Managing Canine
Separation Anxiety

Your dog’s behavior while you’re away causes stress for both of you. Your dog is anxious and acts badly. You might be angry and frustrated when you return to see the result of this behavior: soiled carpets, torn furniture, or worse. This affects the healthy, loving relationship you want with your pet. Treating separation anxiety with a combination of medication and behavior modification may help reduce these unwanted behaviors, allowing you to regain a positive emotional connection with your pet.

You’ve tried everything…

Because you care about your dog, you may have tried many different ways of dealing with separation anxiety. Here are some of the more common approaches — and why they don’t always work.

Crating your dog

One common behavior among dogs suffering from separation anxiety is attempting to escape confinement and find their owners. Crating or containing your dog can result in destruction of the crate or room or in self-injury if she tries to escape. In fact, this practice can escalate symptoms instead of relieving them.

Leaving the radio or TV on

Your dog is anxious about being separated from you. A radio or TV is no substitute for the human they’ve bonded with.

Obedience training

Some people believe their dogs are simply misbehaving, so they enroll in obedience training. Obedience training, while helpful for teaching your dog to respond to commands while you are with him, is different from behavior modification training. Learn why behavior modification training can be helpful for treating canine separation anxiety.

You are part of the solution

Because separation anxiety is a clinical condition, it can be possible to treat it with a combination of medication and training, also known as behavior modification. Elanco’s Reconcile^® (fluoxetine hydrochloride) for the treatment of canine separation anxiety is a chewable, flavored tablet given once daily. It is FDA-approved for use in dogs in conjunction with a behavior modification plan. When given in combination with the BOND™ simple training plan, Reconcile has shown significant results in treating separation anxiety.

Practicing BOND behavior modification training each day along with the daily dose of Reconcile — and reinforcing it after treatment with Reconcile — will help you manage your dog’s separation anxiety and reduce behaviors associated with the condition.

Time apart will be less stressful for both you and your dog, and your time together will be more enjoyable.

Learn more about Reconcile, the BOND training plan and how your veterinarian can help.