this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
202 points (96.8% liked)
Dogs
7340 readers
298 users here now
A community about dogs.
Breeds, tips and tricks about training and behaviour, news affecting dog owners, canine photography, dog-related art and any questions related to dog ownership.
Rules
- Posts must be related to dogs or dog ownership and must not be void of content.
- This is a neutral space. No bigotry or personal attacks. Criticism should be polite and constructive.
- No automated content. This includes AI generated imagery, post body, articles, comments or automated accounts.
- No advertising or self-promotion.
- Illegal or unethical practices are frowned upon, and any comments or posts suggesting them will be removed. This includes, but is not limited to, backyard breeding, ear and tail cropping, fake service animals, negative reinforcement, alpha/pack/dominance theory, and eugenics.
- No judging or attacking community members who care for dogs with cropped ears, docked tails, or those from puppy mills or questionable sources. While we discourage these practices (per Rule 5), all dogs deserve loving homes and compassionate care regardless of their background or physical alterations.
- No breed discrimination, all breeds welcome. Our stance matches the ASPCA's official stance and is not up for debate.
- Citing your sources when making a claim is encouraged. Misinformation will be removed.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
What? Separation anxiety is usually worsened by ignoring them. Now every dog is different for sure, but generally the best way to treat separation anxiety is to be excited to see the dog when you return, and never scold it or yell at it for things it may have done while you were gone.
You don't want leaving or coming home to be a special event.
You're not ignoring the dog, you're just not getting them wound up in those specific situations.
Recent studies have shown that doesn't seem to affect separation anxiety as much as previously thought. More study is needed, but if your dog doesn't have separation anxiety, it doesn't seem like having high excited energy when you return will increase their chance of developing it.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787820300460?via=ihub
From the abstract
"From both experiment 1 and 2, our results indicate that high excitement and playful levels of owners during departures and arrivals is not associated with the development of increased separation-related behavior in newly adopted dogs. It is important to make the distinction, however, that low arousal departures and arrivals are a well-documented treatment for separation-related behavior, and our results only reflect that these arousal levels do not appear to play a causal role in the development of an increased frequency of them."
Interesting study. Would be interested in seeing other data points on what behaviors are improved or reduced on high or low excitement.
Personally, I'll still remain low energy. I want my dog to not rush the door when myself or anyone else comes to my house. I want to control exactly when it's safe for my dog to go bonkers.
I've seen far too many dogs mug guests, and it's much nicer having that encounter further into the house than the entryway.