Can you tell by observing a dog in shelter if he has separation anxiety? How to know before adopting?

Question

In the past shelter hid the fact that the dog had separation anxiety and it was only discovered after adoption.

Is there any way to tell by observation? If so what would be the signs? 

Updated 7 days ago:

Brave dog I want

Answer 1

all dogs in a shelter have anxiety , its normal , how do you like being in jail seperated from your family . adopting is a hard choice , are they house trained , are they savage , what are they like with kids , how old the dog is , is it fixed ? some make great pets and some you wish died .over all dogs have there own personality ..

Answer 2

You'd get a  better idea of the dog if it is being fostered. Most dogs behave very differently in a shelter environment than in a home environment where there's structure, consistency, and dramatically less stress.

Answer 3

My guess is that any dog in an animal shelter probably has separation anxiety by default.

Answer 4

i saw this on tv if u have a dog that gets upset when u leave the house. For the 15 minutes before u leave ignore the dog. Five minutes before you leave give the dog a kong toy where you put some treats inside the rubber toy and the dog spends hours trying to get the treats out or even a raw bone from the butcher. Keep doing this and eventually when u leave the dog won't think it is a bad thing.

Answer 5

i agree with the numbers guy.

if you give it food, it will feel fine.

Answer 6

You have to remember that there was a reason that the dog was surrendered & placed in a shelter.  Mostly for behavioral problems that people do not understand.  Every dog that is adopted from a shelter has some baggage from previous life.

While at the shelter you will see dogs come right up to the door/gate & want attention & there will be others that sit back away from the door/gate, these dogs are showing a submissive behavior & may have more problems that some of the other dogs.  Stay away from the dogs that sit back, they are submissive dogs.  You want a dog that will come right up to you without fear or showing any signs of aggression.  Watching body language can tell you a lot.

Answer 7

Unless the prior owner noted it on the surrender paperwork, there is not normally any way to know. Most of the time, separation anxiety is not evident in a shelter environment and will not be known until the dog is placed in a home (and even then often can take time to manifest in a home). I've volunteered at shelters for decades now, and only seen one dog display separation anxiety in the shelter environment, and it was extreme. It was definitely disclosed to anyone interested in the dog and took a long time to find him an appropriate home.

Answer 8

Dogs in shelters suffer from shelter shock.   It's very difficult to determine if they really have anxiety issues or not, or if they are just stressed from being in a shelter.

If that is an issue for you, adopt a dog from a rescue instead of a shelter.  A dog being fostered in someone's home can be better evaluated

Answer 9

No, even if you were a trained bahaviourist it would be difficult to tell...dogs behave according to their environment, so will behave differently in kennels to a famly home......... and a shelter dog you have about 2-3 weeks to establish your rules in your home otherwise the dog will establish its rules...so from day one when you take it home you get the routine established

Answer 10

There is no reliable way to tell how a dog that is kept kenneled at a shelter will behave in a new private home.

Temperament may play a big part, so if you want a `brave` dog (as you put it) A dog with a confident, outgoing and friendly reaction towards you and to most things in life may be your best choice.

Shy, nervous /anxious dogs are more likely to suffer from being left alone, but any rescued dog, depending on its past experience of life, can come with baggage that may be hard to overcome.