Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Different aspects of separation anxiety in dogs have been an interest for extensive research, but science still lacks evidence on how it affects the general welfare of dogs and what the most effective measures are to prevent dogs from developing this behavioural problem in the first place. However, there are only a few studies that examine the effects on dog owners of dogs with different behavioural problems and whether separation anxiety has an impact on the human-dog relationship. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate how the lives of dog owners are affected by having a dog with separation anxiety, and whether their dogs’ overall well-being is affected by it. To support this, questions regarding whether the dogs have received independence training as a preventive measure, if the relationship between the owners and their dogs have been affected and if the dog owners have thought about rehoming or euthanizing their dogs due to separation anxiety are answered.
The study was conducted as a web-based survey created in Netigate directed to dog owners in Sweden who at the time of the study, had a dog with separation anxiety. The link to the survey was distributed mainly on various dog forums on social media. To increase the number of respondents, no limit was placed on the number of dogs the respondents owned. However, respondents with more than one dog were asked to complete the survey based on the dog they believed to show the most severe separation anxiety.
No clear link between separation anxiety and the dogs' overall well-being was found in this study. The results show that majority of the respondents have independence trained their dogs to at least some extent. Further in the regard of effects on life and the life quality of the owners the results indicate that separation anxiety in dogs tends to limit the dog owners’ lives in different ways and extent. Also, it is a reason for dog owners to experience feelings such as guilt, worry and stress among others. The relationship did not seem to have been affected to any great extent. Some dog owners reported that they have considered rehoming their dogs because of separation anxiety and a very small minority reported thoughts regarding euthanasia for the same reason.
The results from this study were mainly able to show how dog owners perceive their lives with dogs that suffer from separation anxiety and how it affects them. The reasons why no clear link between separation anxiety and the overall well-being of dogs was found might be due in part to the formulations of the survey questions and in part to other factors, such as the fact that some dogs are never left alone. In this case most dogs have developed separation anxiety despite given independence training. The results also show that there is a risk for some dogs with separation anxiety to end up rehomed or even euthanized.