Can Dogs Grow Out of Separation Anxiety? What Studies Show

Sometimes, and it depends on what "it" is. Separation-related signs in young dogs, and mild signs that show up now and then, often fade without training. Established separation anxiety, the kind that starts within minutes of every departure, mostly stays at the same level in the few studies that followed dogs over time. If you are not sure which one you are looking at, start with what separation anxiety is, and how it differs from ordinary protest.

Key Takeaways

• Some signs do fade without training, particularly in young dogs. In 978 guide-dog puppies, separation-related problems were less likely at 12 months than at 6 months (Serpell & Duffy 2016).
• Established separation anxiety mostly does not. In a controlled UK trial, most untreated dogs showed the same degree of separation-related behavior after 12 weeks (Blackwell 2006). Dogs whose owners reported a separation problem were stable, and some improved, when retested about 21 months later (Marx 2021).
• Of 323 UK pet dogs with at least one sign before the pandemic, 55.7% showed none in October 2020. Nobody recorded whether their owners had done anything about it (Harvey 2022).
• Nobody has measured what share of dogs recover without treatment. The authors of the largest follow-up say so directly.
• Waiting costs more than it seems. Graduated desensitization keeps absences below threshold because each one above it can become practice at panicking.

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The short answer: signs can fade, established anxiety usually does not

Two different things hide behind the same question. Separation-related behavior (SRB) is what owners see: barking, whining, chewing or puddles while the dog is alone. Those signs can be temporary. Separation anxiety is a panic response that repeats with every departure, and that is the version the follow-up studies found mostly unchanged over time.

The difference shows up in the shape of an absence. A dog that protests for a few minutes and then settles into sleep after a short protest is often adjusting, and that kind of protest is exactly what fades with time. A dog that starts within a minute or two, will not eat and keeps going is not adjusting. The same applies to a newly adopted dog's first week. Some unsettled behavior is normal, but real distress in week one is worth working on rather than waiting out.

What the follow-up studies actually found

Very few studies have looked at the same dogs twice without treating them. Four have usable data on separation-related behavior, and each one comes with a caveat.

Serpell & Duffy 2016. Puppy raisers filled in the C-BARQ questionnaire at 6 and 12 months. Any score above zero counted, so this tracks the share of puppies with any sign, not recovery from clinical anxiety (Serpell & Duffy, 2016).

Harvey 2022. The February answers were recalled months later, and the follow-up ran through lockdown, when dogs were left alone less. Whether owners treated their dogs was not asked (Harvey et al., 2022).

Marx 2021. A small sample in a laboratory test, and the gap between tests varied widely: 21.19 months on average, with a standard deviation of 9.37. The 38% who improved is a share of all 32 dogs. The share among dogs with a separation problem is not given, and that problem was classified by the owner. We have read the abstract, highlights and introduction only (Marx et al., 2021).

Blackwell 2006. Only twelve weeks, and we have read the abstract only. It is still the only trial with a separate untreated group that we found (Blackwell et al., 2006).

Do puppies grow out of separation anxiety?

More often than adult dogs do, but not all of them. The data describes groups, and your puppy may differ.

Serpell and Duffy followed 978 future guide dogs at one US organization. Puppies were less likely to have any separation-related score above zero at 12 months than at 6 months: odds ratio 0.74, 95% confidence interval 0.59 to 0.92 (Serpell & Duffy, 2016). That is a drop in the share of puppies with any sign. It does not show that a particular puppy "grew out of it", and the dogs were raised by volunteers for one program, which may not match a typical home.

Cross-sectional data points the same way. In 13,715 Finnish dogs, destruction and urination when alone were more common in younger dogs (Salonen et al., 2020). That compares young and old dogs at one moment rather than following the same dogs, and some of that destruction is ordinary puppy chewing. The ASPCA notes that "many young dogs engage in destructive chewing or digging while their guardians are home as well as when they're away" (ASPCA).

The most cited puppy study cannot answer the question at all. Generation Pup measured separation-related behavior at six months only, and its authors write that further analyses "could investigate SRBs in these dogs at a later age" (Dale et al., 2024). For how many puppies show signs at six months, and why that figure needs a caveat, see our prevalence comparison. If your puppy is crying when left right now, see what to do with a puppy that cries when left.

Does it go away on its own in adult dogs?

For some dogs the signs do go away, but nobody knows what share or why. Established cases in the follow-up studies mostly stayed where they were.

In Harvey's UK cohort, 400 dogs showed at least one sign in February 2020. By October, 323 of them were being left alone again, and 180 of those (55.7%) no longer showed any signs (Harvey et al., 2022). That sounds like a lot of dogs growing out of it. The authors warn against reading it that way. In their words, "we did not collect data on whether the owners were taking steps to treat their dogs' SRB, so we cannot know how many of these cases resolved spontaneously". The definition was also generous, with one sign enough to count.

400 dogs with at least one sign in February 2020

180

143

77

• 180 showed no signs in October (55.7% of the 323 still left alone)
• 143 were still showing signs
• 77 were not left alone in October, so their status is unknown

The same paper states the gap plainly: "it is not yet known what proportion of dogs with SRB resolve their behaviour without specific treatment". That is the number every "will it go away?" answer needs, and it does not exist.

The controlled evidence points the other way for established cases. In Blackwell's trial, "the majority of the untreated dogs continued to show the same degree of separation-related behaviour throughout the 12 weeks of the trial" (Blackwell et al., 2006). Marx and colleagues found that dogs with an owner-reported separation problem "were stable, some of them even showed improvement" about 21 months later.

Compared with the other dogs, they made fewer escape attempts. They tended to spend more time passively whining at the door, and a vocal marker of stress in their whines tended to rise. The authors read this as "elevated stress levels in SRP dogs with age", even though the dogs "mostly stayed stable in their separation behaviour" (Marx et al., 2021).

One common claim is not supported either: that untreated separation anxiety always gets worse. The data mostly shows stability, with a minority getting worse. A fairer summary: it does not usually get better on its own, and it does not reliably get worse either.

Does separation anxiety get worse with age?

The evidence on age is mixed, and it does not support strong conclusions either way.

In Harvey's cohort, dogs that developed new signs were older on average, a median of 4.9 years against 3.9 for the others, and the odds rose with each year of age. The link did not survive once other factors were taken into account in the full model (Harvey et al., 2022). Marx's small sample showed a similar hint: dogs with a separation problem tended to show more vocal stress as they aged, a trend that fell short of statistical significance (Marx et al., 2021).

A problem that appears suddenly in an older dog needs a vet before a trainer. Some signs have medical causes: the ASPCA lists a weak sphincter caused by old age, kidney disease, diabetes and neurological problems among the causes of urinary incontinence. Its advice is to see a vet "to rule out medical issues" before starting behavior modification (ASPCA).

Why waiting is the expensive option

Waiting is not a neutral choice, because the dog is still being left alone while you wait. Graduated desensitization rests on the idea that each absence past threshold can become another rehearsal of the panic.

Harvey's data also shows that routine changes matter. Among dogs that had no signs before the pandemic, 117 of 1,187 (9.9%) developed new signs by October 2020, and the risk was linked to how much their time alone had changed during lockdown. The authors conclude that "preventative measures for gradually building dogs' leaving hours again, after a sudden change, should be beneficial" (Harvey et al., 2022). That is an argument for changing a dog's routine gradually.

You also do not need perfect conditions to start. Butler and colleagues treated eight dogs in a small controlled study, and systematic desensitization (the method behind graduated desensitization) cut both the frequency and the severity of separation-related behavior, and progress was not related to how consistently owners applied it. The authors conclude that "even when owners apply systematic desensitization haphazardly, it can still be successful" (Butler et al., 2011).

If you decide not to wait, start with the step-by-step protocol for teaching a dog to be alone. For how long it takes once you start, and why some dogs keep a residual sensitivity, see the timeline guide.

How to tell which one your dog has

One recorded absence tells you more than your dog's age. Watch when the reaction starts, whether the food gets eaten, and whether your dog settles.

More likely to pass:

• The noise starts after you leave, peaks early and fades
• The food you left gets eaten
• Your dog lies down and genuinely rests

More likely to be established:

• The reaction starts within the first two minutes
• The food is untouched
• It comes back in waves, or the damage is at the door and windows

To get that recording, film one absence and read it against those signals. If the damage is spread around the house and the food is gone, boredom and adolescent chewing look different on camera, and the fix is different too.

Lopaw is an app that runs graduated desensitization from your dog's own sessions. It records each one and tracks whether the threshold is moving, so you can see whether things are changing.

FAQ

Do puppies grow out of separation anxiety? Signs become less common between 6 and 12 months: in 978 guide-dog puppies, the odds of any separation-related sign were lower at 12 months (Serpell & Duffy 2016). That is a group-level finding. A puppy that panics at every departure still needs work.

Does separation anxiety go away on its own? Sometimes the signs do. Nobody knows what share of dogs recover without treatment, as the authors of the largest follow-up point out (Harvey 2022). In a controlled trial, most untreated dogs stayed the same over 12 weeks (Blackwell 2006).

My dog's separation anxiety got better by itself. Will it come back? It can. A sharp drop in how many days a week a dog was left alone was linked to new signs in Harvey's cohort. Introduce a move, a new job or the end of a vacation gradually. If yours is a new work schedule, start with planning a return to the office. Some dogs also keep a residual sensitivity that resurfaces after disruption.

Does separation anxiety get worse with age? The evidence is mixed. Older dogs had higher odds of new signs in one analysis, but the link did not hold in the full model (Harvey 2022). A small lab study also found a non-significant rise in vocal stress with age (Marx 2021). New signs in an older dog call for a vet first.

How long should I wait before starting training? Waiting gains you nothing here. The first week of the protocol is the same whether the problem would have faded or not, and it keeps absences below threshold in the meantime. Begin with week one of the alone-time training plan.