Fear is defined as a response to a near and present danger. Whereas anxiety is defined as the response to a situation that is not real but is perceived as such.
What is Fear?
Let me give you an example. You are visiting a new city. You have spent the afternoon sightseeing. The weather has been beautiful, and you have strolled far from your hotel. You have spent the last few hours visiting a museum that has been on your bucket list for ages. The bell goes in the museum, telling you that they are about to close. It is now 6 pm….where did the time go? You have been so engrossed in viewing the exhibits that you completely lost track of time. You hurry towards the exit and come outside to darkness. The sun has set. The streets that were bustling with people a few hours ago are now empty, and to make matters worse, it has started to rain. You look for a taxi, but the streets are empty. You look at your phone and realize the nearest uber is about 30 minutes away. You could wait, but it is cold and wet now, and you just realized that you are hungry. You haven’t eaten since breakfast. You decide to walk back to your hotel. Your phone’s map tells you that it will take about 20 minutes, and you think that maybe you will find a nice restaurant where you can stop for dinner. So you begin to walk.
Sounds good, right? Except, you are not familiar with the city. The bustling streets that were full of people shopping earlier are now empty. The shops are closed. You can hear your footsteps on the empty streets. The wind is now blowing some rubbish and an empty can down the street. You feel less comfortable. Your pace quickens. You become more alert. You seem more sensitive to every sound. Your heart rate starts to quicken. You become more vigilant. You start to think about what you will do if something happens.
You hear a noise and turn to see the dark shadow of someone behind you. They are about 20 feet behind you. They are wearing a hoodie, and you can’t see their face. They are moving quickly towards you. You think you see something in their hand. You start to quicken your pace. Your body has triggered you to flee from what could be a dangerous situation. You think about what you can do to defend yourself. You reach into your pocket for your keys, the only thing that you have to defend yourself if attacked. You search for something to be open – anything that you can run to for safety. This is a real and present danger, and your response is one of fear. Just like a gazelle on the savannah, this is not the time that you should hesitate. The fear response is a life-saving response. The cortisol, adrenaline and other hormones that flood our body at this time is the flight/flight response kicking in. Our body readies itself to take whatever action is needed for survival.
What is Anxiety?
Let’s use the same example. The bustling streets that were full of people shopping earlier are now empty. The shops are closed. You can hear your footsteps on the empty streets. The wind is now blowing some rubbish and an empty can down the street. You feel less comfortable. Your pace quickens. You become more alert. You seem more sensitive to every sound. Your heart rate starts to quicken. You become more vigilant. You start to think about what you will do if something happens.
You hear a noise and turn, but there is nothing behind you. Do you feel calm and relaxed knowing this? Does this mean that there isn’t a threat? There doesn’t appear to be one. So why is your body responding as if there is? Anxiety is when there is a perceived threat. In this situation, there isn’t a stranger in a hoodie rapidly approaching you with something in their hand. The street is empty. However, your body is readying you for fight/flight as if the threat is real. The same stress hormones that allow you to respond to a real threat are flooding your body. Your heart rate is elevated. Your brain has flipped to survival mode. Cortisol, adrenaline and other stress hormones flood your body so that you can respond quickly if needed. Think of the gazelle. Will they stand still waiting to see if the grass movement they saw was the wind or a lion? Heck no…they are out of there.
Fear and anxiety are different, and yet they are the same. The body is readying the fight/flight response to the situation, even though no threat is imminent.
How does this factor into separation anxiety?
Now imagine that every day when you left your house, your body triggered its fight/flight response. It didn’t matter if you were walking to the mailbox to collect your mail, going to get groceries or visiting friends; your body was preparing you to be fully ready for the zombie apocalypse. Every. Single. Time. What toll would this take on your physical health? And what toll would it take on your mental health?
When your dog lives with separation anxiety, every time they are left at home, their body responds as if a zombie apocalypse is about to happen. We know it won’t, of course. They are safe. They have everything they need. They have food and water and a comfortable bed. What more can they need? But none of it matters because the one thing they need to make them feel safe is you.
The effect of living with chronic stress due to repeated exposure is a welfare issue. We know that there is a limit to how long we can live with stress. Left untreated, the fallout of chronic stress will ultimately affect our health and well-being. It is the same for our dogs. Repeated exposure to over-threshold events will affect their health and well-being. To stop the cycle, we must stop the dog from being left alone. We need to suspend absences. For ideas on how to suspend absences, refer to my blog, 30 Ways to Suspend Absences. We have to help the dog become more comfortable and able to relax. Behaviour medications can help enormously in getting our dog to a state where they are better able to cope with alone time and better able to learn through the desensitization training that the Home Alone & Happy program provides.
While it is easy to dismiss the fallout of anxiety, the longer-term consequences can be severe. And when you think about it, it is not just our dog suffering. I would bet that you are living with the stress of your dog’s separation anxiety, also. It would be a rare person who would not worry about what they would return home to. Maybe when you pull up to your home, you see your neighbour waiting for you to complain again about your dog’s barking. Or you walk through the door and see your dog stressed out or more damage to your home. It is not just a welfare issue for the dog. It is a welfare issue for all those that live with the dog as well.
Lastly, when we think about fear and anxiety in humans, we tend to think of them as mental health issues. When we frame them like that, we solicit help, and we seek out experts to help us. When we think of the same issue for our dogs, we see them as behaviour problems. When we frame them as a problem, our motivation is to stop the behaviour from happening. This can send us down the wrong path and result in us seeking a quick fix or using aversive tools such as bark collars to stop the behaviour from happening. The problem here is we never really get to the underlying cause, and the welfare issue is perpetuated. Aversive tools and continued exposure to absences only make anxiety more entrenched.
If you are struggling with your dog’s separation anxiety, help is available. All you need to do is ask.