Myth #1 – they will grow out of it
Much like we do not grow out of diabetes or heart disease or even anxiety without expert help and most likely counseling, medication, and diet changes, dogs do not grow out of separation anxiety on their own given it is a diagnosable clinical disorder.
Leaving your dog alone can either exacerbate the problem or allow the dog to suffer needlessly. In dogs, suspending absences and systematic desensitization will help with the treatment of separation anxiety.
Myth #2 – exercise will cure-all
Exercise is great for dogs who suffer alone at home from boredom or lack of enrichment and may display anxiety-related behaviors. For dogs with fear of being left alone, exercise will not help reduce anxiety. For example, let’s take an athlete who ran a marathon during the day and is very tired so he/she is very much asleep that night. If there is an emergency and they are awaken by a smoke alarm during their sleep, they will go from sleep to a full state of alert and they will fear for their lives even though they are tired from running the marathon earlier in the day.
Exercise as an adjunctive tool for any dog is great and I am a big proponent of it. But it will not cure separation anxiety.
Myth #3 – getting another dog will solve the problem
Research conducted in the last decade has suggested that getting another dog is not going to diminish separation anxiety related behaviors.
For a select few the companionship may help a bit but it may also create compounded problems and you may end up with two dogs with separation anxiety instead of one ?.
Myth #4- allowing a dog to sleep on your bed causes separation anxiety
All my dogs sleep on the bed with us and they have not developed separation anxiety?.
Research suggests there is no correlation between allowing your dog to sleep on the bed and anxiety related behaviors.
The same applies to taking your dog on trips with you or even allowing the dog on the couch.
Myth #5- keeping a dog in the crate will keep him/her from destroying the house and they will be just fine in there
When treating separation anxiety behaviors we suspend absences hence there is no need to confine a dog in a crate. A very few dogs feel comfortable in the crate with the vast majority being very uncomfortable and, again, research suggests crating a dog with anxiety is not helping treating it. In this case these dogs will display signs of confinement anxiety in addition to home alone fear. So, we are compounding the anxiety and creating even more problems.
Bottom line is research suggests that crate confinement creates more discomfort to dogs with anxiety related behaviors.
Myth #6- dogs with separation anxiety should get a food toy before the owner leaves
Dogs learn by association. Let’s take the example of a dog who actually eats the food even though he/she has anxiety. What happens here is the human gives the dog a food toy and leaves. The dog will eat the food from the toy and once it’s finished the owner is still not back. The dog is now anxious. The association is: food toy –> absence. Next the association is food toy –> anxiety. After repetition, the food toy is a predictor of a situation that causes anxiety and the dog will end up becoming anxious as soon as the toy shows up. He/she may even stop eating the food. Inadvertently we have created an aversive cue for the dog.
For dogs with anxiety related problems, food toys are appropriate during situational management while an owner is home and he/she is teaching the dog to eat away from them while they are in the home. Some dogs will stop eating if the owner leaves the room so an interactive toy could help create that distance without exacerbating anxiety.
References:
Ballantyne, K.C. (2018). Separation, Confinement, or Noises: What Is Scaring That Dog? Veterinary Clinic of North America: Small Animal Practice 48(3), pp. 367-386.
Clara Palestrini, Michela Minero, Simona Cannas, Emanuela Rossi, Diane Frank, Video analysis of dogs with separation-related behaviors, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Volume 124, Issues 1–2, 2010, Pages 61-67.
Elizabeth A. McCrave, Diagnostic Criteria for Separation Anxiety in the Dog, Veterinary Clinics of North America: small Animal Practice, Volume 21, Issue 2, 1991, Pages 247-255.
Herron, M.E., Lord, L.K., Husseini, S.E. (2014). Effects of preadoption counseling on the prevention of separation anxiety in newly adopted shelter dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 9, 13–21.
Parthasarathy, V. & Crowell-Davis, S.L. (2006). Relationship between attachment to owners and separation anxiety in pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 1(3), 109-120.