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posted by martyb on Thursday March 19 2020, @08:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the dogged-determination dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Separation anxiety in dogs should be seen as a symptom of underlying frustrations rather than a diagnosis, and understanding these root causes could be key to effective treatment, new research by animal behaviour specialists suggests.

Many pet owners experience problem behaviour in their dogs when leaving them at home. These behaviours can include destruction of household items, urinating or defecating indoors, or excessive barking and are often labelled as 'separation anxiety' as the dog gets anxious at the prospect of being left alone.

Treatment plans tend to focus on helping the dog overcome the 'pain of separation', but the current work indicates dealing with various forms of frustration is a much more important element of the problem.

[...] The team, led by scientists from the University of Lincoln, UK, identified four main forms of distress for dogs when separated from their owners. These include a focus on getting away from something in the house, wanting to get to something outside, reacting to external noises or events, and a form of boredom.

[...] Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, said: "Until now, there has been a tendency to think of this as a single condition, ie "My dog has got separation anxiety" and then to focus on the dependence on the owner and how to make them more independent. However, this new work indicates that having separation anxiety is more like saying "My dog's got an upset tummy" which could have many causes and take many forms, and so both assessment and treatment need to be much more focussed.

Journal Reference:

Luciana S. de Assis, Raquel Matos, Thomas W. Pike, Oliver H. P. Burman, Daniel S. Mills. Developing Diagnostic Frameworks in Veterinary Behavioral Medicine: Disambiguating Separation Related Problems in Dogs. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2020; 6 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2019.00499


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @01:54PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @01:54PM (#973152)

    Dogs are not house pets.
    This is the fundamental problem.
    People want to treat them just like a cat and keep them inside while they are at work all day, but that is absolutely unnatural for a dog. They really are outside animals. Most of them were also bred to have a job to do, such as a Lab. People don't give them a job and so the dog goes nuts.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @03:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @03:48PM (#973207)

    Sounds a lot like my high school.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @10:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @10:38PM (#973323)

    We are babysitting my cousin's cats and one of them can not stand being alone. If we leave him alone he would meow by the door and wouldn't stop. Sometimes he may do something destructive like knock something over but I think it's out of anxiety and panicking and fear not so much out of spite. He would seem remorseful after for instance, he's a good cat. (For instance if he accidentally peed on the floor he would look down and go into his little cat house and act sad and when we clean it up he would go back to the place and sniff it and look at us as if to say he's sorry but this has nothing to do with being alone). I think he just gets afraid or something to be by himself. If he is either with a person or with his companion cat he is fine though. The other cat does not mind being by herself though. Weird.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @10:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 19 2020, @10:40PM (#973324)

      (and, no, we would not get mad at him for making an accident. We pretty much forget about it and just pet him and let him know it's OK but regardless he would still have that remorseful look on his face as if to say sorry and he would sniff the carpet several times after it's been cleaned and look at us).