So barking and whining may be normal canine responses to isolation. However, when these behaviors are excessive and include destruction of property, digging, inappropriate urination and defecation or escape behavior, it is sometimes refereed to clinically as a detachment or separation anxiety disorder. If a dog is punished for these actions, the resulting increase in the animal s anxiety level can make the whole situation worse. In order to treat the disorder, it is necessary to understand exactly what is happening and to help the dog adjust to the separation from its human family with a behavioral treatment plan. The first thing you need to do is to observe the dog without him knowing it in order to determine how long he or she waits before responding inappropriately to the separation.
Some dogs begin in one minute or less while others wait a half hour or so.
Once you have an idea of this you can work on correcting the problem. It is helpful to teach the dog to relax prior to working on the actual behavioral problem. Teaching Down and Stay with you while you are in the room can hopefully generalise to contexts in which the dog is left alone. A family member can practice graduated departures, first commanding the dog to lie down and stay and then leaving for a few seconds, returning while the dog is quiet and then praising it for the appropriate silence. The duration of absence is then gradually increased.