Separation anxiety - do they get over it?

[perimenofertility]

My neighbour adopted a dog who suffers badly from separation anxiety.
I have sometimes babysat the dog when the neighbour went out for a whole day, but most days she goes out for a few hours at a time and the dog is left home alone, and it stands at the front door barking non-stop for the entire time.
I have told her it does this and offered to babysit the dog every time however short, because I'm at home anyway, but she says it's better to leave it alone because eventually it will get over the separation anxiety and get used to being by itself. It's been 3 years though!
Do they ever get used to this?
Of course, it's not my problem to resolve, but I love animals and hate to hear this one sounding so upset every day.

Not without help, no.

At the moment, all she's doing is reinforcing to the dog that leaving it alone is scary.

She needs to work with a proper behaviourist if she wants this behaviour to ever see signs of improvement.

Nope. They don't get over it; they get worse, if anything.

She's a crap dog owner and a crap neighbour. Three years of her dog barking for hours at a time most days? Hmmm.

I believe it does go away, but only through proper controlled training over a long period of time - it's tough and slow. We're going through it now and stuck at a very short duration, it's pretty soul destroying.

What she is doing will ultimately either make it worse. Eventually the dog may shut down and stop barking but only because it's learnt barking won't achieve anything.

Not without help, as someone else has said. It is a complex issue that requires very careful handling or it can be made worse. Some dogs need medication as a crutch whilst being gently trained to cope with being left, a very tiny bit at a time. Poor thing

To add to my post from last night - my own dog has separation anxiety and he would scream the house down if left on his own, it was heartbreaking

He's four now and we can just about leave him for two hours before he gets unhappy. I don't have to leave him often but I'm so glad I trained him for emergencies.

Dogs with separation anxiety basically have huge panic attacks when their owners go out - they won't get over that by being made to keep having panic attacks.

What a terrible dog owner she is.

At least can she leave him with a long lasting chew when she goes out, to occupy him?

From when mine were babies i would scatter a handful of food on the kitchen floor every time I left; they got excited at my leaving as they equated it with treat time, and would race around gobbling the food. Read that in a dog-training book.

Now they are old & don't care, lol, but they never had anxiety.

I really feel bad for your neighbor dog.

At least can she leave him with a long lasting chew when she goes out, to occupy him?

Many many dogs with separation anxiety will not eat when they're alone because they're just too upset and scared to do so unfortunately

Thanks for the answers here, all confirming what I thought, this poor dog will not just get over it's separation anxiety. I feel really sad for it. I'll have to think of a way to push the issue with the neighbour!

You are a very kind neighbour.thank you for having such a big heart for that poor little dog.I hope you can get your neighbour to understand that her "training" is changing the dogs barking/distress.

• not

Couldn’t you also say it’s distressing / annoying to hear the dog barking on and on and interferes with your concern? She’s being a terrible neighbour!

*Concentration, not concern!

We got through it with our rescue collie, but I began by going out of the house for a minute.

Next day, one minute.
Next day, 2 minutes

When I got up to 8-9 minutes, I would sit in the car ( he couldn’t see me there)

It took a year

I’m sorry for the next-door dog and for you.

I've thought of framing it as the noise being annoying, but I worry then that the solution will be to shut the dog in the back of her house perhaps, rather than deal with the problem - I'd rather she did something to make the dog feel better than to make it quieter. Poor doggy.

my dds dog did, but was v different circumstances. rescue dog and actually seemed v chilled, but neighbour told them she was barking constantly when they were out. They took advice and implemented it quickly and she's fine now. I think it was partially just settling in and getting used to a new house, then getting more confident that she was here to stay. After 3 years I think it's going to take some significant effort on your neighbours part and doesn't sound like she's interested