By Mark Siebel, Owner and Trainer, DOGGIE STEPS Dog Training
Quick Answer: A dog with separation anxiety chews, howls, has accidents, or paces only when it is left alone, and separation anxiety dog training works through gradual practice at being alone, a consistent departure routine, and positive reinforcement. Punishing the behavior after you get home does not help, because the dog cannot connect the two.
What Separation Anxiety Actually Looks Like
Separation anxiety is specific: the behavior only happens, or gets dramatically worse, when a dog is left alone. That detail separates it from general destructive behavior or boredom. A dog with separation anxiety might be perfectly calm with you home and fall apart within minutes of the door closing. For a second opinion on the signs, the American Kennel Club has a guide to separation anxiety in dogs.
Common Signs
- Destructive chewing or digging concentrated near doors and windows
- Howling, barking, or whining that starts shortly after you leave
- Accidents in the house, even in a fully house-trained dog
- Pacing, drooling, or panting that isn't tied to heat or exercise
- Attempts to escape a crate or the house itself
Signs usually start within minutes of you leaving and ease when you return. If you are not sure what happens while you are gone, a few minutes of phone video from another room shows you what your dog actually does, and it gives a trainer something concrete to work from.
What Doesn't Help
Punishing a dog for destructive behavior after you get home does not work, because the dog cannot connect a correction given after the fact to what caused it. It also adds stress on top of an already anxious dog, and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior advises against punishment-based methods. Leaving a dog to simply get used to being alone, without any structured approach, often makes the anxiety worse. There are no shock collars and no choke chains used ever.
What Separation Anxiety Dog Training Involves
Separation anxiety responds to gradual desensitization: short absences that build up slowly, paired with a consistent departure and return routine so the dog learns that being alone is safe. Positive reinforcement plays a role throughout, rewarding calm behavior during practice absences before the anxiety builds. Doggie Steps has also published a guide to practical anxiety remedies.
Doggie Steps builds this into either Board and Train, starting at $2,000, or four weeks of In-Home Dog Training starting at $650. Aggression and anxiety cases add to the starting cost, and Mark tells you the real number before you book. In-Home Dog Training often fits separation anxiety well, since the training happens in the exact environment where the anxiety shows up.
How Long Separation Anxiety Training Takes
Real progress on separation anxiety is measured in weeks, sometimes months, of consistent practice. Board and Train includes free lifetime follow-up support by text or email, which helps when the work needs check-ins well past the first sessions.
Building an Independence Routine at Home
Between sessions, a few habits at home make a real difference. Practicing short, low-key departures throughout the day, even when you are not leaving for long, helps a dog build tolerance without it always meaning a full day alone is coming. Keep departures and arrivals low-key, with no big emotional goodbye and no big excited greeting. That reduces the contrast between you being there and you being gone, which is part of what fuels the anxiety.
A consistent pre-departure routine, the same handful of steps in the same order before you leave, also helps, since an unpredictable routine can itself become a trigger that ramps up anxiety before you’re even out the door.
A simple way to start: pick one short absence your dog handles calmly, such as stepping outside for a minute, and practice it several times a day. Add time only after your dog stays relaxed at the current length. If your dog panics at any step, go back to the last length that went well and build up again from there.
When Separation Anxiety Needs Professional Help
Mild separation anxiety sometimes improves with consistent habits alone. If your dog is causing real damage to your home, injuring itself trying to escape, or the behavior has not improved after weeks of a consistent routine, it is time to bring in a trainer. Doggie Steps has worked anxiety cases since 2005 and takes dogs with serious anxiety. The Aggressive and Anxious Dog Training page lays out both service paths.
Why Separation Anxiety Needs a Different Approach Than Obedience Training
Separation anxiety is a panic response, so a standard obedience program does not fit it. A dog destroying a door frame while you are gone is in distress. Mark’s psychology background shapes how he reads these cases: he looks at what the dog is experiencing before building a plan.
How Board and Train and In-Home Dog Training Each Approach It
Board and Train, starting at $2,000 for one week or $3,900 for two weeks, can work well for dogs whose anxiety has become tangled up with the home environment itself, since a stretch of time somewhere else lets a calmer baseline get established before returning home. In-Home Dog Training, starting at $650 for four weeks of once-weekly sessions, works directly where the anxiety shows up, which some dogs and owners prefer since the practice happens in the exact rooms and routines involved. Aggression and anxiety cases add to the starting cost, and Mark tells you the real number before you book.
Board and Train clients also get free lifetime follow-up support by text or email, no charge, no hard cutoff. That matters for separation anxiety, since a move, a change in schedule, or a new pet can bring some of the anxiety back.
A Note on Crates and Separation Anxiety
Crating a dog with separation anxiety can help or hurt depending on how the dog was introduced to the crate. For some dogs, a crate becomes a safe, enclosed space that lowers anxiety during alone time. For others, especially dogs never properly crate trained, being confined during an anxious moment makes things worse. This is the kind of detail worth discussing before deciding on a training approach, since the wrong call can set progress back.
Separation anxiety is one of the more emotionally difficult things owners deal with, since it often means feeling guilty about leaving your own house. It can also improve with the right routine and enough time. The contact form is the fastest way to start, even if you only started noticing the signs this week. Mark reads every inquiry himself and answers by email or text, and he takes phone calls if you ask. Doggie Steps has been working with anxious dogs since 2005.
Frequently Asked Questions
Destructive chewing near doors or windows, howling or barking shortly after you leave, accidents in an otherwise house-trained dog, pacing, and attempts to escape a crate or the house.
It can come from a change in routine, a past traumatic experience, under-socialization, or an individual dog’s temperament.
No. A dog cannot connect a correction given after the fact to the behavior itself, and punishment adds stress without addressing the anxiety.
No. There are no shock collars and no choke chains used ever. Voice commands and visual signals combined with positive reinforcement is the training method used.
Gradual practice at being alone, paired with a consistent routine and rewards for calm behavior. Shock collars and choke chains are never part of it.
Most dogs need weeks to months of steady practice, and free lifetime follow-up support comes with Board and Train.
It depends on how your dog was introduced to the crate. For some dogs a crate is a safe space. For others, especially dogs never properly crate trained, being confined during an anxious moment makes things worse. Talk it through before choosing an approach.
About the Author
Mark Siebel has run DOGGIE STEPS Dog Training in Chandler, AZ since 2005. He has trained over 7,000 dogs since then, working hands on with every single client himself. Mark teaches the dog training portion of Pet Care Team Training, a certification program for professional pet sitters and dog walkers. He is one of five expert trainers in the course. He never uses shock collars or choke chains, and he still writes a handwritten thank you note to every customer he works with.
