Separation anxiety affects an estimated 20-40% of companion dogs and causes significant suffering — yet it is frequently misdiagnosed, undertreated, or dismissed as behavioral rather than welfare problem.
Separation anxiety represents a significant welfare burden for a large proportion of companion dogs, occurring during the hours each day when their owners are absent and therefore invisible to them. The dog experiencing severe separation anxiety during a 9-hour workday may be undergoing hours of acute distress — pacing, panting, vocalizing, and in some cases self-injuring — that their owner returns home to find disguised by normal greeting behavior. The welfare urgency is high, the effective treatments are known, and the barriers to treatment are primarily owner awareness and access to qualified behavioral support. The pandemic-era surge in dog acquisition without corresponding attention to alone-time training has likely increased prevalence significantly.