Separation Distress

Question 1

Know the diagnostic criteria (common symptoms) for and separation anxiety in dogs

Answer 1

clinical signs:
1. vocalization
2. house soiling
3. destructive behavior: tearing or chewing through walls and doors
4. self injury (escape attempts, look in the mouth for injury to teeth! and also check nails)
5. excessive salivation, pacing, GI upset, anorexia, withdrawal or inactivity, trembling

all of these happen only when owners are gone! so will just see evidence of this or hear neighbors complaining about
-will occur within a short period of time after owner leaves, ask for 10-15 min of video once they leave house
-need to see confined and not confined (2 separate videos to see if crate aversion)

many of these dogs also meet the criteria for phobia

differential diagnoses for house soiling:
lack of/loss of house training
UTI

Question 2

what is separation anxiety?

Answer 2

distress response to complete separation from primary attachment figures (usually human)

Question 3

what can trigger the onset of separation anxiety?

Answer 3

1. change in owner work schedule
2. new family member
3. following boarding or a hospital stay
4. adoption from animal shelter
5. geriatric pets
6. change in family structure

Question 4

what happens before owners leave in a dog with separation anxiety?

Answer 4

1. hide
2. look anxious or depressed
3. follow owner around during pre-departure routine
4. refuse to enter crate
5. prevent owner from leaving

pre-departure routine is an example of classical conditioning

Question 5

desribe diagnosis of separation anxiety

Answer 5

1. signs of anxiety, fear, or pain occurring only when owners leave
2. pet is home without human companionship
3. pre-departure signals
4. response is often immediate

Question 6

Understand the differences between separation anxiety, barrier frustration, confinement distress and hyper-attachment in dogs

Answer 6

hyper attachment/velcro dogs: no more likely to have separation anxiety than dogs with normal attachment

confinement distress/barrier frustration: exhibit signs of anxiety only when confined or when anticipating confinement; can occur WITH or without presence of owner (denied access to an area, placed in a room with door closed, crated for transport)
-is why you need a video of dog not inc rate when owners not home to determine if this or separation anxiety

separation occurs without or without confinement when dog is physically separated from family members

Question 7

Understand the behavior modification exercises used to treat separation anxiety, and the learning principles associated with those techniques

Answer 7

1. no delayed corrections! can’t punish for something that happened hours ago when you get home
2. minimize departures and arrivals within a day: won’t fix but will help
   -having people come in and out won’t help!
3. extinguish classically conditioned fear response to stimuli that have become conditioned stimuli for anxiety response
   -NOT DESENSITIZATION; desensitization is hard because you need dog to be calm to progress, and is very slow progress that way so instead use #4
4. conditioned inhibition/inhibitory classical condition: graduated departure exercised using safety signal
   -safety signal to cue ultra short departure (not giving dog meds for the time away) can be auditory with a visual element (whistle or harmonica)
   -do trial departures that are initially very brief with a consistent safety signal, gradually increase length of departures with signal;
   -1-2 departures each day; NEVER use signal for extended absences until they have worked up to that duration
5. environmental management:
   -take pet to work, use a pet sitter, pet-proof home, confinement, daycare

Question 8

Review the medication options for treating separation anxiety in dogs for both maintenance and acute management

Answer 8

1. tricyclic antidepressants- approved
   -clomipramine/clomicalm: 2mg/kg q12hr
2. SSRIs- approved
   -reconcile
   -improvement within 1 week
3. azapirone/buspirone
4. gabapentin: fast acting
5. venlafaxine