Understanding Separation Anxiety, SA-2

Spot nervously panted when she first came over. Notice the cupped tongue.

Based on my observations, I believe that fear is the root of separation anxiety. The dog is afraid of being alone. When that fear is perpetuated the dog develops anxiety. What I also have observed is that insecurity can feed a dog’s fear. One might ask if dogs are born insecure or if they learn how to become insecure. What I have observed is that some dogs are more prone to becoming insecure, and without the correct handling, will develop a fear of being alone which grows into anxiety we term as separation anxiety. An example is seen from a recent client I worked with. The client came to me with two major issues with her three-year-old rescue, Spot. Spot had recently began to show leash aggression which the dog learned from a foster dog in the household. When the foster dog left to go to another home, Spot developed separation anxiety when the owner left for the day. Prior to the arrival of the foster dog, neither separation anxiety or leash aggression were an issue.
    I believe that Spot was a less secure dog by nature. I observed Spot showing a lot of anxiety in general. The dog tended to whine with uncertainty when she first came into my house. This was not a steady whine, but several whines which cropped up depending on what we were doing with the dog. I suspect Spot’s owner didn’t realize this dog was insecure and needed some confidence building because the dog had a pushy nature. Dogs with a pushy nature tend to be willful about doing what is on their mind. They have a hard time responding to commands from their owner when they decide they want to do something. If the dog is less secure by nature, a pushy dog can learn to doubt his owner when the dog is worried. This kind of dog typically needs specialized training to learn to follow guidance from their owners. 
    With Spot, her pushy nature meant once she decided to do something, she’d ignore any commands from her owner. When Spot felt insecure, she’d jump up on me or the owner. Spot would not listen to the “off” command, even though the dog knew what that command meant. Since Spot had learned she didn’t need to follow her owner’s commands, that created a lack of confidence in Spot with her owner. After all, if Spot didn’t need to do what she was told, how could this owner do anything to protect Spot from frightening dogs or other frightening things? A pushy natured dog can easily develop a lack of confidence in an owner.

Spot would jump up, even though she knew the command to stop. She was pushy by nature and didn’t not readily follow commands. Her nervousness made her not want to stop.

    Dogs who are very insecure, even when their owners are around, need to learn to find a sense of security in the presence of their owners before they can learn to feel secure when alone. To help out this dog, the owner needed to teach the dog to follow her guidance, even when the dog doesn’t want to. Training is used to achieve this, not force or punishment. Once the dog learns to follow guidance, the dog becomes more secure. That allows the dog to learn how to feel secure when alone. Insecurity and fearfulness in dogs make a dog prime candidates for separation anxiety.
     Spot’s owner also made mistakes when she came home to greet Spot. Those mistakes fed into creating separation anxiety in this dog. I coached the owner on not getting excited when she greeted Spot upon arrivals home. I discuss how that kind of human behavior can cause unwanted separation anxiety problems in the first segment of my video “Separation Anxiety, a Weekend Technique.” A technique called the “I’ll be Back” technique on the video tells how to teach a dog to accept being alone without getting anxious. The video talks about building confidence in a dog to help dogs who suffer from separation anxiety. The confidence training we did with Spot that day helped this dog feel less stressed. With the dog more secure, the owner saw a great improvement by changing her leaving protocol. She was told that if the dog were to regress, she could use the “I’ll be Back” technique to create a more secure reform in the dog’s separation anxiety issues. 

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Peggy Swager is a behaviorist and dog trainer. She has authored several books and many dog training articles. Two of her articles won awards. More information is available on Separation Anxiety and her other works at her website www.peggyswager.com.