What? Separation anxiety is usually worsened by ignoring them. Now every dog is different for sure, but generally the best way to treat separation anxiety is to be excited to see the dog when you return, and never scold it or yell at it for things it may have done while you were gone.
Recent studies have shown that doesn’t seem to affect separation anxiety as much as previously thought. More study is needed, but if your dog doesn’t have separation anxiety, it doesn’t seem like having high excited energy when you return will increase their chance of developing it.
“From both experiment 1 and 2, our results indicate that high excitement and playful levels of owners during departures and arrivals is not associated with the development of increased separation-related behavior in newly adopted dogs. It is important to make the distinction, however, that low arousal departures and arrivals are a well-documented treatment for separation-related behavior, and our results only reflect that these arousal levels do not appear to play a causal role in the development of an increased frequency of them.”
Interesting study. Would be interested in seeing other data points on what behaviors are improved or reduced on high or low excitement.
Personally, I’ll still remain low energy. I want my dog to not rush the door when myself or anyone else comes to my house. I want to control exactly when it’s safe for my dog to go bonkers.
I’ve seen far too many dogs mug guests, and it’s much nicer having that encounter further into the house than the entryway.
What? Separation anxiety is usually worsened by ignoring them. Now every dog is different for sure, but generally the best way to treat separation anxiety is to be excited to see the dog when you return, and never scold it or yell at it for things it may have done while you were gone.
You don’t want leaving or coming home to be a special event.
You’re not ignoring the dog, you’re just not getting them wound up in those specific situations.
Recent studies have shown that doesn’t seem to affect separation anxiety as much as previously thought. More study is needed, but if your dog doesn’t have separation anxiety, it doesn’t seem like having high excited energy when you return will increase their chance of developing it.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787820300460?via=ihub
From the abstract
“From both experiment 1 and 2, our results indicate that high excitement and playful levels of owners during departures and arrivals is not associated with the development of increased separation-related behavior in newly adopted dogs. It is important to make the distinction, however, that low arousal departures and arrivals are a well-documented treatment for separation-related behavior, and our results only reflect that these arousal levels do not appear to play a causal role in the development of an increased frequency of them.”
Interesting study. Would be interested in seeing other data points on what behaviors are improved or reduced on high or low excitement.
Personally, I’ll still remain low energy. I want my dog to not rush the door when myself or anyone else comes to my house. I want to control exactly when it’s safe for my dog to go bonkers.
I’ve seen far too many dogs mug guests, and it’s much nicer having that encounter further into the house than the entryway.