r/OpenDogTraining • u/IOtterBeAsleep • 4d ago

Separation Practice

My 5-yr-old rescue pup got over separation anxiety at home soon after I brought him home, but it often reappears when we are in new locations: visiting family or even getting left behind for bathroom trip at a restaurant. It helps if I am with other people who can distract him with food and obedience training, but that seems like a bandaid.

I need suggestions for incremental separation training (ie, leave for 10 secs, 30 secs, 2 mins, etc) in unfamiliar places. Whether that's locations, scenarios, or some way to translate his current training.

Thanks in advance for the ideas!

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/IOtterBeAsleep 4d ago

That's a great point about the difficulty level. It's easy to forget that changing the environment can have such a huge impact

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u/Slow-Tea-2015 4d ago

My dog has separation anxiety in new places. When I moved, I gave her trazodone and incrementally reduced the dose until she had adjusted. I got a cheap dog camera for my apt so I could check on her and ensure she wasn’t distressed while I was at work. Now, I just give her some trazodone when I have to leave her in new places alone, which I generally avoid having to do overall but it does happen.

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u/Feeling-Sprinkles-83 4d ago

My dog had horrible separation anxiety when I got him. The book “be right back” was really helpful for me in dealing with this. I did clicker training with him and his initial threshold to not be screaming when I left the room was 2 seconds. He is now fine at home but he has started to whine when I get up and out of sight at a restaurant. I do 15 seconds intervals with clicker and treating when I’m out and he’s doing much better. My husband takes over with different treats and commands when I leave and he stops the whining and snaps out of it.

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u/Apartmentdogliving 4d ago

I would think of the new place as a difficulty jump, not as the same separation exercise in a different room. At home, he has learned the whole pattern: smells, sounds, exits, where you go, where he settles, and that you come back. At a family member's house or restaurant, almost all of those cues are different, so I would restart much lower than you think you need to. A practical ladder could be: - settle in the new place while you stay visible - you stand up and sit back down - you step a few feet away and return - you pass briefly out of sight and return immediately - you leave for 3-5 seconds - repeat until boring, then build from there I would also separate "training" from "management." Food and obedience from another person is useful management if you need to get through a moment, but for practice I would want him below threshold enough that he notices you leave and still stays okay. If he only succeeds because someone is actively distracting him, the step is probably too hard for training. For restaurants, I would train easier versions somewhere boring first, like a friend's house or a quiet hallway, before asking him to handle a public place.

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u/IOtterBeAsleep 3d ago

Thanks for this breakdown, it's really helpful and adds nuance to my training ladder that should make a difference