6 Separation Anxiety Myths You Need to Stop Believing In

Separation anxiety, like most things in life, is multi-faceted and complex. Unfortunately, there is no panacea to cure it, as many popular quick-fix tips and myths have led well-meaning dog owners to believe. If you’ve cared for a dog with separation-related behaviors, you’ve no doubt come across many “magic wand” approaches on the internet that seem just too simple to be true. And as you might have learned, they usually are.

I’ve compiled 6 of the most common separation anxiety misconceptions that dog guardians most often cling to. Let’s shed some light on these myths and learn some evidence-based truths to replace them. 

1. Getting a second dog will cure it

Getting a second dog seems like such a rational antidote to alone-time distress. Your dog is panicked about being alone, so having a companion means he’ll never have to experience isolation, right? The truth is, a second dog might help, but it might not.

You could end up with two dogs with separation anxiety. That’s right: double trouble. This could happen if the new dog becomes anxious as a result of the resident dog’s distress, or if the new dog came with a predisposition to separation anxiety that you simply didn’t know about. 

But if your heart is set on getting a second dog regardless, I strongly encourage you to do a test run with a friend’s dog or a foster dog. Set up a camera and see if your dog can remain settled and comfortable when you leave if the other dog is with him. Be cautiously optimistic if his distress seems to have melted away; a different dog may not have the same effect.

Another thing to consider is how you will manage absences if having another dog does in fact alleviate your dog’s anxiety. The other dog will inevitably have to go to the vet regularly. What then? What if the new dog is leash reactive and has to be walked separately? And what happens if he passes away? The unpredictability of these outcomes is the reason that I always recommend my clients address the root cause of their dog’s anxiety rather than putting a bandaid over it. 

2. Exercise will cure it

Exercise is fantastic for most dogs. It provides an outlet for pent-up energy and can also double as an opportunity to meet your dog’s mental stimulation and problem-solving needs. For these reasons, it can be an excellent facet of a separation anxiety treatment plan that contributes to your dog’s overall well-being. But it will not cure anxiety on its own.

3. Crate training will cure it

Many dogs experience confinement anxiety along with separation-related behaviors, and for these kids, crating exacerbates the problem. Putting a dog in an escape-proof crate will treat the symptoms (a dog can’t destroy your door jamb when he doesn’t have access to it), not the cause. The dog is still in a state of extreme panic; he just isn’t able to express it. Which, in many cases, ultimately makes the anxiety worse. 

It’s important to note that crates aren’t inherently bad. Before I transitioned to solely separation-related clients cases, I routinely recommended them for house- and chew-training. And when you train a dog to like their crate using positive reinforcement, many dogs opt to hang out in them without any prompting from us. There is no harm in doing this with your dog, as long as the door is left open and he has the choice to enter and exit at will. 

4. Letting your dog sleep in your bed will cause it

Big claims call for big evidence and there is simply none to support this one. On the contrary, it is counter to what we do know to be true about dogs in terms of their incredible ability to discriminate. They are exceedingly adept at noticing distinctions in environments and contexts. So it comes as no surprise that they are able to separate the experience of sleeping in your bed from the experience of being left home alone. 

But you don’t need to take my word for it. A University of Georgia study looking at attachment and separation anxiety found that dogs with separation anxiety spent no more time in contact with or proximity to their owners during the attachment test than dogs without separation anxiety. 

It is reasonable to assume that there is a positive correlation between amount of attachment and amount of time spent in proximity to the attachment figure. Therefore, one would assume that if dogs who are hyper-attached to their owners have separation anxiety, that duration of time in contact and/or proximity to the owner would have been different for the 2 groups in this study. That was not the case, suggesting that separation anxiety is not correlated with hyper-attachment.

5. It’s just a phase

Like all panic disorders (in humans and dogs alike), separation anxiety is not something that dogs simply “grow out of.” Unlike a temporary phase of fear, like when a broom falls over and the dog avoids the broom for the next few days, anxiety and panic are persistent. They are based on the uncertainty of outcomes, not fear of a known threat. And the more the dog experiences the panic, the more intense the panic becomes. 

6. Velcro dogs are more likely to develop it

Does your dog follow you everywhere? Join the club. We’re exciting; we’re the providers of pretty much everything our dogs seek. So sticking close to us makes it more likely for dogs to get the stuff they want. Most dogs are so-called “velcro” dogs. It does not mean that they have separation anxiety. 

A study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found that 84% of dogs with separation anxiety shadowed their owners. But here’s the really interesting thing: 64% of non-separation anxiety dogs did as well. Shadowing is simply something that most dogs do. 

Final thoughts

We humans like to simplify things – especially complex things that create big challenges for us. We want tips to “nip our problems in the bud.” We want to wave a magic wand that requires the least amount of effort from us. But as with most things in life, behavior is more complicated than black and white solutions. Evaluate and train the individual animal in front of you, and seek the help of a credentialed professional if you’re dealing with a true panic disorder. It will save you (and your dog) a ton of heartache in the future. 

Sources: 

Sharon L. Crowell-Davis, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVB. and Valli Parthasarathy, MS, PhD, DVM, Relationship between attachment to owners and separation anxiety in pet dogs, Journal of Veterinary Behavior (2006) 1, 109-120. 

Gerrard Flannigan, DVM, MSc Nicholas H. Dodman, BVMS, DACVB, DACVA, Risk factors and behaviors associated with separation anxiety in dogs, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, August 15, 2001, Vol. 219, No. 4, Pages 460-466.