Separation Anxiety Myths 3

16. The dog is behaving out of spite.

Dogs lack the cognitive ability to have spite, so this point is erroneous. Note that this also applies to all other dog behaviors people may attribute to spite.

17. Medications are a last resort.

Due to the anxiety causing suffering for dogs, it is a welfare problem, and medications to treat anxiety exist with scientific evidence supporting that they work. Veterinarians can prescribe medications to use in conjunction with behavior modification.

18. Many dogs with separation anxiety will need to be euthanized.

Since a proper desensitization training program following the guidelines here will work to treat separation anxiety, euthanasia is not necessary.

19. The owner must be their dog’s pack leader.

This is outdated, incorrect information. Dogs do not follow dominance hierarchies or behaviors, and focusing on this will harm the training process and the dog if harsh methods are used.

20. If the dog isn’t punished for his alone-time destructive activity or urinating, he will not know it is wrong.

“Research from Borchelt and Voith (1982) indicates that punishment can increase a dog’s emotional dependency on his owner. O’Farrell (1986) noted that punishment contributes to a dog’s general anxiety level. Punishing dogs who suffer from separation anxiety is not only counter-productive, but cruel.” (DeMartini-Price, 2020, p. 18). If you apply empathy, it’s easy to see that if you were panicking, stressed, or fearful of something, you would not want to be punished (hit, yelled at, shocked, etc.), and that it would do literally nothing to alleviate your distress. Similarly, dogs with separation anxiety are extremely scared - hurting or scaring them further will do nothing to help the training outcome.

21. Separation anxiety comes from the dog’s naughtiness.

Dogs are not performing separation anxiety behaviors (destroying property, barking, howling, urinating in the home, etc.) to harm someone else. Dogs don’t have the ability to seek revenge or plot against others. This applies to guilt as well. Dogs’ guilty-look is actually an appeasement behavior - trying to communicate to the person to not harm them and calm down. It arises when people have punished the dog in the past under similar circumstances: such as a trash can knocked over, then the dog got yelled at. Dogs will display these same appeasement behaviors even when they didn’t knock the trash can over, but a person did and was present (i.e., the dog notices the same factors/pattern that led to him being punished before, but he can’t be guilty for a behavior he did not do).

22. Separation anxiety comes from spoiling the dog.

Dogs who are allowed to rest on soft furniture, receive plenty of treats and attention are not more likely to have separation anxiety - it’s now how the behavior develops, and it’s completely okay and good for dogs to receive this type of kind treatment.

“Extensive studies in children show that an environment where they are deprived of physical and emotional kindness and affection can lead to detrimental results, such as having poor social, coping, and problem-solving skills. When children receive compassion and love, they are far better equipped to be a well-balanced and confident individual. It appears to be no different with our dogs.

Please remember that bestowing generous amounts of love on your dog is different than being behaviorally indulgent or permissive. Dogs (like children) do need to be taught about general house rules, but that does not require the absence of kindheartedness or the inclusion of punishment.” (DeMartini-Price, 2020, p. 21).