Common Symptoms of Separation Anxiety

There is no definite evidence showing precisely why dogs develop separation anxiety. However, because dogs who have been adopted from shelters have this behavior problem more than those who grew up in a single family since puppyhood, it is considered that the loss of a significant person or people in a dog’s life can trigger separation anxiety.

Excessive Barking

Some dogs might bark or howl when separated from their guardian. This barking or howling is tenacious and doesn’t seem to be elicited by anything except being left alone.

Defecating and Urinating

Most dogs defecate and urinate when separated from their guardian. If a dog defecates or urinates in the existence of his guardian, his home soiling perhaps isn’t caused by separation anxiety.

Escaping

Many dogs with separation anxiety might try to escape from an area where their guardian left them. The dog might shoot to dig and chew through windows or doors, which could cause self-injury, such as cutting and scraping front paws, broken teeth, and damaged nails. Again, this behavior doesn’t occur when his guardian is present.

Chewing, Digging, and Destruction

A dog with separation anxiety chews on objects, windowsills, or door frames, destroy household objects, and digs at doors and doorways when left alone by their guardians. These activities can result in self-injury, cut and scraped paws, such as broken teeth and damaged nails. If your dog is chewing, digging, and destroying, this can be caused by separation anxiety, and they don’t generally occur in his guardian’s existence.

Pacing

Some dogs walk or trot along a definite trail in a fixed pattern when left alone or separated from their guardian. Some pacing dogs walk back and forth in straight lines while others move around in circular patterns. If a dog’s pacing behavior is caused by separation anxiety, it usually doesn’t happen when his guardian is present.

Coprophagia

Some dogs defecate and then eat all or some of their excrement when left or separated from their guardians. If the dog eats excrement because of separation anxiety, he possibly doesn’t do that behavior in the existence of his guardian.