I suspect my dog has separation anxiety. How can I get her help?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Female | spayed | 2 years and 4 months old | 25 lbs
I suspect my dog may have separation anxiety. How do I go about getting her tested for it?
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on May 5th, 2020
You would need to consult with an in-home professional dog trainer. They can help you the best. If the anxiety is severe then you can talk to your vet about using a medication in conjunction with the re-training. You may also want to consider using some Adaptil (pheromone) products: https://worldtails.securevetsource.com/site/view/198944_HomeDelivery.pml?s=adaptil&hierarchy=&sort=score%20desc
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on January 26th, 2017
It sounds like she is experiencing some separation anxiety when you leave. You could try an Adaptil collar and see if that helps. Also, providing her with distractions while you are gone may help. You could try a puzzle toy, treat dispensing toy, or fill a kong. Also, you could try to crate her. Spaying her may help, too. Lastly, talk to your vet about an anti-anxiety medication, like Trazodone or Prozac to see if that helps.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Health & Wellbeing
We have a dod from humane society that has severe seperation anxiety. She never leaves my side. Best medication to help her. Does benadryl work? She poops when left alone, she is an adult dog. Cannot crate she had injured herself escaping, ate crate
Hello. I would start with an over the counter anxiety product like Zylkene. I would also start using a dog appeasing pheromone in the home ( room diffuser ) or it comes as a collar. The pheromone can calm an anxious dog without drugs. Adaptil is the name of this product. If this does not help over the course of a couple of weeks, you will need to talk to your vet about possible behavior modification therapy & the use of prescription medications like Trazodone. Thanks for using Boop by Petco.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
My dog had developed separation anxiety
This can be a manageable condition. Slowly acclimate your dog to your absence. Prepare to leave the house several times during the day and night. Leave sometimes and other times stay. Do not make a big deal about leaving or returning. Initially, step outside for a minute or two then walk back inside. Ignore him/her for 15 minutes or until he/she calms down each time you return. Gradually increase the length of your absence. Provide special toys or treats to be used only when you leave. Use praise and small rewards as he/she progresses. The use of pheromone collars or sprays, such as the DAP diffuser or Adaptil collar, may help to ease any anxiety. Consider an exam your vet as well as an evaluation with a veterinary behaviorist or trainer. A combination of medication and behavior modification may be required in severe cases.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
My dog has SEVERE separation anxiety. I have to kennel her when I leave the house, but despite crate training her as a pup, she never got used to the kennel. She has tried to break out and hurt herself, she salivates to the point where she gets soaki
Poor Piper! Yes - from what you're describing here, I would say that she definitely needs prescription anti-anxiety medication, along with a good training plan, in order to make any progress at treating her separation anxiety. I would recommend talking to your veterinarian about this problem as a starting point. If he/she isn't well-versed in behavior, then you can request referral to a veterinary behaviorist who can get her started on appropriate meds and put together a training plan to help you work on her anxiety. If you don't have a behaviorist locally, you could also consider working remotely with a specialized separation anxiety trainer such as Malena DiMartini: https://malenademartini.com/
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
How can I help my pet not have separation anxiety? She has only bonded with me, so whenever I leave she won’t stay calm, I’m leaving for a week for vacation and can’t take her and I really just don’t know what to do.
Talk with your vet about an anti-anxiety medication which can help tremendously. I use trazodone most often but there are many options. Other helps include: crate training and the adaptyl collar (a pheromone collar that can decreased stress). Best of luck to you and Sadie!
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
I've noticed that Lacey seems depressed a lot. She has separation anxiety, esp. when I leave. Besides giving a treat, what else there to do? The treat trick, she is looking out the window by the time I shut the door and walk down the steps. And the l
Separation anxiety can be a common problem in dogs, and I can give you some suggestions that may help with Lacey. I recommend crating her when you are gone. The crate will provide her a small space where she can feel safe in it when you are gone. You will have to slowly train her to get used to a crate. Start putting her in it when you are home and sitting nearby so she doesn't think you are abandoning her, and slowly increase the time she is in it. She can have toys in the crate, and puzzle toys with treats in it that she has to figure out how to get the treats out. You can put a tablespoon of peanut butter in a Kong toy and freeze it in the freezer overnight, then give it to her in the crate. That will keep her occupied for a while. Finally, you can get a pheromone diffuser called DAP that helps dogs with anxiety and pair that will a DAP pheromone collar that releases pheromones when in contact with her skin. If these methods do not help him, then I recommend having her see
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
I recently got my dog from a shelter and it seems she has separation anxiety. She follows me everywhere and howls and barks when I leave she also has tried to escape from her crate.
Congrats on your new dog, but it does sound like Iris has severe separation anxiety. I would have her seen by a vet for this. The vet can give you a referral to a professional behavioral expert to work on training techniques to lessen her anxiety. The vet can also discuss the use of anti-anxiety medications in Iris. I would also recommend getting a DAP diffuser. This diffuses pheromones in the room which helps dogs with anxiety. A Sentry calming collar can be used as well, which releases the calming pheromones when in contact with her skin.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Does my dog have sever separation anxiety?
Separation anxiety can occur in dogs but it takes a thorough exam, medical and behavioral history and potentially other tests to truly diagnose. Once it is diagnosed there are both medications and training to help manage the disease. I recommend seeing your veterinarian and discussing your concerns. It may be helpful to bring a behavior diary documenting what you are observing as possible separation anxiety.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
My dog has severe separation anxiety and she shakes when we are about to leave and freaks in cage and usually lees and poops and is covered in it by time We get home, is there anything we can give her to remain calm while we are away? We can’t even l
That does sound pretty extreme. I would bring the issue up with your vet as they can provide a sedative that can help Lucy to relax some while you are away. I would also highly recommend trying to find a veterinary behaviorist in your area as this is an extreme response to separation anxiety. Veterinary behaviorists are veterinarians trained in behavior that can work with you both on training to help reduce the anxiety and behavior and combining it with medication so it is less stressful for everyone while the changes are made. If you'd like to learn more or find one in your area, you can follow this link: https://www.dacvb.org/page/about
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Who can I help my dog with separation anxiety? Every time I leave home she won’t eat or drink or play she just wines.
Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes for separation anxiety. It is a very complex problem and takes many months of working with a professional in-home dog trainer (plus or minus behavior modification medications from your vet) to correct this behavior. I strongly recommend you get a professional trainer to your home to check out her behavior and then they can help you make changes to help her get over the anxiety. It will not be easy and it won't be quick. I recommend Bark Busters and they have a trainer in your area. I believe they do a free initial consult. Trying to correct this on your own is not recommended as you could give her incorrect signals and actually make her worse. ( https://www.barkbusters.com/dog-training-winston-salem-greensboro ) Depending on the severity of the anxiety, most dogs will benefit from the short-term use of pheromones until the problem can be controlled. You can start Adaptil pheromones to see if it helps. ( https://www.adaptil.com/us/Produc
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
My 8 month old has super bad separation anxiety. Chews my stuff up because I left her at home and is now chewing my husband's stuff. Barks and pants all night. I don't know what to do
Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach to address your concern! Unfortunately, separation anxiety can be quite difficult to address for most dogs. I usually recommend a multi modal approach. I recommend the following non-prescription approach prior to anything prescription: 1. NaturVet Quiet Moments calm chews plus Melatonin (can be found online quite easily. 2. Adaptil pheromone collar 3. Adaptil diffuser 4. Thundershirt In combination with this, I typically recommend providing plenty of toys such as a kong toy filled with peanut butter and some other noise making toys. I have recently recommended a product called the Pet Cube. This allows you to watch him via an app on your phone remotely and you can even control a laser pointer and interact with him while you are away. If this does not work or the behavior worsens, I typically recommend adding in anti-anxiety medications such as Trazodone, Amitriptyline, Clomipramine (clomicalm), etc. in combination with the above recommendatio
Updated on September 24th, 2025
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