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 distres