Separation behavior treatment in dogs
Separation-related problem behavior (SRPB) is a severe behavioral issue in which dogs engage in a variety of undesirable behaviors when the owner is absent, such as destructive behavior and excessive vocalization.
Due to the high prevalence and severity of this issue, finding a treatment is crucial. Treatments so far have relied on habituation that increases tolerance to an owner’s absence with unknown treatment integrity.
This study evaluates an operant approach for using an owner as a reinforcer for this behavior. Five dogs were used for this study, with an average baseline to separation-related problem behaviors time of 27.1 seconds.
After four training sesssions, only one dog was able to stay alone for five minutes, which demonstrates the slow-going progression of this direct treatment, as well as the challenges associated with this behavioral issue.
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