In multi-dog homes, do dogs who have ‘separation anxiety’ experience symptoms when?
other DOGS in the family are away from home? Suppose there are two dogs in the family and one is said to have separation anxiety, because it whines and scratches at the door continuously when the owner is away from home. If the OTHER DOG is away, will the dog with separation anxiety howl and scratch at the door until it returns?
Say, in the example, the second dog has been dropped off at the groomer, and the owner is back at home with the first dog.
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:36 am
I have four dogs and am constantly taking one or two places at a time. I do this on a regular basis mainly because of the simple fact it does get the used to being home and not all together all the time.
At my house it is not so much separation anxiety, but I do have one dog that gets extremely jealous when they are not the one accompanying me. I say tough sh*t!
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:01 am
Interesting theory…. my stab at it is this
Humans are the ones that create misbalance in their dogs emotional well being. That being we fuss and bother when we leave the house, and when we return, teaching the dog that it’s a big deal that the humans are away. A dog should naturally behave the way dogs should, so I wouldn’t expect a dog to get as unnaturally and unhealthily attached to another dog as it would a doting human.
That being said a dog with a rocky past might bond unhealthily to another dog, and react poorly when that dog is away. I wouldn’t that that’d be the norm however.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:43 am
no. separation anxiety is about the people not other pets.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:08 am
in my case, yes. copper, my new golden pup, cries and howls as soon as we[the other dogs and i] leave for our runs. i would love to take him with us, but he is still too young at 8 months to have that much exercise.
he wont cry when i leave, but he cries and howls for the other dogs.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:41 am
I have 6 and have never had this problem. My shih tzu and great pyrenees are best bud and around the same age but I take me shih tzu a lot of places I can’t take my pyr. She misses him and gets super excited when he comes home but with all of our other dogs around the doesn’t freak out when he is gone. The older dogs have never had issues with anxiety when one or more leaves.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:53 am
we have 3 dogs. if one gets to go bye-bye, the other 2 pout. and look at me like it’s my fault. guilty looks never work on me never i say, okay fine. i give in and give them treats.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:48 am
I’m not surprised at these answers. You have to remember that dogs are pack animals, and when they are separated from their pack, they become distressed.
If you own multiple birds, you’ll see the same thing happening. When one is missing, the rest of them scream and scream until he or she is found. This is because some birds are flock animals.