Behavioural Issues

Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety is a common behaviour in dogs-especially rescues. There are four distinct anxieties and one non-anxiety issue that are often clumped together and labeled as "separation anxiety". Understanding the motive behind the anxiety helps treat the root cause and make rehabilitation a lot easier.

1. True Separation Anxiety

This is defined as a dog that has a major attachment to a specific person and becomes anxious when that person is not with the dog. Having another person or dog around usually helps little, if at all. The environment the dog is left in usually doesn't matter, though a familiar environment is often less stressful than an unfamiliar one. This anxiety often lasts for the entire duration the person is gone. The dog may not eat, play or do any normal behaviour while their person is away. True separation anxiety is actually rather uncommon.

2. Isolation Anxiety

This anxiety applies to dogs that are just anxious being alone, or being without people; not a specific person. Having any person around significantly reduces or removes any anxiety that the dog is experiencing. Sometimes having another pet around has the same effect, but not always. This anxiety usually lasts the entire time the dog is alone. The dog will not take food, even really tasty food, while they are alone. Sometimes, if brought along in a car, these dogs will stay calm during the separation, but often they will be just as anxious being left in the car. This is the most common cause of "separation anxiety" complaints and generally develops because the dog was never taught how to deal with being alone properly as a puppy, and the normal puppy fears escalated.

3. Confinement Anxiety

Crating a dog when people are gone is becoming increasingly common. It is usually done to aid in housebreaking, and to prevent a dog from getting into things or participating in unwanted behaviours (such as barking out the window all day) while the owner is not home. Confinement anxiety is exactly that. The dog is anxious when being confined in things like a crate or small bathroom. The dog feels trapped and without an escape route from any perceived danger, causing the dog to get anxious. Often, the dog is anxious for the entire time they are confined, and often cause damage to themselves, the crate or door, and anything else in range. A dog with confinement anxiety will not usually eat treats when confined, even if their people are standing right next to them. Sometimes having people home and in the room helps them to tolerate it better, and they won't panic. But they will still show body language and signs of stress when confined. This is pretty common in dogs that were crated without being trained to be comfortable in a crate, have been forced into a crate in the past or have had a fearful experience while being crated. Usually a dog with only confinement anxiety is comfortable being left alone, as long as it is free to move about the home.

4. Abandonment Anxiety

Rather than fearing being alone, the dog is anxious of the event of people going and them being left behind or left out. Sometimes this is due to them fearing missing out on a fun event, but most of the time it is fear that if you go, you wont come back. In these cases, dogs start exhibiting signs of anxiety far before the person actually leaves. It starts when they blow dry their hair, put on makeup, and do other daily routine things that means that they are leaving. The actual act of leaving causes the dog extreme stress, but often the dog calms down once they have been alone for 10-15 minutes. While this seems like the easiest form of anxiety to manage, the dog can still do a lot of damage to the home and themselves during the initial panic attack. Dogs with this type of anxiety will often eat or play when alone once they get over the initial panic spike. Often these dogs will not display any anxiety if left alone in a car, as to them, this means they get to "come along". This is also a very common anxiety that often does not get treatment until it escalates into full blown isolation anxiety, which it often does if not worked through.

Boredom Behaviour

Although sometimes this is thought to be anxiety, this isn't anxiety at all. It's usually due to a dog just not getting enough stimulation in its life, and not taught to cope with downtime or relaxing time. These dogs are comfortable being left alone, however they get bored and frustrated and need to DO something to gain mental and physical stimulation. This causes them to perform unwanted behaviours, with results that are similar to those shown in dogs with anxiety. These include destructive behaviour like getting into the garbage, barking excessively out the window, knocking over furniture, etc. In anxious dogs, destruction is usually targeted at doors and windows -methods of leaving the home to be back with their people. In bored dogs, the mayhem is general and not confined to one specific place. Barking is not general, often continuous vocalization as in anxious dogs, but targeted barking at people/dogs/animals/noises outside of the home. Creating a fulfilling lifestyle for a dog, working gradually on impulse control, and teaching a dog how to cope with boredom and downtime in an appropriate manner usually fixes this quickly.

Resource Guarding

Resource Guarding refers to a dog displaying behaviour (growling, snapping, lunging, etc.) intended to convince other dogs or humans to stay away from a particular treasure or 'resource', such as food, toys, a couch or a person.