This is a compilation on what I have learned from by experiences with my dog, Sadie, who was diagnosed with Separation Anxiety (SA). While the information I have compiled is not original, I became very interested in understanding the science behind what we were told to do to resolve her issues. Having done this, I hope that this article will help others find their way through their dog's SA problem and discover the wonderful animal just waiting to be freed from their fears.

We adopted Sadie from the local humane shelter, where she had been 'dumped' outside the shelter. Therefore, I know none of her history, but from appearances and examination by my veterinarian, she appeared to be a healthy dog that was well cared for. She was 'the perfect dog' until we left her alone. Then she jumped and scratched on the doors and woodwork, soiled in the house, whined, howled, and paced furiously. We know this because we video taped her after we began to see the evidence of a problem when we left her.

The first step should always be a thorough examination by your veterinarian to rule out illness or disease. Certain behaviors, such as inappropriate soiling may be a medical implication. Also, a dog that is not healthy may exhibit destructive behaviors simply due to stress on its system from lack of proper nutrition or ailments. After a thorough examination of Sadie, my veterinarian referred us to Dr. Andrew Leuscher and Julie Shaw, RVT at Purdue University's Animal Behavior Clinic. They laid out our initial plan and were able to answer questions that arose along the way. Selecting the right behaviorist is very important, as bad advise and adverse programs still exist. A site that I feel lists good information on how to make this selection is www.webtrail.com/petbehavior/guide.html

While, for the most part, I found their recommendations worked for us, I did read an enormous amount of information in order to understand why we were doing what we were doing. I read numerous articles by searching the Internet for "separation anxiety in dogs". I studied several excellent books. "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson explains basic obedience training and gives an excellent explanation of dogs, their behavior and the way dogs process information. "The Dog Who Loved Too Much" by Dr. Nicholas Dodman, deals with behavior problems in an easy to read format. I also joined two Internet e-groups. I tried to keep an open mind while searching for answers, ascertaining if the material seemed logical and analyzing Sadie's behaviors to try to understand what her individual situation was so that I could adapt accordingly.

One of the e-groups, dog behavior, was particularly informative and helpful. The members were able to relate their personal experiences in a straightforward manner that was practical and beneficial. One member suggested "talking" to Sadie, and while that may seem a little odd, I do feel that it was a great asset to us that I didn't come across in my other reading. I am sure that Sadie didn't understand my 'words', but I feel she was able to find reassurance in my body language and voice tone. This interaction seemed to take some of the pressure off of both of us. Perhaps the best thing about finding a support group such as this is knowing that you are not alone, hearing success stories, seeing the same picture from another angle, and all of the encouragement that you receive.

Separation anxiety in its broadest terms means, "anxiety brought on by separation from a dog's person or people". The behaviors include barking, whining, howling, chewing, digging, scratching at confinements, self-mutilation, inappropriate elimination and other destructive actions. In my opinion, in order to determine if SA exists, two criteria must be met:

• The dog must exhibit these behaviors only when left alone.
• The dog should be observed while you are gone by videotaping it so you can see exactly what it does, but more importantly, to be able to analyze its body language to ascertain that the dog is actually "panicked".

If you are able to establish a diagnosis of SA, modifications need to be made in both your behavior and your dog's behavior. The listing includes the elements we used with Sadie. They are based on our original plan that the behaviorist recommended and supported by most of the information I have read. While some plans differ, this is what we found worked for us. I feel that one thing that helped us achieve our results so quickly was that we modified some instructions along the way. For example, when given a reasonable time I saw that physically inhibiting Sadie from following me did not appear to be working, I started letting her follow. I did not encourage her to follow or reward her for doing so, but giving her this freedom turned out to be an enormous turning point in our journey, as I began to realize that for her, confinement made the situation worse.

While not all dogs adopted from a shelter or rescue exhibit SA, they are a large percentage of the dogs that are treated for SA. Therefore, if you adopt, from the very beginning, assume that the dog may have SA. There is nothing in the SA behavior modification that will "ruin" the dog if SA isn't an issue, but don't even give the dog one day to develop behaviors that you will have to change should the find that SA does exist. This was the biggest mistake I could have made. Sadie had a week of me reinforcing her dependence on me before I realized that the SA existed. It is especially important for SA dogs to be disciplined because it takes any pressure off of the dog to be "the leader" and teaches them self-control.

Abandonment is not the only basis for SA to develop. Age and health changes; changes in your home life including death, divorce, or schedules; poor socialization; "puppy mill" dogs, and other dramatic life events may bring about SA. There is information to suggest that dogs, just as people, may have a pre-disposition towards the problem.

Many dogs that don't suffer from SA are "Velcro( Dogs", meaning they follow you everywhere, but SA dogs almost always exhibit this behavior. That is where the SA comes from-the person that they have over-bonded with. I believe that being in the shelter for eight days brought on Sadie's SA and then she over-bonded with me because I was the one who opened the gate to give her "freedom". Feeling sorry for her, I didn't establish rules right from the beginning. Not clearly establishing the dog's place in his new family simply confuses him. Pampering the dog is the worst thing you can do. You need to provide structure and consistency along with your love.

1. Downplay departures. Ignore the dog for 15-20 minutes before leaving and after returning home. Giving the dog attention before leaving makes our leaving all that much more emotional for the dog. If we make a fuss upon returning, then the dog excitedly anticipates our return. The goal here is to even out the peaks and valleys the dog experiences while being left alone, so that the dog is better able to cope. Initially, Sadie started getting nervous as soon as she realized we might be leaving and was totally out of control with joy when we returned home. As we started practicing downplaying departures and returns, she was much more controlled when we returned home and she is finally to the point that she is relaxed within a minute or two of our return. She remained anxious when she anticipated us leaving for quite some time, but is finally able to go lie down now within a minute of our departure.

Select a toy to give only when you leave the dog. It will become his "special" toy and since he doesn't have access to it any other time, will look forward to having it. A Kong stuffed with goodies works well and will keep him entertained for quite a while. (See www.kongcompany.com/how2use/html for hints). A Buster Cube might also capture his attention. Don't be discouraged if the dog ignores this toy initially. Sadie is just now learning to play with toys and didn't take an interest in her Kong until later in our modification. Some sources recommend giving the dog a "cue" that you are leaving and will return. The "special toy" is, in some ways, a cue to your departure, but while it is a signal, it can also become a much anticipated "reward" type of signal. I tried both playing a tape recording of my voice and leaving a radio on, but did not see any change in Sadie's behavior when left alone with these. Some people say something to their dog on the way out of the door such as "I'll be back". It is my opinion, based on my observations, that this has no meaning to a SA dog, unless the habit was established as a puppy and before the SA.

2. Practice obedience in two to three short daily sessions. The sessions need not be longer than five or ten minutes initially. Teach sit, down, come, and stay. Everything else aside, all dogs should be able to obey these basic commands. I used clicker training with Sadie and we both found it to be great fun, (www.clickertraining.com, which is Karen Pryor's home page or she has a book "Clicker Training for Dogs"), but any type of positive obedience training will work. Your ultimate goal is to be able to put the dog in a 30- minute stay and leave the room. Obedience and the stay in particular, are fantastic confidence builders for the dog.

• Stays need to be developed over time. Initially, work in a controlled environment, like your living room.
• Start with one minute, then two minutes, five, ten, etc. until you reach 30. If the dog stays reliably at five minutes, but not at 10, you have progressed too fast, go back. When the stay is reliable at 30 minutes, go back to one minute and try walking out of the room. Continue to build on that.
• When adding distractions or changing where you are practicing the stay, start slowly again and build. While this sounds like a lot of work, in just six short weeks, Sadie was reliably doing a 30-minute stay in our front yard with me out of her sight. What this stay does for the SA dog is to help it over-come the anxiousness it feels when wanting to break the stay, learn that it is "OK' when left by itself, and it is an enormous confidence builder for the dog.

4. Ignore the dog for a minimum of three weeks on a casual basis. Don't let the dog initiate any attention. The first day we did this I took it way too figuratively. Sadie became physically ill because we literally pretended that she wasn't there. My opinion is that for a dog that can't stand for you to be out of its sight, you cannot go to this extreme. What I learned is that you can have a lot of interaction with your dog including petting and praising without it being at the dogs initiative. You can get some treats and teach tricks, practice obedience, or take the dog for a walk. This modification was the hardest for us to get used to, since we have always let our dogs initiate attention, but I also feel that it was paramount in Sadie learning she could stand on her own four legs and knowing she would be fine even when we weren't home.

Since we could only interact with Sadie when we were doing training or exercise, without actually knowing what we were doing, we had begun to practice "Nothing in Life is Free" (NILIF). NILIF was devised by Dr. Victoria Voith. It is a behavior modification that is sometimes used with aggressive dogs, to teach them that you are in charge and not them, in order to curb aggression. While we weren't dealing with an aggressive dog, we did feel that Sadie needed to know that we were in charge so that all pressure would be off of her. For some dogs, anxiety at being left alone increases because the dog feels that it must "take care of the house". If the dog understands that you are in control, then the safety of the family and house is not the dogs responsibility. NILIF worked with our SA problem because it teaches the dog restraint and self-control since the dog must "earn" everything it wants. You simply make the dog do something, a trick or obedience command, before it gets anything. So you can use NILIF constantly. When you feed the dog, let him out, get ready for a walk or a play session, anything else the dog wants it doesn't get until it does what you ask of it. An added benefit is that you will end up with a dog that doesn't bolt out of the door, since he is accustomed to sitting until you release him before being let out.

5. Practice desensitization and planned departure. If locking another house door is the "trigger" that starts the anxiety when you get ready to leave, then lock the door relentlessly until the dog no longer cares, then move on to the next "trigger. Go through all the "triggers" until you get no reaction from the dog. (You can work on some of this while doing other things. For example, keys can be picked up and jingled while you are cooking.)

Planned departure is where you go through all the steps that you would normally do before leaving, but don't actually leave. Initially you will simply step out the door then step back in. Build on time as you see your dog being able to let this happen without getting upset. The whole point of planned departure is to be "back" before your dog can exhibit anxiety signs. It is important that you use some sort of signal that this is just "practice", such as leaving the television on, so that the dog disassociates actual departures from these sessions.

6. Anti-anxiety medication is available as both traditional medication and homeopathic remedies. The prescription drug of choice at present is Clomicalm(. Any responsible behaviorist or veterinarian will require a complete physical and blood work-up before beginning the treatment. From my reading, it appears that European countries may tend to use Holistic treatment more than we do here in the states and the participants in one egroup that I subscribe to seem to achieve the desired results with alternative medicine.

Sadie was on the Clomicalm ™ because that is the drug our behaviorist recommended. Be advised that you will probably not notice any significant effects of this drug for approximately three weeks. With Sadie, it was about three and one-half weeks when we noticed a dramatic decrease in her anxiety. In one of the e-groups that I am in, there were numerous posts from people who had used the Clomicalm(. Most felt that it had made a momentous difference in their dog's anxiety, a few noticed no improvement, but I found no negative posts regarding health concerns. As with any drug, I feel that it is important to closely monitor the patient for possible side effects. It is crucial to understand that the drug alone does not cure the SA. It simply helps to reduce anxiety so that the dog can learn more quickly and with less mental stress to the dog.

What typically doesn't work is:

1. Crating or confinement. This may well be the biggest issue of controversy among behaviorists. Even though my behaviorist recommended trying to crate train Sadie, their handout states "it is important not to confine a dog with SA when it is alone because the more confinement, the greater the anxiety. An exception may be a very well crate trained dog that feels safe in a roomy crate." So what they were trying to achieve is an acceptance of the crate so that it could be used to limit house damage. Sadie never "accepted" being in the crate we bought for her, despite our efforts to make it a very positive experience. She was even averse to going near it and we never got as far as trying to leave her in it when we left! Even gating off sections of the house troubled her and she found ways to either jump the gates or climb out of the room at another area.

I believe that the reasoning behind this can be compared to what we now know about humans with anxiety disorders. The nerve ends in the area of the brain that control peoples "fight or flight" response become, for some reason, "over sensitive". Therefore they "over react" to certain stimuli, causing "panic". Since we know that dogs react to situations with either "fight or flight", I think it is reasonable to assume that basically this is what happens to them. As with humans who have anxiety disorders, the panic may start with only one situation, but tends to escalate to include others. So sometimes, for the dog that fears being left alone and is panicked, the confinement just intensifies the anxiety.

Some philosophies insist on confining the dog due to the amount of destruction the dog is effecting. With the noted exception in the above paragraph of a previously crate trained dog, my reading of actual situations indicates that while the dog is limited from destroying your house, confined in a crate he may cause injury to himself. I read horror stories where the dog tried to dig or chew its way from the crate, only to have the owner come home and find him bleeding, with claws dug raw or even ripped from the paws or broken or missing teeth. At best, you may simply come home to a dog that is soaking wet and stinks because its anxiety was so great that it eliminated in the crate or it slobbered all over itself from panting continuously. For a seriously destructive dog, that won't accept confinement, I would try to avoid leaving him alone until the behavior modification program has time to work. Find a "sitter" or "doggie daycare".

Another angle on the validity of confining is that a dog having free run of the house may "find it too much area to take care of" and confinement limits the area the dog is "responsible" for, thus decreasing anxiety. Maybe this is why some dogs accept a crate as a "den". Not feeling responsible for any area other than their immediate proximity is reassuring to them. Sadie does not fit into this category. She despises any confinement, which may tie directly back in to the confinement forced upon her at the shelter.

2. Getting another dog. While in the overall scheme of life, two dogs are great company and entertainment for each other; the SA exists because of the over-attachment to the owner. Another dog does not compensate for that attachment. When Sadie would have a "doggie friend" here and we left them, there was no noticeable difference in her anxiety.

3. Punishment. Understanding that a dog cannot make the association of what he is being punished for unless caught in the act goes a long way to understanding basic training. On top of this, SA dogs lack self-confidence so punishment just reinforces this submissiveness.

The expectation behind behavior modification is to build the dogs' confidence and independence. As the dog begins to gain these, the anxiety of being left alone decreases and is replaced with positive images. Once the dog starts exhibiting brief periods of relaxation when left, the effect beings to "snowball". Because the negative images are being replaced with positive images it is self-reinforcing. In an ideal situation, the dog would never be left alone until the modification was complete. Thus, replacing the negative images would take less time and work.

It is important that you reinforce the behavior modification throughout the dogs' lifetime. While you don't need to continue with planned departures and desensitization, continue to downplay the departures/returns, continue to practice basic obedience skills, especially the stays, maintain sufficient exercise, and follow the NILIF routine. Don't let the dog relapse into dependence on you or losing his newly found self-esteem.

I now realize that there are dogs with far worse SA than Sadie had, but when you love your dog and watch it suffer, there is no such thing as a mild case. Not only is the dog miserable, but so is the owner because you feel trapped in your house and scared and guilty when you leave the dog. Try to keep a positive attitude while working on the behavior modifications. Patience is key here. Use praise plentifully. Remember, you are trying to make the dog "feel good about itself" and become confident of its' ability to function without you. The joy that you feel when you first know that the dog is going to be 'ok' with your being gone is one of the best feelings you will ever experience!

Copyright © 2000 by Karen Sollars. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.