Signs of Separation Anxiety in Dogs – How to Tell if Your Dog Has Separation Anxiety
Monday, January 19, 2026
Want to know how to tell if your dog has separation anxiety? Learn the signs of separation anxiety in dogs from a dog behavior specialist.
Monday, January 19, 2026
Heather Smith
You’ve done everything to make sure your dog is comfortable before you leave, but your neighbors still inform you that your dog is barking constantly while you’re away.
This is one of the classic signs of separation anxiety in dogs, and you’re not alone.
It is estimated that 53% of dog owners struggle with separation anxiety in dogs in America.
So how can you really be sure that dog separation anxiety is what you’re dealing with?
I’ve listed the signs for you in this short article.
How to Tell if Your Dog Has Separation Anxiety
The best way to catch some of the signs of separation anxiety in dogs is to set up a camera – better yet: multiple cameras for different views – and leave the house for a time, just like you normally would. Once you get back, replay the footage and take notes with timestamps of events that occurred. You may want to do this a few days in a row to see what behaviors are consistently happening.
Signs of Separation Anxiety in Dogs
Some of these signs happen while you are at home, while others happen specifically while you are away.
Signs of separation anxiety in dogs:
- Dog pacing around house
- Constantly following you, a “Velcro” dog
- Dog is destructive when left alone
- Barks or whines while you’re away from home
- Trembling when you get ready to leave, even when they’re not cold
- Showing the whites of their eyes when you go through your leaving routine
- Overly-exuberant greetings
- Urinates when left alone, even when they were just out to pee before you left
Signs of severe separation anxiety in dogs:
- Dog never seems at ease
- Hardly ever lies on their dog bed
- Gets up at the slightest sound or movement in the house
- Dog does not take their eyes off of you when you are home
- Dog is destructive when left alone
- Dog self-mutilates
- Constantly howls, barks and whines the whole time you’re gone
- Busts out of their crate, bending wires, hurting themselves
If your dog is showing any of these signs of separation anxiety, don’t wait to get help.
I want to send you the first step on How to Fix Separation Anxiety in Dogs - The Fast Method That Actually Works!
Sign up on this page and I’ll send you the little-known method to stop separation anxiety in dogs fast.
I've used it on my own dog to fix his severe dog separation anxiety.
It has worked for dogs like Remi, a Chihuahua who cried the whole time his dog-mom was at work. He now calmly snoozes while she is away and happily greets her when she returns home.
This method also helped Lily, a Lab/German Shepherd Mix with a severe case of dog separation anxiety who displayed all of the behaviors on the list! She now has the ability to relax and no longer pesters everyone constantly.
This method gets to the root cause of canine separation anxiety, so the results last.
Every single dog owner who I’ve taught this method to has witnessed rapid improvements in their dog’s behavior within the first week, fixing their dog’s separation anxiety in anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months, rather than months and years!
And you know what’s sad? No one is talking about this method in any of the dog separation anxiety articles or videos available online. No one but me. Trust me; I’ve done some deep searching.
If you’re ready to stop dog separation anxiety now, sign up on this page: How to Fix Separation Anxiety in Dogs - The Fast Method That Actually Works, and I’ll send you the little-known method to stop separation anxiety in dogs fast.
Your friendly dog behavior specialist,
Heather Smith, Dog Trainer and Dog Behaviorist at Pet Lover’s Passion
Hi, I'm Heather!
Dog Trainer & Dog Behaviorist
Cat Trainer & Cat Behaviorist
Pet Lover's Passion provides educational benefits to private members to enrich the lives of members and their animals through quality training for fun and enrichment as well as to solve animal behavior issues.
Our Director, Heather Smith, is an Animal Behavior College Certified Dog Trainer (ABCDT) and a dog behavior specialist with 17+ years of experience in training dogs and cats.
She specializes in relationship based dog training, puppy training, training for fearful dogs, dog separation anxiety, dog obedience training, and cat training.
Heather passionately advocates that training should be fun and good training is about building a healthy relationship of trust with your dog (or cat)! By using relationship-based training methods, treats are not needed, especially for solving problem behaviors.
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