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How to help my 8-month-old puppy with severe separation anxiety?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | American Pit Bull Terrier | Female | unspayed | 8 months and 12 days old | 45.2 lbs

My 8 month old has super bad separation anxiety. Chews my stuff up because I left her at home and is now chewing my husband's stuff. Barks and pants all night. I don't know what to do

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Daniel Fonza, DVM

Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on November 20th, 2017

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach to address your concern! Unfortunately, separation anxiety can be quite difficult to address for most dogs. I usually recommend a multi modal approach. I recommend the following non-prescription approach prior to anything prescription:
1. NaturVet Quiet Moments calm chews plus Melatonin (can be found online quite easily.
2. Adaptil pheromone collar
3. Adaptil diffuser
4. Thundershirt

In combination with this, I typically recommend providing plenty of toys such as a kong toy filled with peanut butter and some other noise making toys. I have recently recommended a product called the Pet Cube. This allows you to watch him via an app on your phone remotely and you can even control a laser pointer and interact with him while you are away. If this does not work or the behavior worsens, I typically recommend adding in anti-anxiety medications such as Trazodone, Amitriptyline, Clomipramine (clomicalm), etc. in combination with the above recommendations. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
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