Canine separation anxiety overview

When you come home to greet your dog after a long day, the last thing you want to find is soiled carpet, shredded upholstery, scratched moldings or chewed up shoes. Worrying about damage and destruction to your home causes anxiety and frustration for you. It may even cause you to question whether you should have a dog.

But those behaviors may not happen because your dog is bad, poorly trained or spoiled. They may be the symptoms of a treatable condition: separation anxiety. Separation anxiety results when your pet becomes so upset by your absence the stress causes him to behave badly. While separation anxiety affects 10.7 million or 17 percent of dogs^[1] in the United States, it is a common but treatable condition. Veterinarians estimate nearly 60 percent of cases go undiagnosed.^[2]