Rethinking Separation Anxiety

Rethinking Separation Anxiety: Understanding Separation Distress in Dogs


Do you suspect your dog suffers from separation anxiety? It's time to reconsider. Your pet might instead be experiencing separation distress, a less severe but equally impactful condition. By understanding this distinction, you can better address your pet's needs and improve their quality of life.


Separation Distress: More Common Than You Think

Unlike separation anxiety, separation distress is not as extreme but still impacts a dog's well-being. It's often triggered by lifestyle factors and mental issues such as noise phobias, fear, stress, boredom, frustration, and high arousal, among other things.


The Telltale Signs: Separation Anxiety vs Separation Distress


A key distinguishing characteristic lies in the dogs' activity levels during separation. Dogs with separation anxiety maintained their activity level throughout the entire separation period. On the other hand, dogs with separation distress displayed decreased activity levels the longer they were alone.


A study by Konok et al. (2011) shed light on another of the behavioural differences. Dogs with separation anxiety didn't exhibit any more intense greeting behaviour than those without, but they were not easily calmed when reunited with their owners. This is probably due to the fact they are all worked up from their contact level of activities (coping behaviour) while you have been gone.



Why a Home Camera Can Make All the Difference

Home surveillance isn't just for security; it's also a useful tool for understanding your pet's behaviour in your absence. Here's why installing a home camera can be beneficial:

  1. Understanding what’s actually happening: Video footage can provide insights into your pet's behaviour during the periods you are not around.
  2. Identifying potential triggers: Cameras can help catch potential triggers of distress, such as noisy neighbours or unfamiliar sounds.
  3. Read their body language: Understand the emotion/ cause behind the Behaviours
  4. Measuring reaction time: By observing how long your dog reacts to your absence.


Hopefully you’ve learnt something here and understanding that if you’re treating this distress case and an Anxiety case, you’re going to get no where with training. Leaving the house for a few seconds and then minutes and slowly increasing the time is not how we help most of separation cases and this is exactly why.


The Separation Series has officially started on MK9Plus.com and is going to be one of the biggest yet, due to all the info and help you will be getting/ needing to understand and truly help your specific dog. 


Welcome to Modern and Qualified Dog Training! Join MK9Plus.com Now, FOR FREE 

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