Separation Anxiety & Home Alone Training Details

Determining if your dog has Separation distress can sometimes take some parsing out, but the more typical symptoms include: vocalization (barking/howling/whining), pacing, panting, drooling, hypervigilance, whale eye, sweaty paws, escape attempts, cowering, shaking, tucked tail, freezing, excessive grooming (esp when self-harm such as licking paw to point of developing a sore) out of the ordinary destruction of household items, and out of the ordinary urinating/defecating. 

Separation Anxiety is a really difficult diagnosis for dog parents to hear, and of course for the dog’s themselves to experience. We likely won’t know what factors may have contributed to your dog’s development of SA, but what we do know is it’s not your fault. You love your dog, you want your dog’s life to be as free from fear and stress as possible. 

As it stands right now, the causes of anxiety, in general in dogs, are a combination of any of the following: genetics, lack of certain early socialization that would help a pup develop coping skills, traumatic events in their socialization history, stress experienced by pup’s mother, and the mother’s behavior with her litter. 

How long does it take to cure? Well, there are no guarantees when it comes to changing animal behavior and emotions, and certainly each dog and their family are unique. That said, if the program is followed using the 5 Key Elements (see below), the average amount of time it takes to work a dog up to a tolerance of 2-4 hours feeling chill being home alone is around 6 months. Of course some dogs will take a longer or shorter amount of time. That can be hard to hear, too! Perhaps think of this as something like a crossfit program, that in 6 months you’ll end up reaching a fitness goal, and the awesome news with SA training, you don’t have to do very much to maintain that “fitness level” once you reach it!

There are 5 KEY ELEMENTS to healing SA in dogs

1) We need to stop leaving them alone, except during the training exercises. This is a tough thing to hear, and may feel at first like an impossibility. I will be your guide and brainstorm buddy to help troubleshoot this particularly challenging vital part of the training. 

2) We work a systematic desensitization program.  This is done by exposing your dog to such low levels of the scary thing (you leaving) that they don’t feel anxious about, and ever so slowly, at their pace, increase duration of the outings. The program will be provided and guided by me, and taught to you so that eventually, I can hand you the baton and you and your dog can finish the race confidently on your own.

3) We always work under threshold, taking great care to not cause any anxiety during the training - this is where a certified trainer will be especially invaluable for guidance and education. 

4) The training is consistent, and carried out 4 to 5 days every week. Life things happen that may make the training take a little lapse here and there, but keeping the training consistent is essential for your dog’s new “I feel ok home alone” neural pathways to stay strong and grow. 

5) We set up a Data Tracking system that works for you, to collect details that help adjust the training plan when and if necessary. It’s also helpful for motivation because you get to see the real progress play out over time, so that we can, in the words of Dr Susan Friedman “celebrate approximations” on our journey to the grander goal.