How does one CREATE (or avoid) Separation Anxiety

Darned good question actuallly -- but remember, dogs are pack animals.  It's natural for him to want to be near the rest of the pack when they sleep.  Keep him in the crate -- just move the crate in the bedroom (nouveaux decorating tip -- use a wire crate, cut a piece of your bedroom carpet to cover the side of the crate that 'shows' from the door and put a nicely finished board on the top -- you can have an extra 'dresser' or bookshelf at the same time the crate is fully functional.)
 
In short you 'create' separation anxiety with worry.  Your worry and the dog's worry.  So, you don't let the dog 'out' of the crate when it's worried and anxious (that reinforced the worry).  YOU, on the other hand, make it "no big deal".  You come home and essentially ignore the dog for a minute or so (or just yell "be there in a second!") -- you put down your keys, put away your purse, turn on the TV and THEN go get the dog out. 
 
When you get ready to leave the house -- treats at first to get the dog to go to crate, but then wean those off, but make going to the crate easy -- not with you with your keys in your hand so the dog sees "crate = Mom LEAVING ME". 
 
With a pup, tossing in a kong with his breakfast as you shut the crate, say "See yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" and hasta la vista, bay-beeee!  HOpefully the dog doesn't have the yummy 'plug' you put in the end of the Kong to keep the kibble/filling in there licked out of there yet and he never even notices you're gone. 
 
After you fasten the crate door, smoothe the bedspread, or spray on perfume or do any one of 15 DIFFERENT things that are just normal stuff -- don't give the dog a 'trigger' that spells m-o-m-m-y l-e-a-v-i-n-g!!  The dog will associate that 'last thing' with going in the crate -- not the slamming of the door. 
 
I'm positive MY dogs think going in a crate means MOM hasta go potty!!  Cos that tends to be MY ritual.  LOL 
 
Just keep it 'no big deal'.  No angst, no long drawn out "ohhhhhhhhhhh I'm SOOOO SORRY I HAVE TO LEAVE" nonsense. 

Good post Callie. I have always kept Russell's crate in the bedroom... young puppies do get lonely at night. Not only are they social animals but being alone is a whole new experience for an 8,9,10,11 week old pup. When Russell was that young I crated him overnight and would not let him out if he fussed... but sometimes I would conspicuously roll over or sigh so that he could be reminded of my presence in the dark room but not erceive that I was necessarily responding to his attempts to get out. He's always stayed close with us much of the time, often coming to work with either me or my boyfriend, but he's never had a bit of separation anxiety either. When we leave him we just leave calmly and come back calmly.

Callie,

Owners are not the only one that creates SA in a dog.  Prior to Marvin, Sassy was perfectly ok with being left in her kennel.  She kept her kennel in perfect order and had a lot of comforts.  Enter Marvin, his extreme SA behavior riles Sassy to the same destructive level.  Sassy gets adopted and the new owners have no problem with SA.  Enter Newt, ok for a few days and then starts the same destructive behavior as Marvin.  The dogs are ok but I have to limit their comforts in the kennel. 

I've always kept my dogs in my room, too.  I don't make a big deal out of goings and comings, and I keep greetings low key.  Initially, when I get a pup, I purposefully let the dog stay with someone else, or alone, pretty frequently for short periods of time (although I am careful not to do this during a fear period).  When the pup is used to that, I arrange to leave her at the grooming shop for a quick bath or at the kennel overnight.  That way, puppy learns that I will always come back for her, as well as learning to accept handling by others.

I agree that in the end, it is best if he sleeps with his "pack." i have him confined in the bedroom by leash, as i feel the crate is more useful in our living space.

And I've never HAD a crate in the living room! *smile* -- no 'wrong' answer, just never ceases to amaze me how differently we all handle things.  When I leave mine crated I deliberately do it in the bedroom -- because, as a good friend of mine puts it "that's where the sleep smell is!"-- meaning it's one more encouragement for a dog to sleep while we're gone if he's in a room where sleeping is the norm.
 
Now, I'm extremely prone, particularly with a newbie, to let them drag a leash for a good long time (you can prevent and allow them to 'self-correct' SO much more easily by simply standing on that leash so they convince themselves they can't/shouldn't 'go' to a place.  (that's not a 'right/wrong' thing that's simply one of my own techniques)
 
Other dogs CAN create separation anxiety -- I was assuming she was talking about initial prevention.

And I've never HAD a crate in the living room! *smile* -- no 'wrong' answer, just never ceases to amaze me how differently we all handle things. When I leave mine crated I deliberately do it in the bedroom -- because, as a good friend of mine puts it "that's where the sleep smell is!"-- meaning it's one more encouragement for a dog to sleep while we're gone if he's in a room where sleeping is the norm.

now thats something to think over! i think you may have just convinced me to move the crate upstairs into the bedroom! and continue to use the leash around the house.

Thanks for that!

and i was asking about prevention. but as i mulled it over it did become a grander question. anyone who has dealt with rescue or shelter work knows that it is a common and frustrating problem, but what in the dogs life made him so anxious?


When i worked at a shelter, we had a BEAUTIFUL 4 yo Aussie/lab mix come in, and owners gave up on him because of SA...so, naturally thinking i could handle it (being a REAL dog person). well the damage was intense as it wasnt just SA, but also barrier anxiety. chewed the crate until his teeth bled, jumped through a screen window, dug at the doors and windows. i brought him to the vet/behaviorist who gave him drugs (dont remember what) to calm him before we left. i took him to obedience and he learned SO much. gave him stuff to do. there was NEARLY always someone home, and our nanny took him everywhere with her. he nearly always was doing something constructive.

the vet warned me that this may not end well, SA and BA are a BAD combo. and she was right. one day as we were leaving him behind, drugged, he jumped through the screen and bit a cyclist passing our house. so sad, still makes me sad to think of this FANTASTIC dog who was somehow damaged along the way.

SOOOO the point of this sad story is that i fear SA as a condition..and i guess i still have those questions of WHY?

RIP Sid[]

In the research I've done on SA (Conrad has it, now dialed down to mild and successfully managed) I think the jury is really still out about what causes it. There are theories, and there are also theories as to what we as humans do that certainly doesn't help it, but I've never read anyone definitively saying they've discovered the magical formula that creates an SA dog.

For Conrad I have a feeling it was a combination of a naturally anxious personality with being adandoned by his first family at the pound as an adolesent (9-12 months old--could that have been his fear period?). His surrender papers didn't say anything about any SA-typed behaviors, so I can't assume that that's why they dumped him. It just said the kids wouldn't take care of him as promised and he wasn't fully housebroken (though frankly the housebroken thing has me scratching my head because from Day 1 this dog would rather explode than potty in the house). So, assuming he wasn't SA before the pound experience, I think that's a pretty good candidate for what caused it. But of course not every dog that gets dumped develops SA, so there had to be some kind of pre-existing susceptability to it. And lots of dogs who've been in the same house their whole lives develop it.

I tend to view SA as similar to panic disorder or OCD in humans. It's something that certain individuals are born with a susceptibility to (genetics or in utero, I'm not a biologist!) and depending on what happens to them in their lives it gets better or worse. But I would never say that an SA dog could be "cured" for good. Managed successfully, rehabilitated, the conditioned greatly lessened, yes, absolutely. But cured? I'm not so sure.

There's a book called The Dog Who Loved Too Much. I've perused it at the library but never read the whole thing, but it seems to deal with "velcro dogs" and seperation anxiety and how what the owners do with such dogs can determine which way they go, towards greater independence and less anxiety, or the other direction.

Finally, we have Conrad's crate in the bedroom. When we lived in Maryland and the weather was nice, we actually kept it on our screen porch outside so Conrad could spend his days enjoying the scenery, but other than that it's always been in the bedroom. Conrad sleeps in it most of the night (door open) and I prefer to have him where I can hear him in case he has some kind of issue in the middle of the night (he's a light sleeper). Marlowe sleeps on the futon and is such a ridiculously heavy sleeper that I don't have to worry at all about what he might do in the middle of the night. Bombs could drop all around him and he'd stay put.

Good suggestions have been given. []
 
I agree that has various causes. Outside of an actual medical condition, it seems to be either the dog's natural personality, the owner's personality, and how the owner interacts with the dog...or any combination of the three.
 
Prevention is the best way to go. Quiet comings and goings for brief periods, varying the routine, getting the dog accustomed to being alone, not taking the dog everywhere with you, leaving the dog with an activity to keep them busy, a good long walk to tire them out before you leave for the day.
 
 
 

Seeing Sid's picture (and that's the dog you spoke of?) brings up ANOTHER issue.  Herder!!! 
 
Herders (and this is a broad brush painting all of them) ALL tend to have 'issues' of one sort or another that have their roots in the fact that these dogs are BRED (over 1000's of years) to notice **everything** and act on it.  Whether it's a 'shepherd' of one or another variety bred to watch the 99 sheep all of which are gonna go in DIFFERENT directions, keep in the back of the dog's mind "ahh over there is a cliff, this way is the way back from the wolves' den, and in that direction lies a man with a gun with bad dogs" -- or the cow herding dog who herds by sheer grit, will, determination and a few nips (hard ones) along the way and sheer speed to get out of the way of flailing hooves. 
 
In between are sheep herding dogs, guard dogs, protector dogs, cow dogs, and the 99 different herding breeds that have resulted and most of them aren't actively 'herding' any more. 
 
They get a reputation often as being 'nervous' -- but they ALL watch stuff go by.  You've heard the old nasty joke "How do you drive Helen Keller crazy?  Put her in a round room and tell her to stand in the corner!!"
 
That's a lot like puttng a herder in a fenced area where they can only 'see' some things like cars go by -- they'll pace and try to 'chase' the car away (and the car drives past and goes away so the dog thinks HE DID IT) -- or they will pace back and forth past a picket fence or gate where they only have limitied 'view'.  They can 'worry' about a thing but can't DO anything about it, and as the old "How many dogs does it take to change a lightbulb" joke goes, the border collie says it only takes ONE, and by the time the silly humans get back he's re-wired the house and gotten everything up to 'code' as well!
 
Herders HAVE to work.  They have to have an outlet for that "watch & do" thing or they go anywhere from having their bubble slightly off center to downright dangerous and crazed. 
 
It's not often mentioned on here, but it is a popularly understood concept that certain breeds have 'needs' in activity level, etc. and herders definitely fall into that category.  Had this dog been improperly penned and frustrated (particularly since he went after someone/something going down the road) it wouldn't suprise me at all. 
 
My point, to add again to everything said here (all of which contains super good ideas) is that there are as many different' causes' of SA are there are dogs victims of it. 
 
And some of those things you have to take into consideration are breed tendencies.  I've got a basset/beagle mix -- and trust me we have to keep that 'nose' busy and let her be in on 'watching out for' the house and heed her input.  It gives her confidence and keeps her balanced.  Foxy the Mostlie Sheltie ... particularly in his younger years ... would 'herd' paper clips and pine needles (and he DID herd pine needles on more than one occasion -- run around them fast enough in a circle and you can make the darned things levitate!! RAH!) JUST to have something to make it move around the way HE wanted it to.
 
The greatest mistake you can make, tho,  is to worry.  Because that 'worry' telegraphs to them unbelievably fast and then they think there is something to 'worry about'.  And that, in and of itself, can 'cause' SA. 
 
There is no formula, but educating yourself about breed and being responsive to the specific dog is the best thing you can do.

I can't really add to the advice that's already been given, because I think everything has been covered. But just wanted to comment that I read somewhere that shelter dogs seem to have a much higher incidence of separation anxiety. I think it's like you were saying Houndlove about Conrad- being abandoned causes the anxiety.

I'm glad someone started this topic, all the posts are really interesting. As far as what you can do, or not do, I think there are a few things. Our trainer at puppy kindergarten said that there are people out there with a certain personality that just seems to breed SA in their dogs. Overly-motherly, can't leave the dog alone, excitable, and unable to let the dog do its doggy things without "saving it" from itself. But of course you could be the most capable owner on the planet, and if the dogs own personality is wired for anxiety, you may not be able to prevent it.
 
I would say the best prevention you can do is provide the puppy with very positive, enjoyable experiences apart from you. Like time in the crate with a kong (or something really special!), whether you are home or not. 

Or you can try to keep them so busy that they are happy to have you leave so they can finally get some sleep.

Or you can try to keep them so busy that they are happy to have you leave so they can finally get some sleep.

[sm=rofl.gif]  My two are like this...they just want me to leave so they can have their kongs and sleep all day!!!

SA is very common in greyhounds. Up to the point they are first adopted, they have never been in an environment as a solo dog. They are use to being around dozens of other greys in crates. I believe that it is very true that it is each individual dog and their relationship with the owner and how the owner reacts to it can make or break dogs with SA. 

We were able to get over the SA problems with both of our fairly quickly through not making a big deal when we leave, keeping Prudence crated where she felt more comfortable and secure, giving kongs and providing at least a 30 minute brisk walk every morning before we leave.

ROUTINE is also crucial for these dogs. They need the same routine every time you leave to know that things are going to be fine. We boarded the dogs for a week in October at the rescue and according to our neighbors the whole week after we came back Prudence cried and cried all day long. By the end of the week she had gotten into routine again knew that we were not leaving her for a week, just 8 hours.