Old English Sheepdog Separation Anxiety: Bred to Never Be Far From People

This breed's history as a close-working droving dog, paired with its documented gentle, watchful temperament, gives it a genuinely lower baseline tolerance for solitude than many other working breeds, making separation-related distress a real and common concern.

Boredom-related destruction tends to happen regardless of whether the owner is present or absent and often centers on high-value chew items. True separation anxiety is specifically tied to departures and often concentrates near exit points like doors and windows.

Many dogs improve substantially with structured desensitization training, though some level of management, like never leaving a severely affected dog alone for very long stretches, may remain part of the long-term picture rather than being eliminated completely.

This can help some dogs but isn't a guaranteed fix, since separation anxiety is usually about the specific owner's absence rather than solitude in general. It's worth discussing with a trainer rather than assuming it will resolve the issue.

It typically starts with very short departures, seconds to a couple of minutes, gradually building duration only as the dog remains calm, rather than jumping straight to a full workday absence.

For more severe cases, a vet may discuss anti-anxiety medication as part of an overall plan alongside behavioral training, a decision made entirely by your vet based on severity, never something to start without guidance.

Mild cases can show improvement within a few weeks of consistent desensitization work, while more severe, longstanding cases can take several months of patient, structured training to see meaningful change.