Let's define what is anxiety: a manifestation of the lack of essential affection, a mechanism of adaptation to the environment which is helpful in some ways (if the event is not excessively traumatic) to overcome certain demands of life.

Animals also suffer from anxiety and it is a known condition. One of the most worrying problems for dogs is that they are not able to manage loneliness. In fact it is one of the most frequent reasons for consulting dog trainers.

We will not go into the distinctions ethological schools do on separation, anxiety or loneliness, based on the object to which they channel their emotions. I would also like to clarify that separation anxiety, as such, is not as common as we think, we often misdiagnose and treat it as similar behavioral problems, which are not treated equally and are not specific to this problem.

Anxiety usually manifests in the first ten minutes of being alone and comes back after a few minutes, ie, the dog will rest for a few minutes exhausted from anxiety and as soon as it has rested, it will be at it again. Ideally in such cases, videotaping allows us to see their behavior and to diagnose it accurately, it is a unique study tool.

So we have a dog that damages the house, barks continuously, urinates everywhere and in the worst cases, causes self-inflicted injuries. These physiological changes are a result of the activation of the nervous system, the endocrine system and the immune system (to treat all these symptoms at once would be very extensive and dense). At first, the dog will respond to its fear with displacement activities such as barking, destruction, misplacing objects ...

Humans also do displacement activities: chew gum, we rock from side to side, we bite our nails, we continuously touch our nose ... In dogs this behavior will probably get worse if we do not intervene. It could lead to obsessive-compulsive disorders or stereotypical behavior manifested by erratic movements, self-mutilation, scrapes and excessive licking. Why is this?  Because this behavior generates endorphins that soothe them. But because they are highly addictive, we enter a loop of increasing uncontrolled manifestations.

If you detect any of these symptoms, my advice is to go to a good canine behavior therapist. They normally start with an ethological study to determine the ABC of this behavior (antecedents, behavior and consequences). Once they have this behavior map, which will be a re-education (remember, anxiety is learned), they will teach the dog to be alone, they’ll learn to redirect, to interact with toys (such as Kongs) that will be its transition element to channel its stress and give it proper mental and physical stimulation. Also, we have to look at that we do, such as our habits, we have to find out how we affect the persistence of the behavior we want to eliminate so you can help your pet.

One might ask why every time there are more cases of separation anxiety.

- The hyperlink: we are the most wonderful thing to him and he worships us (it’s reciprocal), the trouble is that we have not taught him to cope with our absences.

- Changes in scope: we get sick, families separate, moving, death of a family member (both animal and human)

- The anthropomorphism: We treat them as humans, to convey our own anxieties ...

-Puppies who were separated from their litter just after birth are therefore deficient in creating the bond of attachment.

If your dog acts like that, we must assume that we have a problem, especially because it is not happy and is suffering and make no mistake, it is not a fad, it does not heal itself, as I said, it will get worse. Also because there are no magic solutions, we have to TREAT ITS CAUSE, NOT ITS SYMPTOMS. As always, coercive or punitive methods only result in more annoying behavior ( you can make it stop barking but it will then attack the walls) and getting angry with it, will only aggravate the situation.

Remember that the dog has been a dog for 30,000 years now. Not ready genetically to be alone, to leave his family. It is eminently social. It has only incorporated into our homes since a few decades ago, very little time for a change in its history as a species. Hence the importance of proper early education and learning their canine needs to prevent future problems