Table of contents
- Routine and predictability: the secrets to a less anxious dog
- What are the symptoms of a dog afraid to be left alone?
- [TO DO] 3 tips to prevent your dog from destroying, howling or barking when alone
- [DON’T] 3 classic mistakes that lead to hyperattachment
- 4 persistent myths about separation anxiety in dogs
- Who can I contact if I think my dog is suffering from separation anxiety?
You may have heard the stories of dog owners who can’t even afford to go grocery shopping.
Their canine companion won’t stop crying when they leave, he destroys the house, he barks continuously, or a mixture of all these. In short, their dog can’t stand loneliness and expresses it in different ways.
What if there was a way to prevent your dog from developing separation anxiety and the unfortunate symptoms that go with it?
Routine and predictability: the secrets to a less anxious dog
Our dogs are creatures of habit, and changes in their lives can trigger separation anxiety.
As far as we know, anxiety is rooted in certain genes, which may or may not be expressed depending on the dog and the circumstances.
What triggers separation anxiety in dogs?
- Moving
- Multiple home changes
- Noise changes in the environment (e.g. construction work near the house)
- Death of an attachment human
- Death of another pet
- Traumatic event (e.g. car accident)
- Family member leaves home
- Separation in a couple
- Change in routine (e.g. from day to night shift, long absences or sudden attendance)
What are the other reasons why my dog follows me everywhere or won’t tolerate being left alone?
- Stage of life (old age)
- Physical health (illness, injury, malnutrition)
- Mental health
- Genetics
- The mother’s environment during gestation
- Early withdrawal from siblings, etc.
When training your dog to stay on his own without panicking, it’s important to distinguish between what we have power over and what is beyond our reach. We can’t control past events, genetics or aging.
With this information in hand, can separation anxiety or isolation distress really be prevented? The truth is, not really.
On the other hand, we can improve our dogs’ quality of life to reduce their daily stress levels and put them in the best conditions to succeed – and feel good about themselves!
What are the symptoms of a dog afraid to be left alone?
The severity of symptoms and the way they are expressed vary from one individual to another. It is not an indicator of the intensity of the anxiety the dog is experiencing.
A dog that cowers silently in a corner, trembling, can be just as emotional as one that howls for hours when you leave.
Dogs suffering from separation anxiety may show various signs of distress:
- Crying, yelping, screaming, moaning
- Gasping, salivating, drooling
- Hypervigilance
- Don’t eat (even your favorite treats!)
- Pacing
- Reacting to the signs of your departure
- Trying to block your path when you go out
- Excessive excitement on return and difficulty in calming down
- Excessive water consumption on return
- Excessive hair loss
There are other signals that are true red flags. While any sign of separation anxiety should be treated as an emergency, if your dog displays these behaviors or symptoms, it’s vital to contact a professional as soon as possible.
🚩 S igns of separation anxiety distress requiring intervention as soon as possible (red flags)
- Messy only when left alone (diarrhea is an additional sign of stress)
- Destruction at exit points (windows, doors)
- If the dog is kept in a crate during absences: destruction of the crate OR visible signs that the dog is trying to get out.
- Mutilation (self-mutilation or injuring oneself trying to get out)
- Howling (vs. barking)
- Sweaty pads (hard to feel)
- Aggression towards owners when attempting to leave (very rare)
[TO DO] 3 tips to prevent your dog from destroying, howling or barking when alone
1. Gradually teach your dog to tolerate solitude
Whether it’s a puppy or an adult dog, the new addition to your family has a lot of new learning to do. As dogs are social animals, it’s normal for them to feel uncomfortable being left alone all day long as soon as they arrive in your home.
Exercises to get a dog used to being alone in less than 2 weeks
To begin with, the aim is to test the puppy’s or dog’s ability to stay on its own. It’s quite normal for him to follow you everywhere at first. The aim of the exercises is to teach him that our absence is not something to worry about.
Note: it’s very important to be able to keep an eye on what’s going on in the house in our absence, especially during those first few days of assessing our dog’s tolerance to being left alone. It’s the only way to get an accurate picture of the situation.
The first step before leaving your dog alone is to encourage relaxation by putting him in a comfortable place with a calming activity to keep him occupied, such as..:
- rummaging game
- licking mat
- bones to gnaw
- toy filled with frozen food
- any other chewing activity
The rules of the game:
- Repeat each exercise 2-5 x / day
During the first week The aim is to be able to move around in space without your dog constantly following you.
- Do an activity or task in another room:
- Showering
- Start a load of washing
- Preparing a meal
- Washing dishes
- Sweeping up
- Leave the house or apartment for short outings (5-15 minutes) and make sure your dog can’t see you.
During the second week The aim is to get your dog used to longer and longer absences.
- Gradually increase the duration of outings
If your dog is comfortable when you’re away, by the second week you’ll be able to adopt a more normal routine.
In short, the key is to monitor your dog and be able to come back in an emergency or if you notice that your dog is uncomfortable or panicking. Above all, don’t be afraid: if you come back when he’s barking continuously (discomfort), you won’t be teaching him that barking gives him what he wants. Instead, you’ll be teaching him that he can trust you, and that you won’t leave him in a situation that makes him uncomfortable.
If you are unable to exceed a certain length of absence without your dog panicking, contact us today to have a specialized coach accompany you through the process of desensitizing your dog to absences.
2. Make your departures a pleasant experience
Before you leave, prepare some mental and nutritional activities to keep your dog busy while you’re away.
Keeping your dog busy doesn’t have to cost you money. There are many ways tokeep your dog busy at low cost.
And don’t forget that a dog whose needs are not adequately met (physical and mental activity) is much more likely to do bad things in your absence, without this being linked to distress!
3. Supervise your dog when he’s alone to make sure he doesn’t panic
The sooner you recognize the telltale signs of separation anxiety, the sooner you can take preventive action and prevent your departures from becoming a stressful time for everyone.
It’s a good idea to continue monitoring over time(spot check), especially if your dog experiences an event such as those mentioned above.
Separation anxiety can manifest itself in many ways, some much more subtle than screaming or destruction.
At first, your dog won’t necessarily panic, but he may show signs of stress that are more difficult to detect without video surveillance:
- Trembling
- Hypervigilance (erect ears, tense body)
- Pacing
- Haleter
- Bailler
- Baver
- Pooping in the house (suddenly unclean in your absence) etc.
If your dog shows one or more of these symptoms, contact our team of specialists as soon as possible so we can help you quickly
[DON’T] 3 classic mistakes that lead to hyperattachment
1. Never leave your dog alone
While you shouldn’t leave for several hours at first, you shouldn’t go to the other extreme, i.e. stay with your puppy or dog 24/7 for a few days or weeks and then suddenly go back to work full-time without any transition.
Here are some simple exercises to get your puppy or dog used to being left alone in less than 2 weeks.
2. Suddenly changing our dog’s schedule or habits
We know that there are imponderables and that we can’t foresee everything. However, if you know that a major event is coming up, remember to prepare your dog immediately.
An excellent example of a sudden change of schedule is obviously the pandemic, during which we experienced periods of confinement, or a change of organization in our workplace (partial or complete migration to telecommuting). To ease the transition in such cases, it’s best to maintain routine periods of absence so as not to destabilize our dog, and so that he retains the good habit of remaining calm in your absence.
By thinking ahead (as far as possible), you’ll greatly reduce the chances of your dog developing separation anxiety if he’s more sensitive to it.
If you’re not sure how to go about it, one of our consultants will be happy to meet with you for a 30 min. or 1 hour session to discuss your situation and offer suggestions for solutions.
3. Thinking that our dog will get used to solitude even if he shows signs of discomfort or panic.
If we don’t keep an eye on what’s going on from time to time, especially if our dog is going through a big change, we may miss the warning signs of isolation or confinement distress.
Nor should we fall into the trap of magical thinking, believing that it will pass. More often than not, not only does it not go away, it gets worse.
If you take charge of the situation as soon as you notice signs of discomfort or panic, you’re more likely to resolve the situation more quickly.
One of the golden rules of dog training is that the less often an undesirable behavior is repeated, the more likely our training will be successful.
4 persistent myths about separation anxiety in dogs
1. Letting your dog sleep in your bed or climb on the couch with you will make him more emotionally dependent.
We adopt dogs to be our daily companions, to love them and to enjoy their presence by our side. The time we share with them is precious, and you can absolutely cuddle them and keep them comfortable without exacerbating or triggering anxiety.
Especially since, if you live with an anxious dog, these may be the only times of the day when he’s really calm.
2. Buying another dog will help him calm down (no, and it might even do the opposite).
According to our professional experience and the scientific literature, few dogs suffering from separation anxiety will stop panicking in your absence thanks to the arrival of a new canine companion. It happens, but it’s the exception.
If by some miracle you’re one of the lucky ones for whom the arrival of another dog “solves” your anxious dog’s separation anxiety, the other dog becomes a crutch because he must ALWAYS be with your anxious dog in your absence. Besides, that doesn’t mean that if it works with one dog, it will work with another. In short, there are too many variables at play for us to recommend this avenue.
And that’s not counting the challenges that already exist when you decide to adopt a second dog!
Finally, several behaviors linked to fear of solitude, such as howling or destroying, are socially facilitated in dogs. In other words, these are behaviors they will tend to imitate very easily and quickly when produced by another dog in their environment.
Two howling dogs instead of one? No, thank you.
3. He’ll stop panicking if he has something to eat or gnaw on.
If your dog is at the panic stage when you leave, his emotional state will not allow him to soothe himself with interactive toys or chew toys alone.
At best, you’ll succeed in delaying the onset of the sequence of panic behaviors (screaming, crying, scratching at the door, etc.).
Nevertheless, if you film what’s going on, you’ll probably notice that your dog isn’t eating calmly. Generally speaking, this is what you’ll see:
- Eat quickly
- Body tense, perhaps oriented towards exit point
- Alert ears and eyes
- Jerky movements
In short, you’ve simply created a very strong motivational conflict between the lure of food and the fear of being left alone. That’s why it’s not a lasting solution to separation anxiety.
4. ”Put it in its cage, that’s its den” or ”Put it in its cage to prevent it from destroying”.
Although this statement also needs to be qualified, the use of the cage is a controversial subject. In France, it’s virtually unheard of, but in Quebec it’s quite the opposite.
As Quebec-based separation anxiety pros (our services are available internationally in French and English, though!), dog owners’ use of the crate poses an additional challenge when using behavioral therapy to treat fear of being alone.
Separation anxiety or isolation distress often goes hand in hand with the fear of being confined to a small space (confinement distress). So a cage or closed room will tend to exacerbate fear and panic.
Let’s face it: leaving your dog free or semi-free in the house won’t solve your fear of loneliness on its own. On the other hand, it is an important way of considerably reducing your anxious dog’s stress level.
Shoo, persistent myths!
Does your dog panic when left alone?
Does it destroy everything when you’re away?
During your initial consultation, you will receive:
✅ Complete analysis of you and your dog’s situation with a canine behavior pro certified in separation anxiety
✅ Evaluate your companion’s training starting point and tolerance threshold through live assessment of a short absence
✅ How desensitization behavior therapy works for separation anxiety
✅ Initial management options to immediately reduce your dog’s stress – and yours!
✅ Basic exercises to start training now
Leaving your dog home alone shouldn’t cause you any anxiety.
We can help.