Dr Liesel van der Merwe is a small animal medicine specialist. Send her your questions: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Dr Liesel van der Merwe

Separation anxiety (SA) is a common problem in pets and is second in numbers only to aggression in patients presented to vets for behavioural problems. Anxiety is defined as a stress response to something which has not yet happened. Fear is a response to a direct, present perceived danger.

Behavioural responses due to SA include hyper-vigilance and environmental monitoring. Behaviours associated with distress include destruction of household items, inappropriate urination or defecation (normal or diarrhoea), barking and howling, vomiting or increased salivation.

Dogs with SA may also exhibit cues of increasing anxiety, such as whining, pacing, tongue flicking, yawning, hiding or being immobile as owner departure becomes clear: packing bags, getting car keys, etc.

Sometimes SA can be misinterpreted as boredom or badly trained pets. Footage of animals with SA clearly show that the behaviour manifests within minutes after the owner has left and peaks within 30 minutes before subsiding into a more passive panting and salivation. This is the opposite of what would be expected with boredom, where behaviour would manifest only later. Dogs without SA are very relaxed and largely inactive during an owner’s absence.

Why does SA occur? There are many theories, but ultimately it seems that certain individuals are genetically primed to develop this behaviour and an environmental trigger may set it off.

Various ideas as to triggers have been theorised: Dogs which receive a lot of attention and are very closely bonded to their owners do not actually seem to be at a specific risk as initially thought, as many bonded pets do not show this behaviour, and once the behaviour is managed, these dogs with SA can still show a close bond with their owners without relapsing.

A trial showed that dogs without signs of SA were more obedient and their owners had a lower perception of their own stress. This suggests that owner lifestyle and stress level may greatly affect their interaction with their dog and subsequently their dog’s behaviour.

Dogs showing SA also spent a lot more time in overt greeting behaviour with owners and this is more indicative of insecurity rather than happiness at seeing the owner. A trial also found that almost all dog owners in their study provided constant companionship to their dogs as a way of ‘making up’ for absences. They found that this was associated with more SA issues and suggested that owners aim for moderation in absences and companionship aspects.

Dogs exposed to humans outside the home, and to a wide range of experiences between the ages of five to 10 months are less likely to develop separation-related problems.

How to manage SA?

Conditioning: Only reward calm behaviour. When your dog is calm, give calm positive reinforcement – affection and pats. If your dog is being demanding – do not reward. Ignore, don’t interact at all, even eye contact. As soon as the animal calms down you may reward with a pat after a decent interval. Make leaving and returning calm events. Acknowledge the greeting behaviour, but don’t make a big fuss.

Never punish: It increases anxiety. Positive reinforcement is the best training method. Ignoring or not rewarding poor behaviour is essential.

Desensitisation: Once you have mastered the ‘calm dog gets a reward system’, then gradually leave the house for longer periods. If you can record your dog while you are out or link to your phone, you will see when the trigger duration of absence is.

If you desensitise you cannot be away for longer than the dog’s threshold, as this will cause more trauma and reinforce behaviour. Very short absences may be needed. Maybe just out the gate and back initially.

It is important that when you are doing this you do all the normal preparatory things you would do before leaving the house normally: packing a bag, getting your keys – it must seem like the real thing. Once again, on your return, don’t make a drama. You must condition them to this being a normal event. You will come home, there’s no need for hysteria.

Counter-conditioning: This can be applied after some success has been seen in the desensitisation. In this case something nice is given as a positive reinforcement to your absence. If you do this too early in the program it will only be another trigger that you are going to leave. If you see that food is being eaten while you are away, this is a good sign, as a dog in full SA will not eat.

Sitters: In some severe cases dog-sitters may be needed initially, as one cannot just stop going out to work. This is where drugs are helpful.

Medication: Most people cannot consistently manage conditioning and desensitisation modification for long periods in their busy lives. The addition of medication in the initial few months of therapy can move things along a little quicker.

Dog appeasement pheromones (DAP®), Calmeze® and other OTC anxiolytics can help, but ultimately a tricyclic antidepressant like fluoxetine (Prozac) has shown efficacy in getting a more rapid response in dogs with and without behavioural medication. Once the dog has settled down, meds can often be weaned off.

My advice in a nutshell: Make sure you, the owner, are not the problem with over-effusive greetings and goodbyes which may cause insecurity. Owner attachment should be calm and not needy and overwhelming, which dogs perceive as stress. Use medication to get the ball rolling. Speak to your vet.