{"id":4941,"date":"2018-11-29T09:57:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T08:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/?p=4941"},"modified":"2019-09-29T18:13:02","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T16:13:02","slug":"separation-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/separation-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"Separation anxiety &#8211; an interview with Eva Bertilsson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Separation anxiety, or to be more precise, separation-related problem behaviour (not necessarily caused by anxiety), is common in dogs.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1148\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1148\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/15427385_s-e1463424880537.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1148 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/15427385_s-e1463424880537.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"414\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/15427385_s-e1463424880537.jpg 450w, https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/15427385_s-e1463424880537-300x276.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1148\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">About 50% of family dogs will show problem behaviour, related to separations, at some point in their lives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>What do we know about this phenomenon? Which dogs show it, and when?<\/li>\n<li>What can we do to prevent, reduce or eliminate it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As you know if you&#8217;ve been reading this blog for a while, I&#8217;m not a dog person. I haven&#8217;t lived with this problem, I haven&#8217;t worked personally on such topics.<\/p>\n<p>But, in 2016, I interviewed my friend Eva Bertilsson, who as it so happens did her Master\u2019s thesis on the subject. You may recognize Eva\u2019s genius from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.carpemomentum.nu\/english\/\">Carpe Momentum<\/a>, as a level 3 Tag Teach instructor, a Clicker Expo faculty member, or perhaps from her old days as an Agility Pro (gold medal in the Swedish Championships).<\/p>\n<p>This interview has been a part of the content offered exclusively to the students of my <a href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/education\/courses\/animal-emotions-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Animal Emotions course<\/a>, but I decided to share it with the readers of this blog!<\/p>\n<p>This audio interview is 35 minutes &#8211; just press the little orange button at the top left of the image below to start listening.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/526124553&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>(Yes, that&#8217;s me (left) and Eva (to the right)! We&#8217;re wearing these goofy smiles because we were on our way to the first ever Tag Teach Summit, in Verona. Crossing the river on an old stone bridge, as I recall)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here are the main points that we cover in our discussion of Separated Related Problem Behaviour (SRPB):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Which types of behaviours are typically shown<\/li>\n<li>Which types of dogs show them<\/li>\n<li>The types of events that trigger the onset of SRPB<\/li>\n<li>Whether single-household dogs or multiple-household dogs show them<\/li>\n<li>Types of treatments and their outcomes<\/li>\n<li>Decoupling triggers from leaving<\/li>\n<li>Systematic desensitization and counter conditioning<\/li>\n<li>How well people follow instructions \u2013 which instructions are followed, which are not<\/li>\n<li>Medication and what we know about how well they work<\/li>\n<li>How making changes to the environment may help<\/li>\n<li>Limiting space \u2013 using crates. Is this useful?<\/li>\n<li>Why dogs develop SRPB<\/li>\n<li>Is SRPB due to boredom or loneliness?<\/li>\n<li>Eva\u2019s own experimental study<\/li>\n<li>Eva\u2019s results that open up new possibilities for prevention\/treatment<\/li>\n<li>Eva\u2019s recommendations on how to prevent SRPB \u2013 and what not to do<\/li>\n<li>Environmental design and enrichment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have 35 minutes, <a href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/11\/Eva-Bertilsson-interview-on-Separation-Anxiety.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u2019s a transcription of our conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And if you\u2019d like to read Eva\u2019s finalized Master\u2019s paper, <a href=\"http:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/Master-thesis-Eva-Bertilsson-Separation-related-behavior-in-dogs-2016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here it is!!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally, this discussion prompted me to question and discuss <a href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/maternal-separation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">whether we separate dogs too early from their moms<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The interview was made in 2016. What\u2019s happened since then \u2013 what potentially effective treatments have been found? A quick search of the scientific literature gives this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Petting a dog immediately before a short separation reduced heart rate, and dogs displayed calmer behaviour while waiting for their owner\u2019s return.<\/li>\n<li>Oxytocin could potentially be used to treat separation-related problem behaviour (SRPB), but it hasn\u2019t been evaluated yet.<\/li>\n<li>The owner\u2019s odor, and voice, can potentially help manage SRPB.<\/li>\n<li>Separation anxiety is more common in breeds that were developed to cooperate with humans than in breeds whose main task is to work independently.<\/li>\n<li>It seems that dogs are generally not helped by having other dogs in the household, but there is some evidence that the presence of a cat may help (I heard this on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.animaltrainingacademy.com\/podcast\/training-tidbits\/malena-demartini\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Animal Training Academy&#8217;s podcast with Malena Demartini<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Have you successfully reduced or eliminated separation-related problem behaviour in your dog? Please share with us in the comments\u2019 section what worked \u2013 and what didn\u2019t!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><em>I give online courses about how to get happy animals that are reasonably well behaved and thrive with people. Want to be notified whenever those courses are open for admission? Sign up below, and I\u2019ll also keep you posted on whenever I offer a free webinar or publish new blog posts!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>[embed_popupally_pro popup_id=&#8221;14&#8243;]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>References:<\/p>\n<p>Mariti et al. (2018). Effects of petting before a brief separation from the owner on dog behavior and physiology: A pilot study.<\/p>\n<p>Shin &amp; Shin (2016). Evaluation of effects of olfactory and auditory stimulation on separation anxiety by salivary cortisol measurement in dogs.<\/p>\n<p>Thielke &amp; Udell (2017). The role of oxytocin in relationships between dogs and humans and potential applications for the treatment of separation anxiety in dogs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Separation anxiety, or to be more precise, separation-related problem behaviour (not necessarily caused by anxiety), is common in dogs. What do we know about this phenomenon? Which dogs show it, and when? What can we do to prevent, reduce or eliminate it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4941"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5632,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions\/5632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}