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Dog whines and won't eat when alone. How to treat separation anxiety?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Great Pyrenees | Female | unspayed | 2 years and 6 months old | 79 lbs

Who can I help my dog with separation anxiety? Every time I leave home she won’t eat or drink or play she just wines.

4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on October 11th, 2019

Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes for separation anxiety. It is a very complex problem and takes many months of working with a professional in-home dog trainer (plus or minus behavior modification medications from your vet) to correct this behavior.

I strongly recommend you get a professional trainer to your home to check out her behavior and then they can help you make changes to help her get over the anxiety. It will not be easy and it won't be quick. I recommend Bark Busters and they have a trainer in your area. I believe they do a free initial consult. Trying to correct this on your own is not recommended as you could give her incorrect signals and actually make her worse.

( https://www.barkbusters.com/dog-training-winston-salem-greensboro )

Depending on the severity of the anxiety, most dogs will benefit from the short-term use of pheromones until the problem can be controlled. You can start Adaptil pheromones to see if it helps.

( https://www.adaptil.com/us/Products/ADAPTIL-Calm-Home-Diffuser )

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA
Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer
Published on October 8th, 2018
Poor Hazel! I'm sorry to hear that she's having this problem. You can certainly try a calming coat if you want to, but in my experience this is unlikely to make much difference in a dog with such severe separation anxiety. She really needs a comprehensive treatment plan from a behavior professional, such as a veterinary behaviorist, to address her anxiety and systematically teach her to be more comfortable at home.

It sounds like she probably also needs a different anti-anxiety medication to help with her symptoms in the short-term, if the one she's currently on isn't helping much. There are many different medication options for dogs with this problem, but general practice veterinarians are often not well-versed in treating behavior cases, so your regular vet may not know what else to give her.

I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a board-certified veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate her and get her started on an appropriate treatment plan. You can search for one in your area here: www.dacvb.org
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Jessica Desrosiers
Veterinary Technician
Published on March 1st, 2019
That does sound pretty extreme. I would bring the issue up with your vet as they can provide a sedative that can help Lucy to relax some while you are away. I would also highly recommend trying to find a veterinary behaviorist in your area as this is an extreme response to separation anxiety. Veterinary behaviorists are veterinarians trained in behavior that can work with you both on training to help reduce the anxiety and behavior and combining it with medication so it is less stressful for everyone while the changes are made.

If you'd like to learn more or find one in your area, you can follow this link: https://www.dacvb.org/page/about
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA
Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer
Published on May 26th, 2018
Poor Piper! Yes - from what you're describing here, I would say that she definitely needs prescription anti-anxiety medication, along with a good training plan, in order to make any progress at treating her separation anxiety.

I would recommend talking to your veterinarian about this problem as a starting point. If he/she isn't well-versed in behavior, then you can request referral to a veterinary behaviorist who can get her started on appropriate meds and put together a training plan to help you work on her anxiety. If you don't have a behaviorist locally, you could also consider working remotely with a specialized separation anxiety trainer such as Malena DiMartini: https://malenademartini.com/
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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