Separation anxiety appears when a dog is left alone at home. The signs are barking or howling, destruction, and urinating or defecating indoors — always in the owner’s absence. It is not disobedience or revenge: it is distress. Treatment is gradual behaviour modification, and a physical cause should be ruled out first.
Key facts:
- When it happens: only when the dog is left alone.
- Signs: barking and howling, destruction, urine or faeces indoors, drooling, pacing.
- Most common in: young dogs and senior dogs.
- It is not revenge: the dog is panicking, not punishing you.
- Treatment: gradual behaviour modification — teaching the dog that you always come back.
- Exercise and play before you leave help considerably.
The chewed sofa is not spite. A dog with separation anxiety is genuinely panicking, and punishing it on your return makes the next departure more frightening, not less.
What is separation anxiety?
It is a state of genuine distress that appears when the dog is separated from the people it is attached to. The defining feature is the timing: the behaviour happens only in your absence, and typically starts within the first twenty or thirty minutes after you leave. A dog that chews when you are at home is bored or under-exercised; a dog that only ever chews when you are out is anxious.
What are the signs?
The classic triad is vocalisation (barking, howling, whining), destruction — often focused on doors, windows and exits, which is telling — and house soiling by a dog that is otherwise perfectly clean. You may also see drooling, pacing, panting, escape attempts and, in severe cases, self-injury. Neighbours often report the barking before the owner realises anything is wrong.
Which dogs are most affected?
It is more frequent in young dogs and in senior dogs. In older animals it can overlap with cognitive dysfunction, which is one reason a veterinary assessment matters. Dogs that have changed home, been rehomed, or whose routine has suddenly changed — a household that used to be occupied all day and now is empty — are also at higher risk.
Rule out a physical cause first
Before treating it as a behavioural problem, the vet should rule out a medical one. House soiling can be a urinary infection or incontinence; restlessness and vocalising at night can be pain or cognitive decline. Treating anxiety in a dog that actually has a bladder problem helps nobody.
How is it treated?
With gradual behaviour modification, whose whole purpose is to teach the dog, in increments it can cope with, that you always come back. That means practising very short absences — seconds, then minutes — and building up slowly, so the dog never reaches the point of panic. It also means playing down departures and arrivals: no emotional goodbyes, no ecstatic reunions. The less significant leaving becomes, the less it frightens.
Beyond that: give the dog exercise and play before you go, so it is tired rather than wound up; leave it something absorbing to do, such as a food puzzle; and keep a predictable routine. In severe cases, your vet may recommend medication alongside the behavioural work — as support, never as a substitute.
What should I not do?
Do not punish the dog on your return. It cannot connect your anger to something it did two hours earlier; all it learns is that your homecoming is frightening, which makes the anxiety worse. And do not get a second dog as a cure — it rarely works, and you may simply end up with two anxious dogs.
Frequently asked questions
Is my dog destroying things out of spite?
No. It is panicking. Destruction, barking and soiling in your absence are signs of distress, not revenge.
Will getting another dog fix it?
Usually not. The attachment is to you, not to canine company in general.
Should I say a long goodbye before leaving?
No. Play departures and arrivals down. Emotional goodbyes make leaving more significant, and therefore more frightening.
Can medication help?
In severe cases, alongside behaviour modification — never instead of it. Your vet will decide.
Anxiety brings consultations, behavioural work and sometimes swallowed objects that need surgery. Petplan España (Petplan Ibérica, S.L.) reimburses 100% of the vet bill up to €3,100 a year, with a €45 excess, at any vet you choose. See the policy terms.
