frantic greeting behaviors.
• The behavior occurred whether he was left alone for short or long periods.
• He reacted with excitement, depression, and anxiety to our preparations to leave the house (putting on shoes, jacket, keys jingling). 

For Harrison (and more importantly my wife and I), a behavioral and environmental modification plan was needed so this little guy could be comfortable when left alone.  He had been on and off a prescription anti-anxiety medication to help with the stress of changing homes and routines, and for separation anxiety, but this was not addressing the root of his issue.  We took him off this medication so we could see the full force of the problem. 

·         Don't make a big deal out of arrivals and departures. For example, when you arrive home, ignore your dog for the first few minutes until he’s composed then calmly pet him. It may also help to ignore him for several minutes before leaving.

·         Leave your dog with an article of clothing that smells like you, such as an old T-shirt that you've slept in recently.

• Establish a safety cue—a word or action that you use every time you leave that tells your dog you'll be back.
• Consider using an over-the-counter calming product (such as pheromones) that may reduce fearfulness in dogs.
• Make sure he has been exercised that day, preferably just before you leave.  Not only does this take a huge amount of anxious energy away, but this helps equate leaving with rest time after a positive play and/or activity.

Harrison, unfortunately, had a more severe problem.  We videotaped him on several occasions, and were not consoled by what we saw.  If you choose to tape your dog while you are gone, prepare to see some behaviors you wouldn’t normally be aware of  (as they don’t leave any tell-tale damage signs).  The pacing, heavy panting, whining etc, were all the hallmarks of a severely anxious dog.  The most disconcerting aspect was watching him try and climb out the window in the room he was in.  Through firsthand experience, I know what an anxious or panicked dog can do to himself climbing through a broken window.

(I now feel that by taping my boy I may have made it more difficult for me to ultimately let go and show him the calm and collected behavior I wanted in him before leaving him alone…knowing how upset he was while I was gone.)

I went to the behaviorists when things reached a level that was out of my control.  Here was the ‘fix that dog, or he’s out of here’ situation:

After our lack of success in leaving Harrison in a smaller, more confined room I decided it was time to leave him with the run of the house.  My thought was that if he had more room, he would feel less confined and therefore be more relaxed. 

I left him for a total of 3 hours.  Most likely, he was just fine for maybe the first hour. Pacing and panting, maybe, but nothing too crazy...

At some point, he entered the bathroom.  He probably just wanted to investigate or have a bit of a cool drink from the toilet.  In doing so, I surmise he inadvertently bumped the door closed.  It probably took a minute or so for the panic to set in.  It’s not a large bathroom and the light was off, so it was a little extra scary.  Seeing what could be a possible escape route, I suspect he jumped on to the sink and tried to climb out through the mirror. 

In the process of his poorly planned escape attempt, he knocked all of the items out of the medicine cabinet and spilled the contents into the sink.  Somehow, he turned the sink on.  The sink was plugged with the contents from the cabinet and began to fill.  Here is where I guess he really began to panic.  I can only imagine what was going on in his head at this point.  Locked in a small dark room, water slowly filling rising forming a watery Harrison tomb. 

I returned home to find an inch of water on the hardwood floors, and no dog around.  I opened the bathroom door and it was like a Mötley Crüe hotel room.  Water was overflowing the sink, the shower curtain pulled off, the toilet seat ripped from its hinges and the handle chewed.  The dog was soaking wet and covered in nail polish (a bottle had broken and was painted around the bathroom…still some there to this day).

He wagged his tail.  I put him outside.

How to handle a more severe problem:

Use the techniques outlined above (not the locked-in-bathroom-technique…that’s patent pending) along with desensitization training. Seek the advice of a professional.  This is a fairly common problem (which is why it’s included here), and when it is very severe or incorrect techniques are employed, can become a debilitating behavioral issue ultimately culminating in surrender of the pet.

Create a "safe place" to limit your dog's ability to be destructive. A safe place should:

• Confine loosely rather than strictly (a room with a window and distractions rather than total isolation).  We found that the car was his ‘safest’ place.  I suspect this was because when I left him in the car, I made no fanfare.  I was gone for 1 minute or 2 hours…he never knew which.  The car was (is) the place he goes after hikes, and activities.  If you leave him in a small room, make sure the windows are well out of reach, or secure enough not to be broken.
• Contain busy toys for distraction
• Have dirty laundry to lend a calming olfactory cue or other safety cues.

It can take time for your dog to unlearn his panic response to your departures. To help you and your dog cope in the short term, consider the following interim solutions:

• Ask your veterinarian about drug therapy. A good anti-anxiety drug shouldn't sedate your dog but simply reduce his overall anxiety.
• Take your dog to a doggie day care facility or kennel when you have to be away.
• Leave your dog with a friend, family member, or neighbor when you're away.
• Take your dog to work with you, if possible.  I do.

What won't help

• Punishment. Punishment isn't effective for treating separation anxiety and can make the situation worse. The destruction and house soiling that often occur with separation anxiety aren't your dog's revenge for being left alone: they're part of a panic response.  Harrison recieved no punishment for his ultimate crime, other than having to wait outside whilst I cleaned.
• Another dog. Getting your dog a companion usually doesn't help an anxious dog because his anxiety is the result of his separation from you, not just the result of being alone.  We tried another dog to ‘visit’ while we were away.  In the video from that experience you can almost see the other dog mouth ‘why have you left me with this psycho?!’ – He even grabbed his leash and walked to the door.
• Crating. Your dog will still engage in anxiety responses inside a crate, and he may urinate, defecate, howl, or even injure himself in an attempt to escape. Instead, create other kinds of "safe places" as described above.  A crate can work if introduced properly and preferably as a puppy.
• Radio/TV noise. Leaving the radio or television on won't help (unless the radio or TV is used as a safety cue).
• Obedience training. While formal training is always a good idea, separation anxiety isn't the result of disobedience or lack of training; therefore, it won't help this particular issue.  However, it can create a sense of confidence in those dogs who’s issues stem from poor socialization or self control.