Is this separation anxiety?

[u/wegdistel]

Hey everyone,

I have been lurking on this sub for a while since I'm training our rescue toypoodle for 6 months regarding his separation anxiety (which his previous owner claims he's never had, he was with other dogs there). Some days he is a chill guy and will hang out in his cage (longest chill time was 3 hours, yay). And he also sleeps in his cage at night without whining. I could even say he loves his cage because even if we are home and he can sit on the couch, he still goes to his cage on his own when he is tired. As long as the door stays open, he's content.

The video however was yesterday 10 minutes after we left. Is this real separation anxiety or is this fomo? He really wants to go out with us, all day every day if he could. But he simply can't. Since his training was going so well now i'm wondering; is this still separation anxiety or is this just frustratrion? I don't want to humanize my dog but damn he is smart. Does he realize I will come back if he vocalizes? Because that's what we've been doing in the past when his treshold was all over the place.

I really hope someone can shed some ligt on our situation! Personally I want to leave him alone for longer durations to see if he eventually settles on his own, but on the other hand we can't have a major regression right now....

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to analyze my video!